Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

New Optar Illumina pre-announcement@reduser.net

Optar Illumina S35 Lenses

Optar Illumina S35 Lenses

Hey Emanuel - you might be taking this too hard. Edward's post read more like a legal thing.

I'm glad Gregory decided to go in this 35mm direction. I bought a set of the S16mm lens (and yeah, the 50mm does cover the RED frame) from him last fall and told him about the RED. Optar made a few 35mm PL mount lenses before. I wonder if these will be a tooling up of the old ones, or something new. Keep us abreast.

Thanks Dale - That's was exactly the intention of the post...a legal thing! Of course we appreciate Emanuel's zealousness, however the lenses are only in the design stage and obviously the S35 primes will not be the exact same quality and design as the Zeiss MK3 Primes as Emanuel posted. That would present a patent issue with Zeiss. The company, LumaTech Inc, will announce the exact focal lengths, price point and delivery at a later date.
 
OK Anthony. Now it's more comfortable though I had already asked to you in order to elaborate (@cinematography.com). I'm very exigent with this sort of issues maybe 'cause my five years law degree beyond the film background.

Actually, Gregory also advanced a price but after he asked me in order to refrain the cost mention. Half price of the Zeiss, much less than the Zeiss price, it's better. His words. Done.

As well, Zeiss Mark III quality. His quote, not mine. Private one but I asked if I could post. And he gave me his OK. 100% about all what has been posted since day one after your brand's name disclosure.

I posted STRICTLY what Gregory said to me that I'd be able to do.
 
Thanks Fergus for your kind words.
 
I have also (through the grapevine) heard the price. I will believe it when I see it -

but I have been told by a couple guys I really respect, that Illumina lenses have excellent ability to resolve - we shall see ....

now, the glass race begins -
 
OK Anthony. Now it's more comfortable though I had already asked to you in order to elaborate (@cinematography.com). I'm very exigent with this sort of issues maybe 'cause my five years law degree beyond the film background.

Actually, Gregory also advanced a price but after he asked me in order to refrain the cost mention. Half price of the Zeiss, much less than the Zeiss price, it's better. His words. Done.

As well, Zeiss Mark III quality. His quote, not mine. Private one but I asked if I could post. And he gave me his OK. 100% about all what has been posted since day one after your brand's name disclosure.

I posted STRICTLY what Gregory said to me that I'd be able to do.

I understand. Gregory is very excited about the S35 project, it has been in the making for over a year and we are now beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. Quality and customer satisfaction is number 1 with Gregory as you well know and that takes time. Our goal is to design a set of primes that is of superior quality, that cinematographers have come to expect with the Optar Illumina brand, with a lower price point than the Elite primes. I believe the equivalent price point for Elite is approx. 30,000. USD or 21,400. EURO. Additionally, these primes are being designed from the ground up and not revamped lenses off the shelf (old style). That's all I can say for now and keep up the good work with the post. Remember, we are on the same side.
 
Hey aedward, your user name sounds like a old English King from the Dark Ages or a hero from a Viking Saga. Respect..:calm:
 
Aedward the Unready...to say too much?
 
I understand. Gregory is very excited about the S35 project, it has been in the making for over a year and we are now beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. Quality and customer satisfaction is number 1 with Gregory as you well know and that takes time. Our goal is to design a set of primes that is of superior quality, that cinematographers have come to expect with the Optar Illumina brand, with a lower price point than the Elite primes. I believe the equivalent price point for Elite is approx. 30,000. USD or 21,400. EURO. Additionally, these primes are being designed from the ground up and not revamped lenses off the shelf (old style). That's all I can say for now and keep up the good work with the post. Remember, we are on the same side.

I hope to have you your updates soon here, now often. Thus, I wouldn't need to have the care to call Gregory in a week basis. ;-) Gregory had said that all this information would be up at your website soon, so there wouldn't be a problem to post it. On the contrary. My only point. For a matter of truth, in and on its behalf -- that's all! I also still hope to be your customer. To have a good support to the customer, it's very important. Gregory has been quite friendly, so far. :-) And this brings confidence. As well, transparency and coherence, humbleness, etc. Strength on our own convictions, very relevant on topic. I wish you all the best in this ambitious project for the benefit of all this indie community.

Be welcome now,
Emanuel
 
I e-mailed Optar Illumina twice, but no response. I guess the Optar lenses will not be released at NAB soonest will be 3rd/4th quarter of 2008. Focal length and T 1.3 are promising. We have to wait once more! :-)
 
Bump for important thread.
 
It's probably too late for this - but I have a set of Super Speeds and what I don't like about them is the softness at T1.3. T2.0 is better and T2.8 better yet and and T4.0 better still. One thing Zeiss is doing now with both the DigiPrimes and the Master Primes - is designing them to be at max "sharpness" when they're wide open. If you see a test of DigiPrimes at T1.3, they look great at T16 or T22. (contrastier - but not soft).

So, if you could make them perform well while wide open - it'd be a great advantage. And you'd have a leg up on the Super Speeds.
 
Dale,

Any lens will look better stopped a couple of f stops EVEN the master primes.
When was the last time you had your SS lenses checked for flange focale depth? They should be useable near wide open.
 
if one is considering the new optar illumina then one should also take a look at the optica ELITE lens - they offer S35mm primes & 35 digital primes and they are in the 4500euro area ...
the problem for us in the USA is the US dollar keeps falling - i believe both illumina & Elites are made in Russia but they are pirced in euro's !!!

http://optica-elite.com/price/pages/Price.aspx

http://www.slowmotioninc.com/sales/35_lenses.htm

http://optica-elite.com/products/Document Library/1/LENSES FORMAT S35 mm DIGITAL 2007.htm

http://optica-elite.com/products/Document Library/1/s35 2007-1.htm

Weird jump in barrel lengths from 22 - 24 & 28 - back to 35. Wonder why?
 
I e-mailed Optar Illumina twice, but no response. I guess the Optar lenses will not be released at NAB soonest will be 3rd/4th quarter of 2008. Focal length and T 1.3 are promising. We have to wait once more! :-)


Questions I would have are, are there any other dealers in the US? Who is authorized to service here, and what's the wait time for parts? Is it just SlowMotion Inc.? (poor name choice for a service organization..;)

Anyone familiar with their build quality and reliability?

M
 
The phone number for Mr. Edward is out of order and is no longer in service. Has anyone had any luck trying to find out anything on this T3/16-64mm Optar Illumina Zoom?

Are they going to NAB?

I will e-mail Mr. Edward again, I am hoping to get an answer this time. But with all due respect to Mr. Edward e-mails can get overlooked. No problem. I am wondering though why he has not been back to this site since October of last year.

It makes no sense to me to leave a million dollars+ worth of Lens sales on the table. I was really looking forward to this zoom and their new primes. Millions of dollars in decisions are being made now and in the next few weeks. I would have loved for Mr. Edward's company to be in the mix.

Officially flummoxed,

Andrew Benz
 
Back
Top