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Rehousing - GL Optic, P&S, Van Diemen and TLS

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Mark Broadbent

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Hi all,

I'm currently in the early stages of planning the rehousing of my kit of Leica R's. In the process I'm looking at all options. I'm particularly interested to hear any first hand thoughts on the quality of the various options. Unfortunately being in Australia there is limited opportunity to see them in person.

GL Optics: I've got an 18-35 and 70-200 by GL Optics, the rehousing isn't bad however for a long term investment in a kit I am leaning towards a higher end option. Particularly as they may be rented on occasion.

P&S: Look good on paper however I haven't held one in hand. Have read about some issues in the past however no idea if they still apply.

Van Diemen: Like the P&S they look great on paper and have read a number of positive comments on some of their older kits. Wireform system looks to keep things nice and light.

TLS/Cinescope: Look great. Have a feeling they will be quite heavy. On the cost front they are the most expensive by a long way.

Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated.

Cheers,

Mark
 
Chris Kennedy said:
Tricky thing is finding a place which would service them though.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your thoughts. I've had to have my 18-35 serviced and simply sent it back to Nan in China so that's not too bad. That said I'd like to have minimal servicing needed.
 
Fwiw I've thought about this a fair bit for my set and I have always leaned toward the van dieman because I like the compact design and it seems to make sense. Not sure about the robustness as I have never seen a rehoused set. It would be ideal if it was possible to get at least F2 across the range but we know that is not going to happen.

If you are really in the market for a set consider just getting on the phone with each place and getting a feel for which one would be the right way to go. Everyone has a different approach and a rental set needs to be easily serviced.

David
 
Thanks for the thoughts David.

2 across the range would be nice however not essential these days. Bit of an outsider on this forum as I shoot Varicam so 5000 iso at a press of a button ;) Having shot with these lenses for a couple of years I know them backwards and keen to get them on some of my bigger jobs where precise focus pulling and integration with other accessories is required. Also looking for a long term investment.

On the service front being in Australia whoever I go with it will mean shipping back to the manufacturer, whoever that may be. Europe has an advantage here over China.

Interestingly the Van Diemen lenses aren't as compact as they used to be. The 80mm front kits floating around have vignetting issues in full frame so they've gone back and redesigned them to be 100mm +. Something I discovered when considering purchasing the kit that was floating around on here a few weeks ago. Glad I didn't jump on it now. Although it wouldn't have effected me in the short term in the future it may have become an issue.

I manages to have a look at a pair of VD Leica R macros locally and they look very nicely put together. Solid yet still reasonably light.
 
i don't think TLS rehouses Leica R's.
They do pancros and a few others.
I believe they only cinevise for the Leicas,. Similar to what duclos offers.
Unless things changed in the past year.
GL Optics is not bad. It's the cheapest.
Ive had shim thickness issues at times with different ones, and focus marks being slightly off but for the price they aren't bad.
Built quality is fairly robust.
ive used K35's by PS Tekniks and they were very very solid.
Theyre definitely more expensive but if it fits your bill, that would be my choice.
 
Mark Broadbent said:
TLS announced a deal with Cinescope to rehouse R's recently. They look great but very expensive. http://www.newsshooter.com/2017/02/...rehoused-prime-lenses-from-cinescope-and-tls/

Keen to check out a kit of P+S, they at similar priced to Van Diemen.
Click to expand...

OMG!!!!! this is the rehouse the world has been waiting for.... if you have the money and patience. But i trust P+S also. they do some weird focal lengths too. They offer like the 180 and 24 which most others dont.
 
Talking of rehoused Leica R I'm possibly looking to offload this set:

http://www.brownianmotion.co.uk/products/leica-van-diemen

They were a white water matching set with elements sourced directly with Leica (Ie not stills lenses rehoused). Part of a 6 set order in the 1990's to cater for commercials in the UK (obviously prior to the Cine Summilux etc!).

For what it's worth I think they are one of the best looking sets of lenses I've ever purchased - crisp yet soft, cool yet warm - a rare little secret set for those in the Leica know :)

If anyone is interested or knows someone who is by all means get in touch.
 
Jeff Brown said:
Talking of rehoused Leica R I'm possibly looking to offload this set:

http://www.brownianmotion.co.uk/products/leica-van-diemen

They were a white water matching set with elements sourced directly with Leica (Ie not stills lenses rehoused). Part of a 6 set order in the 1990's to cater for commercials in the UK (obviously prior to the Cine Summilux etc!).
Click to expand...

Nice kit Jeff. A full set just sold here for a very attractive price. I was very close to purchasing however after discussion with Van Diemen I learn't that I'd have to spend quite a bit getting the wider focal lengths rehoused as due to the 80mm fronts they don't cleanly cover VV/Full frame and particularly effecting close focus performance and as these would be a major investment I would want maximum coverage.
 
Mark,

I have a set of P+S Technik rehoused Leicas. Well actually a mix of Canon FD and Leicas. 14mm Canon L, 19mm Leica V2, 24mm Canon L, 28mm Canon, 35,50,80 Lux & 100mm Canon.
I think I had the first Leicas out of P+S so they needed a bit of tweaking in the beginning, but now everything is running very smoothly. Part of the reason I chose P+S is that I'm in Europe and didn't want to send lenses to China for service.
I'm very happy with my set and already had them on a film last year and use them regularly on commercials.
Yes, I choose to mix with other lenses, but they are my lenses and I decide what, why and when to use them. There can be a very slight color difference, but that happens with all lenses, specially when mixing with zooms, but I do oversee the color grade of my films and have no problem matching the lenses. I did of course shoot tests with them before deciding which ones to rehouse.
 
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Hi

I'm head of sales for Cinescope, the 50mm T2.1 Leica TLS Rehouse is 2Ib / 0.9KG in weight. This is a complete rehouse, the optics and floating elements run on a cam system, which is why we have a 300 degree expanded focus scale, they are the best and most solid rehouse available. Any more info you need drop me a PM.
 
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