Insights

What we learn at the bench.

Servicing, collimation, shipping: practical notes from the people who open these lenses every day.

Is your lens decentred? How to spot it on the monitor

One corner softer than the rest, a tilted focus plane, asymmetric bokeh: the symptoms of a decentred lens, how to check for them in ten minutes...

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Ottiche vintage reincamiciate vs ottiche cine native: pro e contro

Rehoused vintage lenses vs native cine lenses: pros and cons

It is one of the liveliest debates among DPs and camera departments. On one side, native cine lenses — designed for cinema from the ground up,...

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Mount custom per ottiche fotografiche su camera cine: quando ha senso farlo

Custom mounts for photographic lenses on cine cameras: when it makes sense

It is an increasingly common practice — and for good reasons. Vintage photographic lenses have a visual character of their own, cost far less than the...

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Cinema lens collimation: what it is and why it matters

It is one of the most used terms in the industry and one of the least understood. Plenty of DPs know collimation matters, but few know...

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Elicoide consumato o ghiera dura: differenze e come si risolve

Worn helicoid or stiff focus ring: the difference, and how each is fixed

It is one of the most common mechanical problems in cinema lenses, and it often gets diagnosed loosely. A stiff focus ring and a worn helicoid...

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Come imballare e spedire un'ottica cinematografica in modo sicuro

How to ship a cinema lens for repair: a complete guide

A cinema lens is a precision instrument that can be worth tens of thousands of euros. Shipping it without proper packaging means leaving it to chance....

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Quanto spesso fare la manutenzione delle ottiche cinematografiche

Cinema lens maintenance: how often and why it matters

It's one of the most common questions we receive. And the honest answer is: it depends. But it depends on specific factors, not chance. Rental lenses...

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Come capire quando un'ottica cinematografica ha bisogno di manutenzione

How to tell when a cinema lens needs servicing

Cinema lenses are precision mechanical instruments. Like every mechanical instrument they wear — slowly, often imperceptibly, until the problem becomes impossible to ignore on set. The...

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Manutenzione ottiche cinematografiche

Cinema lens servicing

When a lens arrives in the workshop, the first thing we do is not open it. It is look at it. We examine the outer surfaces,...

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