ND-Rental为您带来Hawk Vantage One

It’s a well-known fact that the German-made Hawk lenses are rental only, not for sale, which made it impossible to purchase the much sought-after Vantage One T1 lenses. However, through relentless determination and tireless waiting, ND-Rental has finally brought Vantage One to China, becoming the only available set here in Asia. Over the past two decades, Vantage has gained a reputation throughout the cinematography world for our uncompromising Hawk anamorphic lenses. Now,Vantage takes an ambitious step by introducing our first line of sphericalprime lenses: the Vantage One lenses. Why Vantage One? Because this entire set of cine lenses comes with an eye-opening T-stop of T1.

The line consists of nine prime lenses: 17.5, 21, 25, 32, 40, 50, 65, 90 and 120 mm, all of which include super close-focus optics. And of course, Vantage One lenses come with all the superior mechanics and robust construction found in all of our lenses.

The thought process behindVantage One lenses

In the past, cinematographers could choose lenses from the various manufacturers and combine their visual characteristics with different film stocks and processing options to create a unique look for a given project. Over the past 15 to 20 years, modern lenses have become more and more similar, due to increasingly sophisticated and precise design and manufacturing techniques used by all the high-end lens makers, who compete to offer the most precise and flawless lenses, differentiated – and marketed –with finer and finer metrics. The quick market penetration of digital camerashas further homogenized and limited the range of creative options for cinematographers,who have had to change their methods in pursuit of a distinctive look appropriate to a given project.

T1 - For Texture, Not Speed

Before digital cameras made 800 ASA (and even faster speeds) common, cinematographers needed to achieve 
a certain exposurelevel. This fact drove the desire for high speed lenses. Today, with extremely light-sensitive digital sensors, that high speed is no longer an essential attribute of cine lenses. With this in mind, and using as a model the legendary Leica 50 mm T1 Noctilux still lens, we challenged our lens designers to create a T1 lens without using modern technologies like floating elements and aspheric lenses. Through extensive experimentation with exotic glass and clever arrangements 
of various parameters within those self-imposed limitations,Vantage has created a very high speed lens that renders superb results with a unique personality. The technological constraints that allow for overcorrected spherical aberrations in T1 lenses still produce extremely high definition, but differ from the standardized look of today’s existing spherical prime cinelenses as they are opened. At T4, T2.8 and T2, Vantage One lenses can give cinematographers the flawless look other modern lenses produce, but withsuperior image illumination. And unlike those of our competitors, the Vantage One lenses offer additional versatility at other stops. At T1.4, the results are a bit more forgiving, yet still extremely good, and at T1, the Vantage One lenses lend the image a lovely, subtle creaminess, perfect for skin tones; at T1, audiences are expected to experience a completely different type of visual sensation.

No compromises were made in adapting the new design to all existing and future digital imaging systems. The distance from the rear elements of the Vantage One lenses to the sensor has been maximized, and as a result, light rays travel to the sensor in very straight lines. Benefits include less color fringing and excellent, even illumination to the corners of the frame – 100% at T2, and 85% illumination even at T1.

Change in postproduction present opportunities

An important change in cinematography technology that factors into our design philosophy is the complete revamp of digital post-production for motion pictures. In the past, the relentless pursuit of improved sharpness in lenses was driven in part by the losses in image quality that resulted from the multi-generational duplication process used to make prints. The sharpest possible taking lens helped offset these losses and delivered the maximum definition possible to the screen. That has changed. Today, the path from capture through to projection has the potentialto be visually loss-less. Cinematographers tell us that the sharpness of the image can be too intense and unforgiving, too close to reality for story telling. In some situations, this sharpness calls for additional makeup, adaptations in set decoration and/or lighting time, or careful filtration to bring down clarity. This new circumstance allowed our lens designers to shift emphasis from maximum sharpness to other attributes. In the Vantage One lenses, certain gentle aberrations and other characteristics that might be considered flaws by others are welcomed as storytelling tools for cinematographers to manipulate as they seek to transport audiences to virtual worlds.

Testimonials

“In the digital world, most of us are shooting with the same camera(s) as if we all used the same ‘film stock.’ So lenses are becoming more and more important. The glass we choose separates one cinematographer from another. What's appealing to me is working with very shallow depth of field to create a unique look with the very selective focus available at T1.”

-      DanielPearl, ASC

“It was great for skin tones, we were wide open using the Alexa rated at 800 ISO in available light.”

-    Benoît Debie