Nov 2020

Rehoused Soviet Vintage Lenses Built For Cinema

Ironglass

From time to time, something incredible catches our eye. This time, we’re talking about a lens rehousing company, called Iron Glass. Their mission? Making vintage more reliable and accessible in today’s industry.

Instead of the classic and unreliable features, these guys completely changed everything. From follow focus gears, PL and EF mounts and expanded focus distance markings, both metric and imperial.

As buying new lenses can be incredibly expensive, especially when we’re talking about quality cine lenses, these guys made a business out of rehousing the lenses for filmmakers, making them a lot more reliable, and even improving the quality. For this, they offer two options.

1. Modification of cine lenses, meaning taking an old lens and getting it through the rehousing process in order to bring it up to nowadays standards.

2. Adaptation of still lenses, in case you may want to use your classic photo lens for filmmaking, but it’s not exactly cine friendly. The best part is that the lens won’t lose its quality, but it may even be improved.

Why Would You Rehouse Lenses?

Well, there are many reasons why you may want to rehouse a lens. Iron Glass are doing wonders in the world of lenses and cinema.

1. Fixing the lens

Lenses can get broken too, especially if it has been dropped and damaged. Some lenses can get warped out of shape or even get broken focus rings. If it’s too expensive to buy another one, these guys can easily fix it, and you’ll have a better lens when it’s done.

2. Better robust casing

Some vintage lenses can get old and weak. You wouldn't want it to fall apart while on a professional shoot. So getting a better durability case is ideal for professionals.

3. Modify a photo lens

Photo lenses aren’t made for Filmmaking, but with a couple of 'simple' changes, these guys will turn a still lens, into a cine lens with focus rings built for focus pulling. Besides, they can also add a lot of modifications, such as the anamorphic addition and more aperture blades.

4. Clean the lens

After using a lens for many years, you may notice a lot of small dust particles in the wrong places. It’s not something you can avoid and if you need flawless footage, you may need to either change the lens completely or send it to these guys to get it cleaned and running.

If you take a look at the Iron Glass online store, you’ll see that any lens they have on that page can be customised according to your needs. Change it's mount, body-color, and add the type of modification you want. Don't you think it's pretty cool customising your own lenses? I do!

You can get one lens, or choose a set made after your preferences. The best part is that through the lens customiser, you can get a set of up to eight custom lenses, so you’re always prepared for shooting.

As for compatibility, in the accessories tab on their website, you will find adaptors for pretty much every system, from EF to PL, and ending up with the Ukrainian and Soviet mounts, as well as lens caps, adapter filter rings, and hard cases for any lens.

Iron Glass is definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re a big fan of vintage lenses!