---

Image Characteristics

KOWA FF lenses have soft, naturalistic flares, distinct bokeh, and exceptional color production. The soft bokeh is circular at all stops as a result of the new 14-bladed iris that Ancient Optics and TLS included in the rehousing. Like many vintage lenses the Kowa FF are sensitive to light flares. Although this can be fixed with things like polarizing lenses, this flare-sensitive, naturalistic look lends a tactile feel to the optics—in contrast to the cold, sterile look of many modern lenses. The flares have a gold-and-purple look, which comes off as lively compared to the steely-blue streaks of anamorphic glass, such as the Kowa Prominars. Also reminiscent of vintage lenses are the Kowa’s pleasing focal falloff. The deep focal plane allows users to capture deep landscapes with astounding detail and pleasing fall-off. Check out the demo below, especially the daytime exteriors on wide angles, to see the Kowa FF primes in action.

Rehoused Vintage Kowa Full Frame Lens Test from OLD FAST GLASS on Vimeo.

 

VINTAGE CHARACTER

As you can see in the above reel, these rehoused primes are sharp in the center with gentle focus falloff to the corners, lending a subliminally vintage look.  Similarly, the soft, ovular bokeh captures the feel of 1960s film, unlike more stylized bokeh of modern optical manufacturing. These lenses showcase the maximum of their vintage character when wide open. The Kowa FFs have some barrel distortion on wider lenses for a tactile feel and render sharp images (as they were originally still photo lenses). Despite their vintage qualities, these primes perform competitively among modern glass, thanks to their sharpness and excellent color reproduction.

Rehousing

In their rehousing, True Lens Service and Ancient Optics built glass that not only can survive decades longer, but actually competes well among modern optical technology. In updating these '60s lenses, the technicians built lenses that can cover full-frame sensors. Every lens in the series safely covers the ARRI ALEXA LF Open Gate sensor without any vignette. The minimum close focus distance of each lens has been improved in the rehousing. Every single lens has 110mm front diameters, 330° focal rotation for accurate focus pulling, and the industry-standard .8 MOD gears.