| PERG News: February 2023 |
The following is a preview of a column in the spring issue of Protocol, The Journal of the Entertainment Technology Industry.
“In the circus that is our industry,” says Atlas Lens Co. President Dan Kanes, “the lens technicians are the lion tamers. They know the tricks that keep other people from getting eaten.” The lenses that cinematographers use to shoot films and television productions are precision optical devices that require maintenance. They go out of adjustment, become contaminated, and occasionally get dinged up. They develop devilish maladies like focusing crisply at one distance, but not at another. If a little plastic part called a focus stop breaks, a turn of the focus knob could send one lens group crashing into another. If professional camera rental facilities didn’t have qualified lens technicians, they would soon have very frustrated customers, would have to shoulder costly shipping and repair bills, and worse, endure lengthy equipment downtime.
There are no college degree programs to become a lens tech and no trade schools. In fact, there is very little in the way of professional training available, save for the workshops provided by some of the lens manufacturers for their specific products and events like the well-respected Pacific Northwest Lens Summit held by Koerner Camera each spring. Often lens technicians start off with little or no experience and just figure things out any way they can. Consequently, there is a worldwide shortage of qualified lens technicians. That’s why PERG jumped at the opportunity to facilitate the Duclos Lens Tech Training in February 2023.
Planning for the training started in the summer of 2022. PERG partnered with Duclos Lenses, the premier independent cinema lens service center, and Gary Adcock, Executive Director of Filmscape Chicago, a trade show at which training is a main feature. The team conceived a program that would include hands-on Basic- and Advanced-level classes taught by Senior Lens Tech and Engineer Matthew Duclos of Duclos Lenses. It would also include presentations by sponsors (in the end Angenieux, Atlas, Cooke, Chrosziel, Fujinon, Sigma, and Zeiss all contributed presentations of various kinds) as well as presentations by other lens-oriented experts. The event would also feature a lens showcase provided by the lens manufacturers plus two additional event sponsors, Innerspace Cases and My Case Builder, ending with a barbeque to which all local LA lens technicians would be invited.
Over a two-week period, thirty-nine lens technicians attended classes, limited to 16 attendees per class. All trainees were from rental companies, the vast majority being PERG/ESTA members, from all over North America and as far away as Canada, Mexico, Uruguay, and Poland.
During Basic-level training, Matthew Duclos began with the fundamentals, discussing lens evaluation terminology, hand tools, optical tools, test equipment, and lens projectors. Each attendee received a set of precision tools for their bench, including a weighted, solid metal screw tray designed to prevent upset. Attendees also received a notebook/training program and a commemorative event T-shirt. Matthew walked the trainees through the essentials of evaluating of prime and zoom lenses. He shared slides showing a range of contamination issues he's found in lenses, including condensation, fungus, and the occasional spider! He provided guidance on lens cleaning technique (yes, there is a best way to clean glass), flange depth, shimming, collimation, camera formats, and sensors.
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Matthew Duclos, course instructor. Courtesy Gary Adcock
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Because the training was hosted at Dynamic Rentals’ facility in Burbank, attendees were able to use their projection room to parse the different kinds of lens aberrations. Matthew and Duclos Founder Paul Duclos shared their likes and dislikes about tools and techniques, the use of adhesives and lubricants, and even the art of mixing custom greases. Even techs who perform these tasks every day appreciated learning the refined methods. Attendees were engaged, and there was lively discussion.
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In Dynamic’s lens projection room, attendees take turns examining lines of resolution
using Chrosziel’s TP-7 II large format lens projector. |
To supplement Matt’s session, Chrosziel’s Michael Burnham used their TP7 II large format LED lens test projector as an example, to give a thorough rundown on using lens projectors and setting up lens projection rooms.
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| Michael Burnham (Chrosziel). Courtesy Gary Adcock |
Basic-level training also included a question-and-answer session with veteran camera assistants Tiffany Aug and Alaina McManus. Nothing drives that home how critical the lens tech’s job is better than hearing war stories from 1st ACs. Their accounts clearly demonstrated how intimately familiar camera assistants become with the characteristics of the lenses they work with. They can make clear distinctions between lenses that might appear identical to anyone else. It was fascinating to learn all the care and knowledge that goes into what they do before the shoot as well as during photography. While their primary job to ensure that the image is in crisp focus, that is just the beginning. Tiffany related adventures with commercial directors and DPs who called upon her to make judgements on all manner of lens characteristics, even sacrificing ideal focus for other qualities that are more esoteric and subjective. ACs are under intense pressure and often expected to manage an intimidating quantity and variety of equipment. The discussion impressed upon the attendees how directly their work is connected to the AC’s success and the quality of the image. Many of the attendee’s questions focused on the information lens techs can provide that is of great use to camera assistants.
In another session, attendees engaged in a free-wheeling discussion with cinematographer Jay Holben, coauthor (with Christopher Probst, ASC) of The Cine Lens Manual, the Definitive Filmmaker’s Guide to the Design, Implementation, and History of Motion Picture Optics, an 800-page volume that is the product of eight years of research. Holben and Probst wrote the book, in part, to help establish common language for discussing optical qualities. One of the stories he told the class provided insight into our own objectivity when we evaluate lenses. Jay described a blind test performed by the ASC where 30 lenses were tested at two f-stops shooting the same scene. The lenses were identified only with a letter. ASC cinematographers viewed the tests and made notes about the qualities of each of the lenses. Only afterward were they given a key that identified the lens models and manufacturers. Many ASC members were flabbergasted by the difference between their preconceptions and their own observations. The test revealed the bias created by brands and marketing. People have emotional attachments to ideas and equipment that may have no relation to actual observation. For the techs, it was a cautionary lesson in avoiding bias and getting empirical information from test instruments before making judgements. It also hinted to attendees what they may expect when talking with DPs and ACs; sometimes you are going to meet with resistance when pointing out factual distinctions.
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Jay Holben, Cinematographer and Author. Courtesy Gary Adcock
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The Advanced-level hands-on training had the techs start tearing down lenses. Keslow Camera graciously supplied ten Cooke S4 prime lenses so that each attendee could disassemble and then reassemble a lens, with Matthew and other Duclos staff on hand to assist and answer questions. In another session, Paul Duclos, Master Lens Technician and founder of Duclos Lenses, demonstrated the disassembly and reassembly of an older Angenieux HR zoom. The Duclos instructors focused on workhorse lenses that are part of nearly every rental inventory. Afternoon sessions left room for Fujinon, Cooke, and Angenieux to demonstrate teardowns on more recent products.
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Matthew and Paul Duclos balance muscle and extreme care to loosen tight threaded parts.
Courtesy Gary Adcock
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As Paul Duclos disassembles an Angenieux HR zoom lens he explains things like
the purpose of the four different screw types and methods for loosening tight parts,
including judicious use of a mallet and sometimes a blow torch! Courtesy Gary Adcock
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Gaston Fazio (HD House, Miami) and Colin Becker (Redman) disassemble
as Cooke S4. Courtesy Gary Adcock |
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Even Scudner (Triode, Lancaster PA) and Bilal Karaman (Cinevo).
Courtesy Gary Adcock |
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Attendees disassemble Cooke S4s. Courtesy Gary Adcock
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Michael Nadas, Head of Service at Cooke Optics, Inc.,
takes attendees on the tour of his workshop. Courtesy Gary Adcock
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Manny Zamora, Fujinon Field Service Engineer, tears down a Premista Zoom.
Courtesy Gary Adcock |
The training made techs aware of an issue that affects lens collimation. On a PL-mount lens, the standard distance between the lens flange (where the lens seats against the camera mount) and the focal plane is 52 mm. However, the camera manufacturers vary somewhat in how they define their focal plane owing to filters and coatings that they place in front of the sensor. This means that the 52 mm standard flange focal depth will not always yield perfect focus, depending on the camera. Lenses can be shimmed to optimize focus with a given camera, but if the lens is then placed on a different camera, the lens collimation may be off. Matthew heads the ASC technical committee that is attempting to standardize this critical measurement, but until that happens, this is an important discrepancy for lens technicians to be aware of.
Matthew’s morning sessions covered all the essentials that apply broadly to lens techs. To supplement, Gary Adcock curated a variety of other presenters to cover adjacent topics that are important to a lens technician’s overall knowledge, including the factors that drive development. A primary one is the constant evolution of camera sensors, from S-35 mm to Full Frame and larger. Another has been the increased need for lens and camera metadata. For this, Gary gave a lecture on the evolution and state of the art of lens metadata, its application in traditional VFX, and its growing use in virtual production.
Another interesting market force comes from the creative side. Cinematographers, always in search of new means of artistic expression, are drawn to the imperfections and character of vintage optics. Alex Nelson, founder of Zero Optik, took attendees on a fascinating journey from his earliest experiments to rehouse old glass, through a wild array of truly unique projects. Perhaps one of greatest treasures among his creations is a full rehoused set of Bausch and Lomb Baltar lenses; the originals were designed in the late 1930’s. Nelson describes their unique properties as a “combination of field curvature, single-layer coatings, and primitive glass polishing techniques [that] create images unlike anything modern glass is capable of without sacrificing clarity or resolution.” Zero Optik replaced the antique mount, focus, and iris mechanisms and rehoused the optics into functional, modern lenses capable of interfacing with focus and iris systems that camera crews rely on. Judging by the smiles on everyone’s faces, attendees got a real kick out of Alex’s next-level optical/mechanical mastery and a new appreciation for vintage glass.
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| Alex Nelson (Zero Optik) |
Among the sought-after characteristics of vintage lenses are interesting lens flares, which can create a variety of effects like veiling, chromatic aberrations, starburst highlights, rings, streaks, scallops, reduced contrast, flattened shadows, and added color bias. As part of the Advanced-level training, Snehal Patel, Director of Cinema Sales at Zeiss (Americas), demonstrated how these effects are caused by light reflecting off glass elements and the interior of the lens barrel in specific ways. Optics have evolved to the point where each of these “flaws” can be eliminated or enhanced by controlling antireflective coatings on the internal lens surfaces and controlling reflections from the lens barrel. In recent years, lens manufacturers have come to market with lenses, like the Zeiss Supreme Prime Radiance, that are optimized to produce a beautiful blue flare and a warm overall look yet minimize less desirable aberrations.
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Snehal Patel, Zeiss, delves into lens flares.
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Cinematographers who require high-quality modern lensing but also want to selectively reintroduce certain flare characteristics have famously requested lenses to be altered or “tuned”. It used to be that only a few of the larger rental companies had the skilled technicians and the tools to change out or adjust lens elements, or remove certain lens coatings, to create custom effects. Flare can also be modified by polishing the lens barrel or putting polished elements inside the barrel. Focus falloff and edge focus can be customized by flipping lens elements, increasing the airgap between elements, and reducing the image flattening.
Manufacturers have also developed new lenses designed to be “tuned” and customized. A notable example, Band Pro, worked with Angenieux Lenses to develop the Optimo Primes with their Integrated Optical Palette (IOP) technology, which enables customization using interchangeable internal glass optical elements, specialized iris cartridges, and rear filter designs. For example, one of the special iris cartridges creates a curved triangle shaped iris, which emulates the 1970’s-era Zeiss B-speed lenses with their gentle focus fall off and striking triangular bokeh effect (bokeh is the shape and quality of out of focus elements, especially points of light that dissolve into out of focus shapes). During the Advanced-level training, Angenieux’s US distributor, Band Pro, provided a session on the IOP system. They brought ten Optimo Prime lenses for attendees to practice on as well as a wide variety of the interchangeable elements to try out. The swap-out was surprisingly easy, a key feature of this lens technology, and a stark contrast to the teardown of an older, almost vintage, Angenieux zoom earlier that day. It showed that lens maintenance has grown to include procedures and technology well beyond the basic tasks of cleaning the glass and regreasing the mechanical parts.
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(Left) Lens tech, Danielle Hudson, (Rule Boston Camera) reassembles an Optimo Prime
after customizing its integrated optical palette. Zachary Barrett (Sim) looks on.
(Right) IOP triangle iris cartridge installed in Angenieux Optimo prime. |
Just as people respond to the character of vintage lenses, people respond, in a different way, to the unique visual cues of anamorphic lenses. In his presentation, Dan Kanes told the story of how, after seeing Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love, he became obsessed with the mysterious quality of the anamorphic image. The obsession eventually led him to start building anamorphic lenses, forming the team that became Atlas Lens Co. Dan’s presentation was ostensibly on the history of anamorphic, but it was also a fascinating study of how economic forces, technological innovation, and artistic needs and desires drive the invention and evolution of new technology and business enterprises. Today, when modern anamorphic lenses are used on productions like Adam McKay/Linus Sandgren’s Don’t Look Up , the lenses are used entirely because of the way they look, not because they are necessary to create a widescreen experience.
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Dan Kanes, President Atlas Lenses, demonstrates anamorphic lens characteristics.
Courtesy Gary Adcock |
As PERG Manager, I contributed a presentation about equipment theft, especially high-value lenses. In a conversation I had with retired NYPD police detective Martin Pastor some years ago, he told me that lenses have greater value than most of the bank heists he’s involved with. They are like precious jewels. I presented current statistics from Rental Guard showing how thefts are perpetrated and encouraging rental companies to stay engaged with RENTAL GUARD. People don’t necessarily realize all the ways that using RENTAL GUARD triangulates between the rental community and law enforcement, service centers, used equipment dealers, other rental companies, other countries. And, perhaps even more important than what happens to equipment after it is taken is what rental companies can do to prevent it being taken. RENTAL GUARD’S member-only fraud prevention measures save people from theft many times every year.
Clearly there is a need for more of this kind of training, as evidenced by this event practically selling out during the member presale, by the size of the waiting list, by the distances some attendees travelled, and by the high level of engagement. PERG is discussing repeating the event in future. For myself, I learned a great deal about lenses and how DPs, ACs, and lens techs think about them. For the lens technicians who attended, I think it connected them more directly with the art form they support.
The Duclos Lens Tech Training was made possible by PERG’s annual sponsors ARRI Inc., Astera, Camera One, Duclos Lenses, Dynamic, Litegear, Panavision, Taylor & Taylor Associates Inc., The Camera Division, and Zeiss; the platinum event sponsors, Angenieux/Band Pro, Atlas Lenses, Chrosziel, Cooke, Fijifilm/Fujinon, and Zeiss; and event sponsors Innerspace Cases, My Case Builder, and Sigma Lenses.
