on a given project, there are thousands of choices you can make regarding what gear you decide to shoot it with. You can shoot it digitally, you can shoot it on film, you could shoot it on an old camera, you could shoot it on a new camera. So why would you choose 40-year-old vintage Stills lenses? Reason number one would be the look. The image quality of these lenses is phenomenal. If you're looking for the type of glass that does a really good job of creating a three-dimensional image that pops but maintains some character in the out-of-focus areas of the image, look no further than Leica R lenses. The Leica R lenses are 35mm SLR lenses introduced by Leica in 1964. They were produced until 2009 and are generally less expensive than their Mount counterparts. Optically, they're pretty similar, but you're not going to find any side-by-side tests here because, frankly, I don't give a sh*t. This video is mainly about the emotional reaction I have seeing the image these lenses

produce and my experience using them out in the field. One of the main reasons you would choose to shoot on a vintage lens is to soften up a digital sensor and create a more filmic image. For some applications, sharper is better, but generally, you want to create an image that transports the viewer from their ordinary life into something more elevated and stylized. These lenses sharpen up nicely at slower apertures, which is a nice bonus as well if you don't want to commit solely to a softer vintage look, which is sometimes overused. This flexibility is what sets the Le RS apart from a lot of other vintage glass, in my opinion. These were designed to be used on old Leica film cameras, so they're quite compact. If you want to, you could outfit them with focus gears and a uniform front ring and have a very compact set of vintage primes that will fit in a backpack. For their size, they deliver a really stunning image, and so this makes them a great choice for both solo operators or larger productions.

only downside is that the lenses are fully manual, and de-clicking the aperture is not easy as the iris sometimes drifts due to the design of the lens. I really loved using these lenses on this Vans commercial I shot last year until funo Canada and Salt Lake City Utah paired with a commodo. They were super lightweight and convenient for this shoot, which was done with a very Skeleton Crew due to our crazy travel to Tofino from NYC, which took about 22 hours by a plane, car, boat, and caran. It was very important to keep gear light and compact as I was carrying my own backpack. I even have an AC on this shoot. The extra effort of pulling Focus for myself was worth it in my opinion to get the look. The kodo sensor in these vintage-like has G as a set of lenses to own. It's hard to beat the value of the Le R lenses if you buy the sumon or El Merit versions. Each lens can be bought for a few hundred bucks each.

on eBay, the suxus can be more expensive, and the Very sought-after 19 mm can be pricey too. The vast majority of focal lengths are fast enough at a f/2 or f/2.8 for most applications. While these lenses don't have the modern conveniences of a lot of newer glass, like autofocus, and is for some users, that's okay. They do work out to be a solid amount cheaper than some of the Alternatives and offer a gorgeous image. Lens choices, of course, are subjective, and a lens that works for one project may not be the right choice for another. If you're looking for glass that you can use in a variety of applications, that has a distinctive vintage look on a budget, and you don't need features like autofocus, then the Leica RS are a brilliant budget-friendly option that are readily available on eBay and in most camera rental houses.

Why I use vintage Leica R lenses for cinematography

Sharing my work and experiences as a Director and DP in Brooklyn, NY