Kinoptik Paris were originally cine lenses that are known for their high resolution and unique bokeh. The out of focus highlights go very spherical and are a bit bubbly. The rendering is very dimensional wide open with not too much flare. This one has been professionally remounted by S.K. Grimes to Leica M mount. It is not RF coupled and is made to be used on your M body with EVF or your Mirrorless body with M mount Adapter. The lens focuses as close as 24” and is a pleasure to use.
Carlo Velasquez: Leica SL3-S
First Impressions:
I’ve always been big fan of older optics on digital sensor. You end up creating a look unique to the lens and camera combination. At first glance this lens is minimal yet unique and was curious to see how it would render on Leica’s latest camera, The Leica SL3-S.
I knew going in that this lens would have vintage character so I took two test shots, one wide open at f/2.0 and then all the way stopped down at f/16, and I was not prepared for the results.
Stopped down and Wide Open:
Stopped down, this lens is sharp but due to the age of this vintage lens, the coating marks on the front element seemed to decrease the contrast in the center of the image. However, wide open is where this lens really shines! The combination of the shallow depth of field and semi-telephoto focal length creates a 3 dimensional pop!
Shooting Experience:
The rehousing for this lens made for an interesting shooting experience compared to other vintage lenses I’ve used in the past. Since the lens had no hyper focal markings it made “zone” or “range” focusing impossible and required me to use the EVF or the LCD to achieve critical focus. After my initial test with the lens, I mainly shot this lens wide open and enjoyed the results.
For a lens from the 1930’s, the rendering rides a fine line between vintage and modern due to the apochromatic optical design. The highlight produce a slight glow and have very little to no visible chromatic abberation or spillage. The color rendition in the lighter areas of the images are vivid and accurate juxtaposed to the somewhat painterly and softness in the darker areas, which I think can also be attributed to the Leica SL3-S’s BSI 24mp sensor. As I mentioned above, part of this lenses character is the 3 dimensional pop when you achieve critical focus. This lens is tack sharp and captures amazing detail for both wide and close up scenes, drawing your eye to the subject.
Close Focus:
The rehousing of this lens allowed for a close focus of up to 24″ or about 0.6m which is pretty standard for M-mount lenses. So I shot a few photos at different ranges to showcase how smooth the lens transitions from what is in focus to the out of focus areas and how closer distances really isolate subjects from the background, accentuating the bokeh.
Lucien Liu: Leica M11 Monochrom
First Impressions:
Like Carlo, I’ve always been curious about vintage lenses. There’s something about the character of old glass that makes me feel more connected to the history of photography. This particular lens, now housed in a modern, lightweight body, felt well-balanced on my M11 Monochrom. It is comfortable to hold and intuitive to use.
Shooting Experience:
Designed specifically for the M system, this updated housing definitely preserves the classic M lens shooting experience. But I also noticed a few interesting “quirks” unique to this lens.
Focusing:
First, as Carlo pointed out, it doesn’t have hyperfocal distance markings, and it’s not rangefinder-coupled. That means using the EVF or LCD screen is pretty much necessary. Thankfully, the M11 Monochrom’s precise focus peaking makes it easy to nail focus even at f/2 with a 75mm focal length.
Close Focus:
Second, it offers close focusing down to 24″ (about 0.6m), which opens up creative possibilities, especially when paired with the shallow depth of field and creamy bokeh that this focal length can deliver.
Third, the lens has a very long focus throw. While this allows for fine-tuned focusing, it also means that achieving precise focus, especially when working close, requires a steady hand. In some situations, using a tripod might be helpful.
The long focus throw needs more attention on focusing. The two images above show some misfocusing.
APO Quality:
Lastly, I was genuinely impressed by the lens’s apochromatic optical design, which dates back to the 1930s. The unit I tested had a slight coating mark on the front element that reduced contrast slightly, but even so, the wide-open sharpness was striking.
The 100% crop is showing the APO glass quality.
Conclusion
Despite being based on a 90-year-old design, the lens’s APO performance speaks volumes about the quality of glass from that era, and it gives us even more confidence in Leica’s contemporary APO lenses. We could only imagine what master optical engineers of the past would have thought of modern optics, building off an analog era and continue to refine optical designs to keep up with new technologies. While some of the lens’s vintage features may not perfectly align with today’s digital workflows, its unique rendering and classic look make it a truly special piece for creating distinctive images for both color and black and white.
