Leitz Cine Hugo 40mm T1.5 Prime Brings Leica M Spirit to Filmmaking
The Leitz Cine Hugo 40mm T1.5 is Leica’s latest, super-fast prime lens for professional filmmakers and videographers.
The new Hugo 40mm T1.5 is the 14th lens in Leitz’s Hugo series, joining 13 other fast cinema prime lenses, including the 18mm T1.5, 50mm T1.0, 75mm T1.5, 90mm T2.1, 135mm T1.9, and others. There are lenses ranging from 18mm to 135mm, and each covers full-frame image sensors.
What’s special about the Leitz Cine Hugo lenses is that they adapt optical technology and designs from Leica’s acclaimed M series photography lenses for a filmmaking audience. As Leitz Cine notes, Leica’s M photography optics are celebrated for their “rich colors, artful flares and rounded image field.”
To that end, even when shot wide open, whether that’s T1.0, T1.9, T2.1, or T1.5 like in the case of the new 40mm prime, Leitz promises excellent sharpness that doesn’t feel “harsh.”
“Their lower contrast keeps images smooth and falloff feeling natural even while details pop. The strong field curvature of the full frame lenses means that at faster stops the edges fall away noticeably in illumination, focus, and resolution allowing subjects to jump off the screen,” Leitz says of its Hugo lenses. “The bokeh strongly smooths out details, blurring backgrounds into impressionistic backdrops further accentuating the separation between subject and setting.”
Interestingly, unlike some of the other Hugo lenses, there is no direct corollary in Leica’s M family. There is no Leica 40mm f/1.4 prime. Instead, in the case of this new lens, Leica’s photo lens engineers worked with Leitz to ensure the new cinema lens embodies M-like optical performance and tendencies, even though there isn’t a Leica M lens to use as the optical basis.
Leitz notes that its Hugo 66mm T2.1 lens uses the same design as Leica’s famed Elcan “Spy Lens” from the 1960s and 70s, while its 50mm T1.0 features glass from Leica’s iconic 50mm f/0.95 Noctilux-M.
“The 40mm is a classic focal length in cinematography,” says Rainer Hercher, Managing Director of Leitz Cine. “As soon as we released the Hugo [lenses] it was the most requested focal length to add, and we are happy to fulfill this need in the market for more Leitz glass.”
The Leitz Hugo series lenses feature a cinema-friendly housing design and are swappable between LPL and L-Mount. The focus rings feature 270 degrees of rotation and standard M 0.8 gearing. The new 40mm T1.5, like other Hugo lenses, features a 95mm front diameter and 92mm front filter thread, ensuring that it easily fits into an existing Hugo-based workflow.
The new lens weighs a hefty 1.9 pounds (870 grams) and can focus as close as 14 inches (36 centimeters). The lens has an 11-bladed aperture diaphragm.
Pricing and Availability
The Leitz Cine Hugo 40mm T1.5 lens will be available later this year for an undisclosed price. B&H has the lens available, although only Studio-B&H professional customers can order it. Whenever a new lens is not publicly priced, it means it will be expensive. Based on prior Leitz Hugo lenses, it is a safe bet that cinematographers can expect to pay between $15,000 and $20,000 for the new prime lens, but that is ultimately speculation.
Image credits: Leitz Cine
