Filmmakers Can Use 10 Times As Many Lenses on Super 16mm Thanks to OFG’s New Adapter

Old Fast Glass (OFG), a specialty cinema camera lens maker and rental house, unveiled the OFG Customs Long Shot. It is a new optical adapter designed to enable cinematographers to use full-frame and larger cinema lenses on Super 16mm cameras, preserving not only the look of larger-format lenses but also their entire field of view.

Typically, when photographers, or in this case, filmmakers, use full-frame, large-format, and VistaVision lenses on a “crop” camera like a 16mm one, they incur a crop factor, which can be significant compared to the native format for some lenses. While using a full-frame lens on a smaller-than-full-frame camera is a perfectly viable option, not every filmmaker wants to lose the lens’s native field of view.

“The Long Shot is an optical adapter that allows you to use Full Frame/Large Format/Vista Vision lenses, and retain the full field of view, depth of field, and character of those lenses onto the 16mm format,” Old Fast Glass explains. “It was designed specifically to use with PL mount 16mm cameras like the ARRI 416, ARRI SR3, AATON Xtera, AATON XTR Prod, AATON Minima, Bolex H16 and more.”

The company continues, saying that filmmakers using 16mm film cameras now have “10 times the lens options.” OFG says that the Long Shot enables filmmakers to capture a “completely new look” never seen before in the 16mm format.

“This truly is 16mm reimagined,” OFG boasts.

Adapters like this are significantly more sophisticated than straight-up mount adapters, as something like the OFG Customs Long Shot requires optics to correct, or essentially, change a lens’s field of view to overcome the typical crop factor that comes when using lenses on a smaller format.

Although some users online have wondered if the Long Shot is a speed booster, it is actually a very high-end depth-of-field adapter “on steroids,” Old Fast Glass founder and cinematographer Mark LaFleur tells PetaPixel.

“Optically it’s optimized for capturing FF/LF/VV lenses with edge performance that’s better than the DOF adapters from the early 2000s, and minimal to no vignette,” LaFleur continues. He says that while some lenses — “maybe 5%” per LaFleur — can have dark corners, it won’t be because of a coverage issue but because of “optical design.” LaFleur says darker corners result from the distance of the lens’s exit pupil from the focal plane.

As CineD reports, the OFG Customs Long Shot is the result of a user request. Cinematographer Gary Long approached Old Fast Glass, itself founded by a cinematographer, Mark LaFleur, about the possibility of adapting large-format lenses to 16mm film. LaFleur explains that this new product is the first time the company has developed a product in response to an external request, rather than through in-house design initiatives. The product’s name, “Long Shot,” is in honor of Gary Long.

The Long Shot also includes internal exposure control, ensuring the adapter does not require any additional neutral density (ND) filters to control exposure. It also promises not to affect depth of field or introduce any color shifts, ensuring consistency in a professional workflow, which is essential when shooting on film.

“Mechanically, it’s an all-in-one solution that is rock sold, reliable, and has pro features that ACs and DPs expect for cinema use, like 3-Pin Fischer with RS, and well as 2-Pin to power accessories, cage, and proper 15mm LWS, and 15mm/19mm studio support. It has swappable mounts similar to RED DSMC2, so four screws, shim-able, [and] rock solid,” LaFleur tells PetaPixel.

The OFG Customs Long Shot works with both spherical and anamorphic lenses. OFG notes that a 1.5x anamorphic lens for full-frame cameras delivers a desqueezed 2.49:1 image on Super 16mm film. Only minimal cropping is then required to achieve a classic 2.4:1 aspect ratio.

The Long Shot is available in LPL, PL, EF, F, and BNCR mounts and includes 3-pin Fischer R/S and 2-pin LEMO power distribution. It includes a custom cage as well. For now, it will be a rental-only item, and pricing is not publicly available.

LaFleur says that Old Fast Glass may consider producing them for sale in “very limited quantities,” but no further details are available. He also adds that they are designing a Super35 version as well.

“If you tried to use S35 lenses on this one, they would vignette the same way S35 lenses would vignette on a camera with a FF sensor,” LaFleur explains. “When we have both versions, you will be able to use nearly any 16mm, S35mm, and FF lens ever made on a 16mm film camera, and get excellent results.”

Image credits: Old Fast Glass