NEW: TRIBE 7 Blackwing7 Primes

TRIBE 7 is the child of two powerhouse collaborators, Academy Award®-Nominated Cinematographer Bradford Young, ASC (Selma, A Most Violent Year; Arrival; and Solo: A Star Wars Story), and Neil Fanthom, former Strategy and Technology Executive at ARRI. The two worked together closely during the development of ARRI’s Prime DNA lenses, which Young used on Solo: A Star Wars Story. “They were developing the DNA lenses at ARRI Rental and that gave me an opportunity to embed some of my own meta, my history and some of my own life into the glass. Things progressed from there and now we are introducing BLACKWING7,” Young explained in an interview with FDTimes magazine.

Not Just One Unique Look

From their conception, the Blackwings were designed to tap into that distinct kind of beauty found in classic mid-twentieth century portrait lenses such as the Hasselblad Planar, Zeiss Biotar, and Kodak Ektar. These days, there are lots of rehoused old portrait lenses, though, and you might be asking yourself “what makes these so special?” - we’re glad you asked!

What’s particularly unique about the Blackwings is the truly bespoke nature of each set. To explain further: TRIBE 7 has designed 3 different tunings - levels of sharpness, flaring, halation, aberration, etc. - for each focal length, allowing buyers to fully customize their set when they order, meaning that these lenses don’t just feature one single unique look, but contain within them the potential for many unique looks. Our set at Cinemechanics will feature the medium tuning (nicknamed “T” for “Transient”), which provides softer focus roll-off and increased edge detail halation, capturing a slightly softer and more artistic image with pronounced flaring characteristics. The other levels available from TRIBE 7 are “S” for “Straight” or “X” for “Expressive”, which offer lower and higher levels of distortion respectively. No matter which configuration one uses though, they can expect a soft and pleasing image, dripping with vintage character.