About The Ultimate Cinema Lens Library

In the summer of 2016, Mark LaFleur, Kyle Stryker, Nick Ferriero and I started the conversation about the lack of strong, reliable and comprehensive testing for optics. As filmmakers and cinematographer’s ourselves, we personally felt the need to have a resource like The Ultimate Cinema Lens Library available for the masses to access for free. In September of 2016, we released our very first "lens test" which consisted mostly of spherical vintage glass called The Ultimate Vintage Lens Test. It was an experiment, it was exhausting, and it was uncharted territory for all of us. Eight sets of lenses, one camera, a skeleton crew and one weekend. However, the results were amazing and I've never been more proud of a team for what we accomplished back then.

(BTS of the Anamorphic Test in 2017. Photo by Joseph Adams.)
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When we decided late in 2016 that we wanted to do a "test 2.0," anamorphic was all that came to mind. It was the natural progression for us. During our early meetings, we tried focusing on 4 main areas.

First was expansiveness. It was imperative that we try to get as many anamorphic lenses that are popular in today's world of digital cinematography. This included modern and accurate, vintage and old, expensive and exotic, cheap and accessible, light and compact, zooms and primes, as well as front and rear anamorphic. Though no test is perfect and we couldn't get every lens we wanted, we were able to track down 13 brands, which was very exciting for us. One thing that humbled me the most was each and every vendor that came out in support for this test. It is important to note that every set was donated to us for this test. To ask a rental house or private owner to lend us their lenses over a holiday weekend was asking a lot. Yet, every owner came through. That really speaks highly of all of our vendors who believed in what we were doing and I honestly can't thank them enough for their support.
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(Our model Kori Agee. Photo by Joseph Adams.)

Second was efficiency. Our last test was with one camera, which proved to be a bottleneck for our testing methods. This time around, we had 4 cameras running simultaneously for the entire weekend. During the actual shoot, once one lens was done with our "real world" test, it would then progress to the focus and distortion chart station where an entirely different crew was ready and waiting to run it through the gamut. Then, it was sent to the projection room where it ran through another set of tests or what I like to call, the "diagnosis test." Once finished in the projection room, it was then given to me and another crew to shoot b-roll and beauty shots with. This shoot was a well-oiled machine and having more cameras and a system in place is how we were able to get as much done as we could in one long weekend. However, in order to tackle such a strenuous schedule, we needed more people.

We knew from the start that our crew had to almost triple in size. By having this many "stations" and cameras dedicated to one task, we needed a crew that would also be just as focused and dedicated (pun intended). Much like our vendors, our crew came out by the dozens. At one point, we had to turn away volunteers simply because we didn't have enough room in our space. It says a lot about the ShareGrid community and the film community in general when that many people are willing to donate their holiday weekend for a lens test. In fact, our still photographer was originally just a guest who wanted to stop by to check out the shoot. He ended up coming back the next day and took some incredible behind the scenes stills for us. In my decade of being in this industry, I don't think I've ever had someone stop by a shoot only to stay and help out for two days straight for free.
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(Supervising Producer, Jay Holben, takes a closer look in the projection room. Photo by Eric Lombart.)
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When we decided to take on this anamorphic test, we knew we needed the same model, location, lighting setup, hair and makeup artist, even down to the background elements. That's what makes a test successful. Consistency and having as few variables as possible was the goal. Luckily for us, all of these elements panned out.

We released our Ultimate Anamorphic Lens Test in August of 2017. Thirteen  sets of lenses and terabytes of footage to compile. However, it was more than rewarding to hear from so many filmmakers and cinematographers on how helpful this growing library has become to their process. We were honored to be covered in the American Cinematographer as well as ICG magazine, No Film School, F Stoppers, DP Review and so on. This momentum carried over into our now, third iteration of the lens library.

In August of 2019 we ramped up again to create our Ultimate Full Frame Lens Test. This quickly became our biggest test of all. To meet the growing popularity of full frame and large format in both lenses and sensor technology, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. We wish we could have tested every type of full frame lens out there however we had to settle on 20 sets which was an almost impossible task in and of itself... and it needed to be done in 5 full shoot days.
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(Our lens test DP, Kyle Stryker, frames up. Photo by Joseph Adams.)
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The only way this herculean effort would be achieved was to have not only the same laser-focused crew as well as partners. We were honored to quickly bring on Zeiss, ARRI, Duclos Lenses, Aputure, Sigma, Athos Insurance, and On The Mark Media as our official contributors to the test. With donations from Canon, G-Technology, Schneider Optics, Tokina Cinema, Rokinon, ZERØ OPTIK, Alternative Rentals, Ancient Optics, BECiNE, Cine Visuals, Eastside Camera Services, F22 Studios, Freestyle Filmworks, JL Fisher, and, Socal Rentals. As well as guidance and help from Jay Holben, The ASC, Christopher Probst, ASC, David Stump, ASC, Denis Lenoir, ASC, Markus Förderer, ASC, Bianca Halpern, Clint Lealos, Elle Schneider, Jas Shelton, Kevin McCarthy, Lauren Lexton, Phil Holland and many others. It became an army of experts, artists and enthusiasts who all believed in the simple notion of giving back to the community.
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(Camera Op Kaity Williams, left, and AC, Brian Taylor, right. Photo by Joseph Adams.)
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After months of pre-production, 5 grueling days of shooting and months of post-production, we have now added 300 4K Full Frame videos to the Ultimate Cinema Lens Library. To date, the library now has over 500 videos, 40 lens sets and 167 lenses to compare.
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(Crew members: Kaity Williams, Eric Lombart, Joseph Adams, Joey Rassool.)
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I sincerely hope you’re able to learn from all three of these lens tests. Our goal was to not only educate but to inspire. To lower the barriers built by misinformation and lack of resources in the hopes that you feel that much more confident in your projects moving forward. Or at the very least, you are willing to run additional tests on your own time. To the crew and vendors who put in their energy, and countless hours of their time, I thank you all. To say this was an honor for me is an understatement. Happy testing!