Lemac is proud to announce that we are now exclusive Australia/New Zealand dealers and service support partners for TRIBE7, offering their revolutionary BLACKWING7 and EZANA lenses.
TRIBE7
Founded as a collaboration between artist and Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Bradford Young, ASC, and Neil Fanthom, motion picture camera and lens technologist, TRIBE7 is a company dedicated to deepening the possibilities of contemporary image creation. TRIBE7’s primary areas of focus are color, light, and optics, exploring how these foundational aspects of imaging can be reimagined for today’s filmmakers by providing artists the ability to tune (enhance) and de-tune (distort) elements of color and light to bring a greater expressive range, intentionality and unique visual authorship to their story.
BLACKWING7 Lenses – Tailored for Creativity
Purpose-designed for large format motion picture imaging, BLACKWING7 lenses from TRIBE7 represent an entirely new range of tuned optics for contemporary film makers to use within their creative story telling.
BLACKWING7 optics exhibit unique imaging properties which arise from the introduction of controlled distortion during the development and manufacturing processes. This distortion is modular and allows a level of tuneability over key parameters which shape many creative characteristics of the lenses.
The lens range comprises ten focal lengths: a core set of seven plus three additional wide lenses. All lenses are offered in three tuning options per focal length, configurable at point of manufacture.
BLACKWING7 lens tuning allows parameters such as sharpness, contrast, roll-off, spherical aberration, field curvature, edge halation and flare to be modified to provide sets of “curated” optics to suit the personality and intent of the owner.
Many of the design cues for BLACKWING7 primes originate in optics manufactured during the 1930 - 1960s, but the real inspiration behind the lenses lies in the evolutionary nature of experimental music and audio synthesis, and the process of creating distortion through sound amplification.
Conceptually, the ability to tune each BLACKWING7 lens is identical to how EQ adjustment is used in music production - to control the range, or shape of tonality in specific bands across the audio frequency spectrum. The image produced by a BLACKWING7 lens can be described as having a musical fidelity to it; with each focal length having an underlying level of distortion which can be controlled to produce strong artistic resonances including unique flaring characteristics.
Ten sets of BLACKWING7 BINARIES were created by TRIBE7 to help introduce the film making community to the concept of audio merging into imaging. These limited-edition BINARIES are named in recognition of creative imaging not being a black or white process – film makers accessing a wide choice of optics is essential to serve creative storytelling. BLACKWING7 BINARIES have been widely used on commercials, music videos, TV and feature productions and all feedback from these unique lenses has contributed to the production tuning of the BLACKWING7 prime lenses which are now shipping.
EZANA Lenses – Spherical Evolved
The newly announced EZANA lenses deliver a unique medium format look for filmmakers looking to embrace the future of 65mm format capture. Inspired by ultra-widescreen Cinerama, when the iconic 2.76:1 aspect ratio was gaining popularity in the 1950s, EZANA reimagines this aesthetic by blending spherical optics with an anamorphic look.
The EZANA program has been in experiment since 2022 as part of TRIBE7’s exploration into ‘look tuning’ the modular design of BLACKWING7 lenses. During that time, photographers and cinematographers have helped test various aspects of EZANA technology during different stages of evolution.
The EZANA lens range comprises ten focal lengths featuring:
- Multi-coated optics with optimized performance for the 65mm format
- SKIN 3000 front elements that provide a warmer look with skin tones and amber flare characteristics
- New pupil (rainbow) flare response that is more vibrant than T-Tuned but subtler than X-Tuned lenses
- New ‘crossover’ iris design that creates a wide-open look similar to medium format anamorphic, which becomes more circular when stopped down
Lemac and Tribe7
At Lemac, we’re committed to supporting creative professionals by providing a lens for every story. As official TRIBE7 dealers and service support partners, we look forward to helping filmmakers unlock the full potential of the BLACKWING7 lenses.
For more information on TRIBE7 lenses, visit our website or contact our sales team today.