FS: Rare Super16 Kinoptik 12.5mm f1.5, PL mount

James Coleman Rogers · December 10, 2020

Beautiful little Kinoptik "982", covers super16 with absolutely no vignette/corner-darkening.

12.5mm, f1.5/T1.8; aperture ring is marked in T-stops.

Great close focus; goes down to around 0.2-0.25meters, well under 12 inches. Lowest mark on focus ring is 0.3M, as visible in photo, but the ring turns a good bit beyond that point.

VERY compact, would make a wonderful lens for use on gimbal/steadicam; just add gear ring for follow focus, or would be great for use on a Red in crop mode for high frame-rates. Nice lens to be different from the usual ubiquitous Zeiss s16 superspeeds.

Glass and coatings in very good shape, only thing keeping it from perfection is a few VERY minor/uber-thin cleaning-marks on front element, as is usual on vintage glass. So microscopically thin it will never ever have any effect on performance, so do not let it concern you, I only mention it for sake of accurate representation. Did my best to try to capture it in the photo of the front element, but hard to capture and im not sure if it shows.

Focus and aperture turn smoothly, although focus ring is getting a little bit stiff and could probably use a clean/lube. But with that said, it is still smooth enough for use as is.

As with many vintage lenses of this nature, it is soft wide open, but...WOW, does it get SHARP when stopped down. Gives my Super16 Cooke VaroKinetal a run for its money and I'd say it even outperforms it a bit when stopped down to T4 and up, which is really saying something for those of you that know the performance-level of the Cooke.

The lens has a desirable very late serial-number, and thus has Kinoptik's most recent, modern coatings.

A lovely lens, but I have WAY too many and need to free up some $$$ to remount/modernize a very rare vintage anamorphic zoom that is on its way to me now.

I'm asking $1,050, and I am more or less firm on that price; not desperate and in no rush to sell.