Ignacio Aguilar

There was no 20mm B&L Baltar lens in their first series of lenses. The 20mm was introduced in the 1960's with the Super Baltars. So when I was about to rehouse my set of "Standard" Baltars I had to choose between lenses of the era, and I ended up selecting the 18mm Cooke S2 because it was matching them fairly well: The Cookes are warmer than the Baltars (which are very cool), but that's something that you can solve easily during a digital grade. The other options that I was considering were the 18mm Schneider Xenon (Schneiders and Baltars have something in common, probably Zeiss origins, and their look is not that different) and the Angenieux 18.5mm, but I couldn't find any Schneider or Angenieux lens suitable for the very expensive rehousing process.

Hi Robert, the "Super Speed Baltars" aren't related with B&L nor the "Standard" or Super Baltars. They have very different mechanics and the look is different too. The "Standard" Baltars are said to be derived from Zeiss Biogon designs and are harder looking than the Super Baltars, but more prone to flare due to their primitive coatings. They also vignette a lot in a quite noticiable way, even though they cover Super 35. The Super Baltars are 30 years apart and are softer and less prone to flares, but they flare very nicely if a light hits the lens. The "Super Speed Baltars" are more modern lenses than the Supers (about 10 years) and have a soft, but very clean look. Somehow they remind me of Cooke S4's, even though Canon K35 would be the obvious reference for them. They don't flare as much as the Super Baltars and don't vignette at all in Super 35. So they just were nicknamed "Super Speed Baltars" because when they were released they were no other high speed lenses available for the Mitchell BNCR cameras, and most probably were used together with them. Some people used them for sure for high speed product shoots, as these were among the only lenses (K35's, Kowas and Super Baltars were the other) available for the Mitchell S35R MKII camera, which saw good use until the Arri 435 was released in the late 90's. So, just to be clear, the "Mitchell Hi Speeds", "F&B CECO Hi Speeds", "Mobile Optics Hi Speeds", etc. nicknamed "Super Speed Baltars" are completely unrelated to B&L and their two series of film lenses, but were used together with them and with the same BNCR mount Mitchell cameras, so that's how they got their nickname. The Mitchell Hi Speeds were initially the only fully functional high speed prime lenses for BNCR cameras, as the Zeiss T1.4 "B Speeds" -triangular iris version- came out circa 1975 in Arri Bayonet mounts and the Panavision Ultra Speeds were and still are PV mounted. There was an ad in the "American Cinematographer" (March 1976) issue of "Barry Lyndon" for the Canon "High Speed Aspheric Lenses" (later known as K35's) but only for the 24-35-55-85mm lenses. Most serials of K35's that I've seen are from the late 70's or even early 80's, so they probably weren't a wide available option for BNCR cameras until then, though Haskell Wexler, who had a very good relationship with Ed Di Giulio of Cinema Products, the company that sold the Canons in the USA, made a comment comparing the K35's and Mitchell Hi Speeds in the "American Cinematographer" issue covering the shoot of "Bound for Glory" (sorry, I forgot which number, but must be from late 1976 or early 1977). The 18mm Canon T2.8 was the companion lens of the 25-120mm T2.8 K35 "Macro Zoom" lens, which was already available I think before 1975. The 18mm K35 T1.5 I think it's just a 24mm T1.5 with an aspheron to get a wider angle of view (and it's closer to be a 20mm than a 18mm and "only" covers Super 35). As for VistaVision or FF Bausch & Lomb lenses, you should get in touch with Mr. Brian Caldwell of Caldwell Photographic. He's manufacturing new lens cells for both the "Standard" and Super Baltars, so you can bring the cells to your favourite rehousing company and have new lenses that match the old ones nicely. He has confirmed in Reduser that he's looking into new wide-angle Super Baltars with FF35 coverage. The Mitchell Hi Speeds cover the Alexa LF Open Gate without problem (you just have to frame to 1.78:1 and even the 28mm covers it). I have a full set including the 18mm and a 24mm (the only ones I've ever seen) and they all can be used with FF35 HD cameras, though they probably would benefit from new front rings of a wider diameter (currently 95mm) to avoid seeing the front of the lens with the widest lenses. It was not a problem in Super 35 and the common 95mm front helped 1AC a lot. The original Baltars have been forgotten lenses for decades, and thus, became unknown. They had seen hardly any use since the introduction of the reflex Mitchell cameras circa 1965. The "Standard" Baltars were in BNC mount and were designed for non mirror / non reflex cameras, so Mitchell came out for with the BNC-Reflex mount with new cameras and modified most older ones to allow the reflex viewing system- that's when the Super Baltars came out with their BNCR mounts and made the "Standard" Baltars obsolete. I had a hard time finding a rehousing company redoing it for modern HD cameras, because the wides are very hard to do as they prone a lot and remain close to the OLPF/sensor. Even with the rehousing, you still can't use them on film cameras with a mirror or HD cameras with reflex type viewing systems as the Alexa Studio or the Sony F65. But their look is very nice on HD and offer lots of personality and the so-called "film look".

I just came across this thread. We own a full set of these and know a bit of their history. The Super Speed Baltars are a nickname indeed. These are 1970's lenses that had Kenji Suematsu (who also designed the Uniq Optics series of lenses) involved in their development. I had a chat once with him and he told me the lenses were manufactured for a wide variety of clients, including the Mitchell Camera Corporation, and several camera rental houses such as Mobile, Cinemobile, F&B Ceco... so the lenses were branded after them, unlike common sets of lenses that have a name regardless of who's renting out them. The most common name was "MITCHELL HI SPEED LENSES", but there are also F&B CECO Hi Speeds, Mobile Optics Hi Speeds... they were or are the same japanese still lenses (Nikon and/or Canon) fully rehoused in BNCR mount. The rehousing itself is still good enough to be used in professional shoots with remote focus devices if you take some care with the torque. The Hi Speeds were in a F&B CECO catalogue from 1974, and I've seen sets from at least other brand with a 74 as the first two digits of the serial number, so they are from the early seventies. At that time, there were no other High Speed lenses for cinematography (maybe some simple remounted lenses, not a full rehousing, as the ones that you can see at the Kubrick exhibition) so this Hi Speed lenses were used mostly with Super Baltars and Kowa sphericals on BNCR mounted cameras, and thus the nickname "Super Speed Baltar". Bear in mind the Panavision Ultra Speeds, Canon K35 and Zeiss B Speeds won an Academy Award in 1977, so they were released sometime later than this Hi Speeds. They might have been developed for low-light photography, but since they were made from 24x36 stills glass, they were also used a lot by VFX houses such as ILM (Suematsu confirmed me this) and maybe some other post houses that adopted VistaVision for VFX work such as Apogee, etc. Leo Anthony Vale once posted in this forum that the advertised price for the Mitchell Hi Speed set in BNCR mount (28mm T1.8 - 35mm T1.3 - 55mm T1.1 - 85mm T1.7) around 1975 was 7995 USD:

SOLD

Here's a fresh coverage test, just made in an ARRI ALEXA LF Open Gate, which has a 1.43:1 native aspect ratio. All lenses cover it once you frame to a standard aspect ratio such as 1.78:1 or 16/9. Here's the link to the frames: https://imgur.com/a/IM9UfL1

We have decided to put the lenses for sale again. Here's a new video shot with this lenses: https://vimeo.com/326877763

I've always thought this lens is not as fast as it claims, maybe due to yellowing glass elements. It looks to me around T3.5 in reality. It's quite good in terms of performance, a bit sharper than Speed Panchros indeed, with great flares, but needs 6x6 filters, bridge support and shows heavy geometrical aberrations at both ends (pincusion being very evident from 80mm to 100mm or so). Bear in mind it's hard to rent and not very practical these days of handheld shooting with Easy Rigs, etc.

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Hello, We are considering the sale of an extremely rare set of lenses. These were designed in the 1970's mainly for VistaVision VFX photography, so they cover the Full Frame 24x36mm format, with a diagonal circle of image around 43-45mm. They were also used together with Bausch & Lomb Super Baltars on BNCR mounted cameras, so sometimes people referred to them as "Super Speed Baltars". The glass inside is japanese, Nikon or Canon. They are very close in look to Canon K35 lenses or Panavision Ultra Speed MKII's. Needless to say these lenses perform great on HD cameras, with a very nice look, soft yet detailed, and great flares. More Cooke than Zeiss in character, just like K35's. When they were manufactured, they were sold to different companies, which ordered the lenses with their brands engraved to them. F&B CECO, an old camera rental house, was one of them. Some other sets were engraved as MOBILE OPTICS Hi Speed, or Mitchell Camera Corporation (Mitchell Hi Speed Lenses). Focal lenghts are: 28mm T1.8 35mm T1.3 55mm T1.1 85mm T1.7 All lenses have excellent glass, with very minor marks if you look very very closely. All have been recently serviced and all are marked in FEET. They have PL MOUNTS, a common front of 95mm, and the 28-35-85mm have rotating fronts. They all have focus gears, and the 55mm T1.1 also has iris gears. If I sell them it's just because I need some money to buy other stuff and because I already own another set of this rare lenses. They rent extremely well and are also Full-Frame ready. To compliment our other set, we use 14mm, 100mm, 135mm and 200mm Canon FDs rehoused to PL by Optex, Kim Camera, PS Technik, TLS, Eastern Enterprises, etc. Canons match these lenses just nicely. Here's a couple of videos shot with my other set of lenses, which are clones in performance: [video=vimeo;216307539] [video=vimeo;270515597] And here's a picture of the set. More available upon request from SERIOUS buyers. Please don't waste my time or yours if you don't want to buy them! Those just looking for info should check the following links: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?168035-Vintage-Superspeed-amp-Full-Frame-Mitchell-Hi-Speed-AKA-Super-Speed-Baltar-LENS-TESTS http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?144209-Mitchell-Hi-Speed-Super-Speed-Baltar-Lenses SALE PENDING for the four lenses. We won't split them. Shipping Worldwide (not included) 0% VAT offered for EU VAT Registered companies PM me or Email: info at harmonicarental dot com

Hello, We are considering the sale of our set of eight Bausch & Lomb Baltars: 18mm f2 (this one is a Cooke S2, it matches well, B&L never manufactured anything wider than 25mm for the 35mm format). 25mm f2.3 30mm f2.3 35mm f2.3 40mm f2.3 50mm f2.3 75mm f2.3 100mm f2.3 All lenses have been rehoused to a very high standard by Van Diemen in the UK. All the lenses have a common 110mm front, iris and focus gears and are marked in METRIC. Lenses from 25mm to 100mm cover Super 35. 18mm covers 35mm Academy or ARRI 2K/2.8K ARRIRAW. I haven't tested them on RED cameras, so don't bother ask for their coverage because I have no info on that. However they cover 3.4K ARRIRAW Open Gate from 30mm and up. These are super vintage lenses, originally designed in the 1930's, and used in tons of American movies such as "Rear Window", "The Magnificent Ambersons" or "Psycho", among hundreds. They predate the later Super Baltar series, introduced circa 1965. Their look is very special, with an incredible flare and a petzval bokeh at wide apertures, but they're still sharp and clean if you stop them down a bit. Here's a couple of test videos of this particular set: [video=vimeo;279934152] [video=vimeo;292485142] And this is a video comparing them to the Super Baltars (not our test nor lenses): [video=vimeo;122034788] Asking 48.000 euros (only serious enquiries) Shipping Worldwide (not included) 0% VAT offered for EU VAT registered buyers. PM or Email: info at harmonicarental dot com

EBAY: https://www.ebay.com/itm/153110961974?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

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