Leica Cine MacroLux +0.5, +1, +2

A year ago, at NAB, CW Sonderoptic presented the Leica Cine MacroLux +1 diopter. Now, there are two additions to the close-up family: +0.5 and +2.

All three diopters (+0.5, +1, +2) share the same optical design, coatings, mechanical housing, and 95mm front diameter clip-on and stackable rings. These are not your ordinary diopters. They use a high-performance spherical doublet. There is no spherical aberration, color fringing, and almost no light loss. The coatings are color matched to the rest of the Summilux-C and Summicron-C lens series.

The Cine MacroLux diopters clamp onto the front of any Summilux-C or Summicron-C prime (except 135 Summilux-C) because they all share the same front diameter: 95 mm. They will also fit many other lenses with 95 mm front diameters: ARRI/ZEISS Ultra Primes (16 – 135), ZEISS Compact Zooms (28-80, 70-200), Sigma Cine lenses (20 – 85 and 18-35, 50-100, 24-35 zooms) and ARRI/ZEISS Master Anamorphics (35 – 180). The clamp-on mechanism has dual thumbscrews that can be accessed from either side of the lens.

Why +2? Well, you could stack two +1 diopter together (effectively giving you a +1.7). But the +2 allows you to get closer to the subject and is easy to use.

Why +0.5? Gerhard Baier, Managing Director of CW Sonderoptic, explained “Wide angle at close focus is a very popular trend right now and there is no easier way to bring that look to a large number of lenses than using the Leica Cine MacroLux +0.5.” The diopter lets you get extremely wide and incredibly close and the background goes out of focus to a much greater degree.

The full set of Cine MacroLuxes will be at CW Sonderoptic’s NAB booth (C4345). They are available for order now with delivery beginning in April.