Last spring, photography gear company Moment announced The Tuner by Module 8, the world’s first variable-look cinematic lens system. The Tuner is now coming to even more mounts after initially launching for EF-mount lenses.
Last December, Moment and Module 8 brought their tuner series to PL mount lenses. With newly unveiled adapters, the tuners now work on X and L-Mount lenses.
For readers unfamiliar with The Tuner by Module 8, it is worth looking closer at precisely what they are and why people might want to adapt them to additional camera systems. The Tuner comes in three versions, L1, L2, and L3. Each tuner goes in between a lens and a camera, allowing users to augment the look of their photos and videos. The variable-look tuners bring old-school charm based on real-world vintage glass.
The L1 recreates the look of classic Super Baltar lenses. The L2, on the other hand, offers the character of original K-35 cinema lenses, which sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars on the second-hand market these days. Rounding out the trio is the L3, built by Module 8 co-founder Iain A. Neil, an expert optical craftsman with 13 Oscars under his belt. The L3 is essentially Neil’s baby, hand-built to his image quality preferences.
The craftsmanship of the tuners is essential to understanding what makes them special. Unlike digital filters, the Tuners by Module 8 affect the light that reaches a camera’s image sensor at the physical (wavelength) level. The glass inside the tuners has been meticulously designed to accurately recreate the look of vintage lenses that are either difficult to find or prohibitively expensive.
While users can try to “tune” lenses themselves or use artificial means to give modern cameras an old-school look, the Tuners by Module 8 are consistent, built using lab-derived optical designs, and their strength can be adjusted. Each tuner is variable, meaning that users can adjust the strength of the tuning effect.
The new mount kit requires the use of PL-mount Tuners (not EF mount), and each kit is $100. The tuners themselves are $2,499 each for PL mount, with PL to RF and PL to E options available. That said, until April 21, the tuners are $200 off, bringing the price down to $2,299. The EF to RF and EF to E versions are $1,299 each. At present, only the X Mount adapter kit is available, with L, RF, and E mount versions slated to ship soon.
Image credits: Moment / Module 8