Windsor, Ontario, 27 July 2023: Today the new standard in Cinema lens mounts for vintage lenses is officially announced by Simmod Lens. Their just-launched range of LPL lens mounts and camera mount adapters are the modern way to adapt your vintage glass to a wide range of cameras. You can now adapt your vintage Canon FD/nFD, Leica R, Nikon F (Al/AIS), Olympus OM, Mamiya Sekor C 645 or Contax/Yashica lens to LPL mount using a SIMple replacement mount kit from Simmod Lens. For compatibility on the camera side, you can now get an LPL to RF, LPL to Sony E, or LPL to L-mount or , LPL to PL lens-to-body adapter for your mirrorless mount camera to create a strong, secure and flexible LPL lens mounting solution.
By standardizing on LPL you can now take the same lens and mount it on an ARRI Alexa Mini LF or Alexa 35, or onto your Sony A7S III, Sony FX6, Canon R5 and many other cameras. This makes the Simmod SIMple LPL mount system a truly practical solution that protects your significant camera and lens investment.
Nothing is more annoying than lenses that wobble when mounted to your lens adapter. It can ruin that precious shot and in the worst cases, it can even cause an image shift. Converting to Simmod Lens LPL mounts solves this as the positive locking rotating collar on the camera side creates a rock-solid physical connection between the camera and lens. Each SIMple LPL mount is made entirely of brass and is fully shimmable with shims included.
Installing a SIMple LPL conversion is easy and can be performed by the user. It requires the removal of a few native screws and mounting the LPL conversion directly on top of the native mount. Then simply reinstall the screws.
To finish the look and feel of each lens a SIMple Fit follow focus gear, front cine ring with the 80 or 85mm outside diameter, plus a cine lens cap can also fitted. In the case of Canon FD lenses, users can also fit a re-engineered Edmika Dampened Controlled Gear (DCG) aperture ring for a more precise de-clicked iris control.
ARRI’s LPL – the ultimate Univeral mount
Before the Simmod Lens SIMple LPL conversions, if a user wanted to modify vintage stills lenses to be universally used in this way between top-end cinema cameras, professional cameras and mirrorless cameras the standard option was PL mount. Unfortunately, this meant most vintage stills lenses would require an expensive full cine re-housing or a costly bespoke mount-only PL conversion. Now users can get all the benefits of positive locking and greater compatibility, all without unnecessary expense by fitting a Simmod SIMple LPL mount themselves.
The ARRI LPL or “Large Positive Lock” mount is an innovative universal lens mount designed specifically for digital capture. It is the first mount of its kind and was created to address the limitations of the PL mount. The LPL mount is designed to work with larger sensors and has a wider diameter than the PL mount (62mm vs 55mm for PL). It can be found on the ARRI Alexa LF, Mini LF, Alexa 65 and Alexa 35. The Sony Venice/Venice 2 and most RED DSMC2 and DSMC3 cameras can also be fitted with LPL mounts.
This is all possible because the LPL mount is different to PL. It has a shorter flange focal distance of 44mm versus 52mm, the extra depth being what allows the new Simmod SIMple LPL conversions of vintage lenses to work. It features a locking mechanism that ensures a secure and stable connection between the lens and the camera body. It is found natively on the Alexa Mini LF, Alexa LF, Alexa 65, and Alexa 35, along with Sony Venice and RED DSMC2 and DSMC3 cameras with appropriate optional mounts or adapters.
Ron Sim CSC, the founder of Simmod Lens explains, “Through the years we’ve had countless enquiries asking if we can convert certain vintage lenses to PL. The answer was always NO because it's impossible to do via a simple conversion. To meet the PL 52mm flange distance a costly full re-house is usually required. The introduction of ARRI’s LPL mount changes all that, with the shorter 44mm flange distance opening up an entire world of possibilities for modding vintage lenses.
We’ve spent the last 10 months developing a SIMple LPL conversion kit for the most popular vintage lens ranges. Most vintage lenses we already converted to EF, which also has a 44mm flange, so now almost any lens we offer EF mounts for can also convert to LPL with all the benefits that bring.”
With ARRI behind it LPL is set to become the standard lens mount of choice in the future. The availability of inexpensive Simmod LPL options now gives users far more choice than before and will speed adoption of the standard. Rental houses and others who are looking to fully rehouse their vintage still lenses often face a two to three-year wait to get the work done on their lenses. Now, instead of having the lenses sit there gathering dust in the meantime, they can be Simmod Lens converted to LPL and rented out or used until their place in line for rehousing comes up. Nothing in the Simmod Lens SIMple conversion kit changes the optics or the capacity to have a lens fully rehoused at a later date.
New Simmod Lens LPL adapters for mirrorless mount cameras
Once a vintage lens is converted to LPL, you will need an LPL adapter to connect to your camera. The high price of LPL adapters currently on the market is prohibitive for most end users, so Simmod Lens solved this problem by coming out with its own range of professional-grade LPL adapters that sell at a much lower price point than the current alternatives. Available for LPL to Sony E, LPL to RF, LPL to L-mount, and LPL to PL each adapter is robustly constructed of solid brass and stainless steel.
Attention to detail is everything so the adapters are anodized in a non-reflective, non-ghosting black finish, and come complete with shims. Each adapter has removable ‘ears’ that give additional leverage when rotating the locking collar. If additional clearance is required for particular lenses these tabs can even be reversed.
Simmod Lens Solutions was born out of a passion for the craft
Simmod was founded by award-winning cinematographer and vintage lens enthusiast Ron Sim CSC. From small beginnings, Simmod has rapidly grown into one of the world’s best-known and most trusted lens modding companies. In recent months it has invested heavily in new R&D, machinery and premises that allow for precision work at a larger scale.
Ron’s work on this project, and collaboration with ARRI to make it a reality, is born out of his ethos to democratize filmmaking. He said, “I truly believe that LPL is the professional mount solution the industry needs. It's been an honour to bring it to a much wider user base as part of Simmod Lens’ continuing commitment to creating professional solutions for all our users.”
Pricing and availability
The Simmod Lens SIMple fit LPL mount adapters are available now from the company’s website starting at $189.
The LPL camera adapters are also available immediately priced at $399.
It’s a great solution, but for canon RF shooters it only solves one part of a two part problem.
The RF mount, and its considerable play, is not really a good solution for cine cams. Not without the locking mechanism built into the mount like on the Kodomo X or V-Raptor.