If you need to mount PL lenses to an LPL mount camera then Tilta has an adapter available.

The PL to LPL Mount Adapter features a standard PL/LPL design with accurate flange focal distance and it is compatible with ALEXA 35, ALEXA LF, ALEXA Classic / XT / SXT, ALEXA Mini LF, ALEXA Mini, AMIRA, and ALEXA 65, etc.

It also has a quick locking mechanism so no tools are required for installation. The adapter is made out of Aluminum Alloy and Stainless Steel.

What you do need to be clearly aware of is that if you use the Tilta adapter with an ALEXA 35 you could end up with milky blacks and reduced contrast because it doesn’t use ARRI’s light suppressing coatings.

The unexpected issue that ARRI ran into when making the ALEXA 35 is that because the sensor is capable of so many stops of dynamic range they found that there was so much light bouncing around inside the camera and lens mount that it was affecting contrast. This led to the shadows and dark areas in the image looking milky. The veiling light that bounces around and makes the blacks milky actually takes away from the dynamic range. You ideally want rich deep blacks and not milky blacks.

What ARRI needed to do is to find a way of suppressing this stray light and this was a project that took more than a year to solve. Most light-suppressing coatings are not very robust and they rub off easily. This means that they weren’t suitable for use in a lens mount. After a lot of trial and error, ARRI eventually came up with a very sophisticated stray light suppression technology that involved using a very expensive coating in combination with special ridges and light masks that are placed inside of the camera cavity.

What this ultimately achieves is that it lets the camera accurately capture the full contrast range and character of each lens while also providing deep and rich blacks. The other benefit of reducing this stray light is that now you can more clearly see the difference between lenses. This allows you to see a much more accurate representation of what the lens is actually capturing. This means that the camera isn’t going to alter the characteristics of the lens that you are using. For cinematographers, this is a big deal.

This stray light suppression in camera will help any lens and lens mount combination, however, for the absolute best contrast ARRI recommends using their own stray light optimized lens mounts:

All of the above lens mounts have been optimized using these new stray light suppression techniques.

To be crystal clear, Tilta’s mount does not feature any of ARRI’s light suppression coatings.

The Tilta PL to LPL Mount Adapter is now available to pre-order for $449 USD.

You can save 10% on your order until March 24th. There is also free shipping on orders over $299 USD in America & on orders over $399 USD to (Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico). Heavy/large items excluded.

Matthew Allard is a multi-award-winning, ACS accredited freelance Director of Photography with 30 years' of experience working in more than 50 countries around the world. He is the Editor of Newsshooter.com and has been writing on the site since 2010. Matthew has won 45 ACS Awards, including four prestigious Golden Tripods. In 2016 he won the Award for Best Cinematography at the 21st Asian Television Awards. Matthew is available to hire as a DP in Japan or for work anywhere else in the world.

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