Undead Optics Aires 45mm T1.7

The Undead Optics Aires 45mm T1.7 is the cornerstone of the Aires series: the original Japanese optic from the 1950s whose character the rest of the set was designed around. Undead Optics, founded in 2023 by documentary cinematographer Michael Koshkin, rehouses lesser-known vintage glass with distinctive personality, with the cine housings engineered by Eelco Roes of Burning Eye AV for a compact, precise, practical feel.

As a single-coated vintage optic, the Aires 45mm renders with lower contrast, gentle highlight roll-off and characterful flares. Adding onto the pleasing colour rendition, oval hooped bokeh, and halation that feels like you have a 1/4 Pro-Mist in, it creates a strong “vintage” look when wide open that becomes much more subtle by T4, giving you options for the final image. It's beautifully filmic with a textured signature. At 45mm on full frame it sits in that flattering near-normal range that suits portraiture, dialogue and character work. It shares the set's LPL mount and common 95mm front diameter, so you can move between focal lengths without disturbing your matte box or motor placement. For productions chasing a soft, evocative look, this is the lens the whole Aires line grew out of.

The 32mm in this series is also available to hire now.

The 58mm and 85mm are coming soon.