Zero Optik

Zero Optik has worked on some truly rare lenses over the years, but these unicorns are almost always remarkable because of their extreme age or cost. This Zenitar 35mm f/1.0 is a completely modern piece of optical engineering, announced in 2018 as part of a partnership between Leica Camera and Russian brand Zenit to bring an affordable rangefinder kit to market, but was only available for a few short years before Russia invaded Ukraine and was shut out of trade with the West for its ongoing violence in the region.

Only a handful of these lenses have come up for sale since and was the first of our clients to see its potential for cinematography. The performance and character are reminiscent of the old f/1.0 Noctilux-M 50mm, despite the vast difference in age, and it features 11” minimum focus once rehoused, making it extremely versatile for all kinds of jobs.

This is a very limited project because of the scarcity of the optics, so we don’t have finished lenses for sale. Depending on when you read this, however, may have one or two spares that can be brought to Zero Optik for rehousing. Anyone interested should contact him directly for more information.

There are few telephoto lenses more legendary than the Olympus 180mm f/2.0 from the original OM series. Featuring two floating optical groups and unparalleled image quality, it is a feat of engineering few other manufacturers of the era could even attempt to imitate.

Zero Optik has built dozens of OM prime sets over the last five years and we are extremely excited to add this icon to the catalog, joining the other eighteen Olympus focal lengths we already offer.

At Zero Optik, we have always believed that our products should be indistinguishable, in both quality and function, from any purpose-built cinema lenses on the market. We are therefore extremely proud to be offering a new subset of the Cooke Optics i/ Technology system, available in PL and LPL.

The Name Tag mount transmits only identifying information about a lens: focal length, max T-stop, serial number, manufacturer, and product family, leaving the capture of focus and iris positions to enabled remote handsets.

Now you can seamlessly swap lenses on a volume stage or VFX project and the camera will instantly know what you’re using, no matter how vintage the optics may be!

The first sets of Zero Optik lenses with i/ Technology powered Name Tag mounts have already begun to ship and existing owners of Zero Optik lenses can order replacement mounts for speedy delivery, with no need to send the lenses back. Clients with orders in our queue can get in touch about upgrading their undelivered orders.

Email [email protected] or DM us for more details!

(Huge thanks to our friends at for the BTS stills)