TRIBE7 BLACKWING Tuned Full-Frame Lenses Now Available for Pre-Order

TRIBE7, a lens company, was co-founded by cinematographer Bradford Young, ASC, and lens designer Neil Fanthom. The company is known for their BLACKWING7 lens series, which are custom-tuned cinema lenses inspired by vintage optics. TRIBE7 lenses are designed to provide a distinctive aesthetic, offering options for personalizing characteristics such as contrast, flare, and focus fall-off. This caters to filmmakers seeking a unique visual language. The company combines precision engineering with artistic flexibility, ensuring that their lenses are utilized in commercial, narrative, and experimental cinematography.

TRIBE7 has released the BLACKWING series of full-frame cinema lenses, featuring three distinct optical configurations designed around controlled distortion characteristics. The ARRI PL-mount lenses are available in S-Tuned, T-Tuned, and X-Tuned variants, each offering different optical properties for cinematographic applications.

Company background and design philosophy

TRIBE7 was established through a collaboration between Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Bradford Young, ASC, and motion picture lens technologist Neil Fanthom. The BLACKWING series employs modular distortion control, with each lens variant calibrated for specific optical characteristics including sharpness, contrast, spherical aberration, roll-off, edge halation, and field curvature.

The lenses have been utilized on various productions and are compatible with full-frame cinema cameras such as the RED V-RAPTOR [X] 8K VV, ARRI ALEXA Mini LF, Sony VENICE, and Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K.

Technical specifications

All BLACKWING lenses share common mechanical features, including a 14-blade aperture, 270-degree barrel rotation for focus control, 0.8 MOD focus and iris gears, and a consistent 114mm front diameter across the series.

T-Tuned series

The T-Tuned lenses utilize single-coated optics to produce contrast roll-off, edge halation, and flaring characteristics. The series includes 10 prime focal lengths, with a 6-lens core set comprising 27mm, 37mm, 47mm, 57mm, 77mm, and 107mm options. Additional focal lengths include 17mm, 20.7mm, 23.7mm, and 137mm variants. These lenses exhibit high light reactivity and contrast roll-off extending to frame edges.

S-Tuned series

The S-Tuned lenses feature multilayer coatings designed to control flaring while maintaining optical performance. The coatings produce sharper central image quality and gradual contrast roll-off across the frame. The optical design references mid-20th-century lens characteristics, specifically citing the Wray Unilite 50mm f/2 as a reference point.

X-Tuned series

The X-Tuned variant incorporates selectively uncoated lens edges to reduce contrast in high-contrast lighting conditions. These lenses feature controlled spherical aberration and focal plane curvature to enhance the perception of shallow depth of field. The optical design produces halation effects and softer image characteristics.

The BLACKWING series of lenses is, of course, not for everyone. Still, it’s great to see TRIBE7 offering such high-end options for the upper market. More information about the new lenses can be found here.

Pricing and availability

The lenses are now available to pre-order at B&H, and depending on the lens you choose, the price range goes from $14,169 to $19,900. A set of six lenses is priced at $86,110.

Are you familiar with TRIBE7? Or better yet, have you worked with their boutique lenses before? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.