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Hartblei - Carl Zeiss Superrotator lenses
B3K Digital - North American Agent - Canadian Dealer/Distributor

Superrotator

Design Features

Independent rotation for tilt and shift functions.
Medium format lenses provide optical sweet spot and extremely even exposure with full
tilt-shift adjustment on DSLR
Internal brass mechanics for problem free smooth operation.
Hard Chrome lens mounts for long lasting accuracy and a minimum of wear.
Barrel and external metal surfaces hardeloxated black anodized surface finish (except mount) provided by Carl Zeiss. One of the finest feeling, best performing and longest lasting finishes.
12 blade aperture assembly creating round circles of confusion in out of focus areas.
New and improved anti-flare for difficult lighting situations using tilt-shift.
Exceptional sharpness at wide open or fully stopped down, from center to edge.
Optical coverage for all DSLR formats with full tilt-shift
Optical coverage for 645 medium format capture with full or limited tilt-shift depending on focus point and focal length. Closer focus creates a larger image circle.

Lens Mounts available

Canon EOS
Nikon F
Sony / Minolta
Pentax K
Leica R
Contax
M42 universal

Tripod Mount

Parallax free stitching with tripod mount set at the optical center of the lens. With tilt-shift capabilities exceptional results are created for VR applications. Tripod mount is integrated with 40mm and optional for 80mm and 120mm focal lengths.
Simple rotation from horizontal to vertical position.
Provides simple panorama capability by rotating 180 degrees and taking a 2nd capture. The 10mm shift becomes 20mm. Panorama ratio varies depending on size of capture sensor.
Floating body makes Superrotator adjustments easy to apply. Image is retained in viewfinder with less re-framing required due to lens remaining fixed.

Support stand functions

Provides clearance for camera body.
Micro gear adjustment for fine focus control.
Alignment for Cubic VR with rotation point set to capture plane.
Alignment for stereoscopic capture.
Alignment for VR with rotation set to optical center of lens.

Hartblei / Carl Zeiss partnership
Stefan Steib, president of Hartblei, Munich Germany

Carl Zeiss Optics - the world benchmark for image quality

Carl Zeiss is a recognized global leader in any lens class. This includes lenses for 35 mm or medium format, scientific, medical, industrial and consumer applications like mobile phones. The reputation that Carl Zeiss have built for photographic, film and video optics is legendary. This legendary status has been achieved through R&D and an extreme
dedication to quality in design, engineering, materials and manufacturing. Continued research and development have created advances in resolution that far exceed the capabilities of film or today's highest resolution photographic digital sensors. Carl Zeiss have also developed the legendary T* multi-layer antireflective coatings which effectively remove flare and reflections. For these reasons and many more, we have partnered with Carl Zeiss to develop our latest Superrotator optics.

Carl Zeiss partnership

Hartblei is very proud to partner with Carl Zeiss in developing the Superrotator series of Carl Zeiss lenses. We have started with a number of Carl Zeiss lenses originally designed for medium format. These lenses have been re-engineered and updated by Hartbei with 12 blade aperture assembly, capsuled Tilt-Shift mechanism and intenesive internal anti-flare coatings. These re-engineered lenses deliver brilliant images, intense smooth color and a natural bokeh or lens blur that is extremely pleasing. The quality benchmark for resolution has been set with the Hartblei - Carl Zeiss superrotator lenses capable of resolving 200 line pairs per millimeter.

The Hartblei Superrotator technology takes the re-engineered Carl Zeiss optics to a new level with tilt and shift capability. The Superrotator design adds 8 degrees of tilt that can be rotated 360 degrees and 10 mm of shift that can also be rotated 360 degrees. What makes the Hartblei solution so unique and elegant is that the 360 degree rotations are independent of each other. A 10 mm shift to the left can be combined with a tilt. The shift can remain in the same position while the tilt is rotated 360 degrees or the tilt can
be in a set position and the shift can be rotated 360 degrees. The Superrotator tilt-shift lenses are the perfect match for our Hartblei Cam or any DSLR camera system.

Over the last 2 years, Hartblei has achieved significant improvements in the quality of the Superrotator lenses in co-operation with Carl Zeiss. The current lenses are equipped with lens groups completely "Made in Germany" by Carl Zeiss. These lens groups are being assembled in Germany and embedded into Hartblei barrels made from specialized German aluminum alloys, tested and proven in the photographic and film community. The aluminum alloy component surfaces are treated and finished by the Carl Zeiss factory.
The result is silky smooth focusing and a product that looks, feels and operates as only a true craftsmanship level product can. You can see and feel the quality.

Our Mission

We at Hartblei are focused on delivering the maximum precision and optical quality possible to our customers. However, we are committed to continue our research and development to further improve quality and develop new optical tools. Our mission is to exceed the high standards of our partner Carl Zeiss, while at the same providing the products and service our customers expect for DSLR's or digital backs.