LVX AURORA LT Modified Tokina Vista Cine Primes Announced

Lens News

by Jakub HanApril 1^st, 2024

LVX AURORA LT cine prime lens set offers the look of LVX AURORA (V1 or V2 conversion) de-tuned Tokina Vista lenses. Unlike the original AURORA set, the LT (lite version) uses the original Tokina Vista lens housing and is, therefore, more affordable. The price for the conversion is between $4,500 and $5,500 per lens.

Roughly two months ago, we informed you about a cine prime lens set from an Italian/Latin American company LVX Badalamenti Cinema Optics. Their set of full-frame cine primes called LVX AURORA utilizes the optical design of the Tokina Vista cine primes (full-frame PL mount cine primes announced in 2019) by tweaking the optical elements (repolishing, changing the coating, etc) and rehousing them. The aim is to provide a somewhat imperfect “vintage look with character”.

As the LVX AURORA cine primes come at quite a high price (starting at $16,000 per lens), the manufacturer decided to create a “lite version” of these lenses called LVX AURORA LT. Let’s take a closer look at the new lite version.

LVX AURORA LT cine primes

The key difference between the original LVX AURORA set of cine primes and the AURORA LT set is that the lite version is not rehoused in the LVX custom lens barrel. For AURORA LT, LVX uses the original Tokina Vista lens housing and only tweaks the optical elements to achieve the AURORA V1 OR V2 look.

Judging from the images of AURORA LT lenses, although not rehoused, the lens barrel still gets a grey matte look (probably by brushing the original Vista housing). LVX also adds a custom logo on each lens.

Optically, LVX AURORA LT gets the very same look as the rehoused AURORA cine primes. There are, basically, two different versions of optical treatment that LVX applies to Tokina Vista optics:

• AURORA V1 offers a moderate vintage character. LVX claims the skin tones are softer and smoother and there is a mild blooming “Christmas ball effect” present. The V1 look delivers less contrast, a mild acutance reduction, a pleasing fall-off, and mild vintage bokeh with discreet swirling.
• AURORA V2 formula, as LVX told us, stands apart from all prior Tokina de-tunings made by other companies and by Tokina itself. V2 introduces even more imperfections for a stronger vintage look. It offers a dreamy fall-off and bokeh swirl in the image, a wider gamma of colors in flaring, and film-like blooming. Even with this heavier de-tuning, the AURORA V2 is still usable for most commercial and narrative applications, according to LVX. The Christmas ball effect is present in bokeh blooming.

In numerical comparison, LVX claims, the V2 has about 30% more vintage character than the V1 while holding sharpness and resolution.

One part of the treatment is the LVX signature flaring. The optical elements are polished and re-coated. LVX offers either SF (standard flare) or FF (full flare) as stock options. Other custom flares are available on demand as a special order. Stock Tokina coating options are also available.

Price and availability

LVX claims the AURORA LT is a budget-friendly option to get the AURORA look. The price for the conversion is between $4,500 and $5,500 per lens. The final price depends on the type of conversion (V1 or V2 plus the type of flaring). Please note that this is only the price of the conversion. You will need to add the price of the Tokina Vista lens.

LVX also offers a complete ready-to-shoot set (18, 25, 35, 50, 85, and 105mm) of AURORA LT lenses for $51,000 (this includes the Tokina Vista lenses plus the conversion). If interested, please contact LVX Badalamenti Cinema Optics directly.

Do you use Tokina Vista cine prime lenses for your work? Do you prefer the imperfect vintage look rather than the clean modern look? What is your take on the LVX AURORA lenses? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section underneath the article.