In what feels like an inundated week of diopter news, Schneider Optics announced it now carries 138mm full and split diopters in strengths of +1/8, +1/4, +1/2, +3/4, +1, +2, and +3.

Diopters are tools mainly used to allow sharp focus when you're too close to a subject for the camera lens to properly focus on its own. Or, as No Film School contributor Charles Haine pointed out, "diopters increase the magnification of your lens slightly, while allowing closer focus for the front of your depth of field." 

Split diopters magnify only half the image, leaving the other half unaffected.

While full diopters affect the entire image area, split diopters, as you might imagine, magnify only half the image, leaving the other half unaffected. Schneider Optics makes its split diopters by diamond-cutting a full diopter lens in half, then mounting it on a machined metal ring. They're particularly useful when you need to bring the background and foreground simultaneously into sharp focus when the primary lens doesn't provide enough depth of field, even with the lens iris fully closed. 

These drop-in diopter lenses have rugged black anodized aluminum rings and a hard, anti-reflective coating on both sides to reduce flare and light loss so there’s no need for exposure compensation, helping preserve color, contrast, and image quality.

The full line of diopters is available now. Read more about them on the Schneider Optics website.

Available full/split diopters

  • +1/8
  • +1/4
  • +1/2
  • +3/4
  • +1
  • +2
  • +3
dioptersschneider opticssplit diopterdepth of fieldfocus
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