Anamorphic S8

[Rigo]

Have you guys ever tried anamorphic lenses? Any quality loss in any of the working stages?

[ekoe]

rigo,
the degree of quality loss depends on which anamorphic attachment you use. you want something multi-coated. and you'll need an anamorphic that will allow you to utilize your entire zoom. you'll want to avoid the widest angles as these approach the margin of the lens. all lenses tend to vignette a bit toward the egdes.
of course, the effect of anamorphics is compounded two-fold, because in order to complete the process you must use the lens again during projection. so, it's important to have a decent attachment.
i use a zeiss ikon 2x anamorphot III mc. i believe it's actually a 35mm projector lens. but, it's multi-coated. this lens does not allow me to utilize my entire zoom range, but it's the only thing i could find to fit the schneider 6-66 on my 4008zmII and my 1014xl-s. max. wide angle is ~20mm, which, when you think about it, is actually 10mm in 2x anamporphic. so, i'm losing a bit on the wide end. the attachment will allow me to shoot at ~15mm wide, but i avoid this out of fear of vignetting.
ekoe

[Rigo]

thanks ekoe. I still have this questions. what about the granularity of the compressed image... does it look weird anyhow? does it give you a larger format sense?

[MrObvious]

Ekoe>

Did you need to fabricate an adapter for your Schneider lens? How much does one of those Zeiss Anamorphot lenses cost?

Thanks.

Marc S.

[Alex]

Low cost option.

Eumig made a Wide Angle PMA lens, sometimes they are on E-Bay for around $ 40.00

-Alex

[ekoe]

i use a slik twin pan platform and a manfrotto heavy telephoto bracket. this allows me the adjust the horizontal and vertical position of the attachment to match either of my two cameras, then i wrap it with duvetyn. i won't burden my lens mounts with that attachment.
i don't know how much these attachments usually go for. i read somewhere that you can snag them from old cinemas for a song.
the only reason i'm using the zeiss anamorphic projector attachment is because the front diameters of my lenses are so damn wide. there are many more options around the 54mm diameter category.
as for rigo's inquiry regarding granularity and distortion, the grain will be elongated horizontally by 1x if you're using a 2x anamorphic attachmet. that's the most you will effect the granularity. it can look odd if you're working with a muddy stock.
and distortion can occur if you do not have the attachment properly aligned in both the acquisition and projection stages, or if you shoot too wide through the attachment (as i stated earlier). it really depends on what attachment your using and which stock.

[ekoe]

alex,
what's a pma? tell me more.

[Alex]

It's a single element, non-zoomable wide-angle attachment that drops the field of view down to 4mm.

Pretty awesome acutally, you use your macro setting to focus on the element.

Backlight will show off scratches and dust on the lens.

Pretty cool otherwise.

I don't know what the P or M stands for, but the A stands for Aspheric.

-Alex




[This message has been edited by Alex (edited August 04, 2001).]

[Matt Pacini]

I've just purchased two Bausch & Lomb anamorphics to use on my Nizo 6080 & Bauer 715XL-S for my next project (if they work... haven't received them yet.)
My question is, can you detail problems shooting with these?
Like:
Do you need more light? (whats the rating on your particular lenses).
Is focusing a problem?
Is there any problem zooming way in for an extreme closeup of an actor? Does this distort the image more than usual? etc. etc.
I'm looking forward to shooting in widescreen, but I have a lot of fear about the process also.
I'm going to telecine it normally, then use Adobe AfterFX to unsqueeze the image afterwords, then use Genuine Fractals to up-res to 2K, and hopefully (if the money is there) output to 35mm film!
Cool, eh?
Keep in touch, this should be an interesting project for you guys to learn from my expensive blunders!
Matt Pacini

[Alex]

I'd recommend you "test" your ideas by making a slow-paced 30 second commercial...from concept to completion, this focuses and forces you to follow every step through to completion, without making a general mistake that might cause lots and lots of footage to be unuseable.

-Alex