Jeff Nitzberg
Active member
http://vimeo.com/9625321
Some of this info is burried on some of the other Anamorphic DLSR lens tests threads, so I figured I'd start a new thread just for the AG-7200 Panasonic adapter. If anyone has experience or footage please post it here!
Here is my experience with the adapter thus far:
My setup is the 5D MARK II attached to lenses without the use of any kind of diopter. Just 72mm step-up/down rings. It was simply screwed onto the front of lenses using step up rings.)
ZOOM THROUGH AND RACK FOCUS: Yes, both possible. Infinity focus is possible. You have use of pretty much the entire range of the lens. The focal length limits of what you can achieve with the Panasonic thus tested are: 30mm-125mm. Anything wider than 30mm is going to vignette where you see the edges of the adapter, 125mm was simply the longest lens I had to test with, but the image was focusable, though the lens needed to be stopped down a great deal to achieve acceptable sharpness. *This is for the 35mm FULL FRAME format.
OUT OF FOCUS PROPERTIES AND DEPTH OF FIELD: Depth of field is FAR SHALLOWER with the anamorphic adapter attached. The oof characteristics of the lens the base lens are enhanced wonderfully in the that special way only anamorphic can do. A wide shallower field of view similar to longer focal lengths. To achieve acceptable sharpness sometimes however, the lens has to be stopped down (to compensate for both horizontal and vertical resolution) this of course reduces all that nice OOF.
CLOSE FOCUS CAPABILITIES: This depends heavily on the lens used, distance from subject, and F-stop. The 35mm Flektogon could do well about 6 feet out about wide open, stopped down to f16 the lens could be acceptably focused on objects much closer… I can’t remember for sure HOW much closer but it’s at least a foot away from the lens.
SHARPNESS VIA LENS: Depends. On the 35mm Flektogon, the image was sharp edge to edge, about wide open at f2.4 at all distances (minus close focus limit, talked about above) On the Nikon 28-70mm zoom, wide open, (f2.8) the image was blurry on the edges of the frame at infinity, and sharpens up around 15 feet out at the edges throughout the zoom range.***
***I believe the explanation for the blurred edges (though this is just my guess) has to do with the front element size/distance from the back of the Panasonic adapter. The Flektogon has a very small front element that is also very flat, and fits entirely within the space of the rear Panasonic adapter rectangular element. The Nikon on the other hand, has a very large curved front element, that stretched well beyond the diameter of the Panasonic’s rear element. Cause of edge blur?
Keep in mind the edges become sharper on the Nikon when stopped down dramatically. On the Nikon it takes until about F11 for the sides of the frame to sharpen up at infinity… though it’s not perfect.
LIGHT LOSS: the canon’s high iso performs so amazingly well that it’s hard to tell, but light loss appears MINIMAL, maybe a stop or less?
SHARPNESS OVERALL: the anamorphic definitely softens the hd image overall, but that isn’t by any means a negative thing. I personally love the look of anamorphic; its ability to isolate the subject, so razorblades aren’t as important to me. I don’t own the ISCO, but compared to the footage shown here, the Panasonic is not nearly as capable of the same sharpness wide open. But there are so many variables, lens combinations and a lot of other factors that contribute to sharpness.
Vimeo also heavily compressed the footage, which took a big bite out of image quality.
Some of this info is burried on some of the other Anamorphic DLSR lens tests threads, so I figured I'd start a new thread just for the AG-7200 Panasonic adapter. If anyone has experience or footage please post it here!
Here is my experience with the adapter thus far:
My setup is the 5D MARK II attached to lenses without the use of any kind of diopter. Just 72mm step-up/down rings. It was simply screwed onto the front of lenses using step up rings.)
ZOOM THROUGH AND RACK FOCUS: Yes, both possible. Infinity focus is possible. You have use of pretty much the entire range of the lens. The focal length limits of what you can achieve with the Panasonic thus tested are: 30mm-125mm. Anything wider than 30mm is going to vignette where you see the edges of the adapter, 125mm was simply the longest lens I had to test with, but the image was focusable, though the lens needed to be stopped down a great deal to achieve acceptable sharpness. *This is for the 35mm FULL FRAME format.
OUT OF FOCUS PROPERTIES AND DEPTH OF FIELD: Depth of field is FAR SHALLOWER with the anamorphic adapter attached. The oof characteristics of the lens the base lens are enhanced wonderfully in the that special way only anamorphic can do. A wide shallower field of view similar to longer focal lengths. To achieve acceptable sharpness sometimes however, the lens has to be stopped down (to compensate for both horizontal and vertical resolution) this of course reduces all that nice OOF.
CLOSE FOCUS CAPABILITIES: This depends heavily on the lens used, distance from subject, and F-stop. The 35mm Flektogon could do well about 6 feet out about wide open, stopped down to f16 the lens could be acceptably focused on objects much closer… I can’t remember for sure HOW much closer but it’s at least a foot away from the lens.
SHARPNESS VIA LENS: Depends. On the 35mm Flektogon, the image was sharp edge to edge, about wide open at f2.4 at all distances (minus close focus limit, talked about above) On the Nikon 28-70mm zoom, wide open, (f2.8) the image was blurry on the edges of the frame at infinity, and sharpens up around 15 feet out at the edges throughout the zoom range.***
***I believe the explanation for the blurred edges (though this is just my guess) has to do with the front element size/distance from the back of the Panasonic adapter. The Flektogon has a very small front element that is also very flat, and fits entirely within the space of the rear Panasonic adapter rectangular element. The Nikon on the other hand, has a very large curved front element, that stretched well beyond the diameter of the Panasonic’s rear element. Cause of edge blur?
Keep in mind the edges become sharper on the Nikon when stopped down dramatically. On the Nikon it takes until about F11 for the sides of the frame to sharpen up at infinity… though it’s not perfect.
LIGHT LOSS: the canon’s high iso performs so amazingly well that it’s hard to tell, but light loss appears MINIMAL, maybe a stop or less?
SHARPNESS OVERALL: the anamorphic definitely softens the hd image overall, but that isn’t by any means a negative thing. I personally love the look of anamorphic; its ability to isolate the subject, so razorblades aren’t as important to me. I don’t own the ISCO, but compared to the footage shown here, the Panasonic is not nearly as capable of the same sharpness wide open. But there are so many variables, lens combinations and a lot of other factors that contribute to sharpness.
Vimeo also heavily compressed the footage, which took a big bite out of image quality.
Last edited:
adapter with any Canon glass? I would love to try this with the 24-105 f/4 or 24-70 f/2.8.
