Anamorphic 7D

The description of the video details exactly what gear was used. Maybe try there as a starting point.
 
Option 1: (free) mask off the top and bottom of your regular footage to your desired aspect ratio.

Option 2: (<$120) buy or make your own anamorphic filter. an oval mask on the front of your lens will give you stretched bokeh similar to anamorphic. a piece of fishing line vertically in front of the lens will give you flares. i have a cinemorph on the way but i haven't received it yet. anamorphics are a pain to work with so i thought i'd give this a go to see if it can give me even half the look. i actually like the softness of the anamorphics (many don't) so this may not quite give me what i want.

Option 3: (<$500) buy a cheaper anamorphic lens (from a projector) off ebay. very hit and miss, will probably be huge and unworkable. may not focus very closely even with a diopter and likely have no means to mount. you may need to DIY your own lens clamp and may not be able to find a suitably sized diopter. Or just plain get a lemon. In this price range you're just playing.

Option 4: ($800-5000) buy an anamorphic that isn't a complete waste of time. the expensive ones are way overpriced but the name brand ones sell for a reason. they will be lightweight, focus to 5ft, in the higher price range may be focus through or 1.5x squeeze factor and generally look nicer. still a pain to use and probably does not pass the bang for buck test. You will still need a lens clamp, front filter clamp, a diopter or two (nearly impossible to find) and a lens support to be effective. In the higher range of $2000-20000 you can buy an integrated anamorphic and cine lens but you will need a Lomo-OCT or Arri-PL mount.

I've been playing with anamorphics recently. There is little information to be found so you are pretty much going to have to learn everything by doing so you will need to waste some money along the way. Their usefulness is questionable, I don't know if I will use them in an actual project. I haven't forked out on an expensive one yet although I scored a good deal on a slide projector lens similar to a Sankor. It is fun to play around with and they do look nice. That said, if the cinemorph works out I doubt I'll use them in a project anytime soon.
 
I can't comment beyond pointing you to their videos. I've just bought one but haven't received it yet. If you want to wait a week or two for it to arrive I'll let you know what I think. From what I've seen it is not perfect but nothing in the anamorphic world is. The main issue I've seen are that the flare element becomes visible as a line in the bokeh of out of focus point light sources when you are really out of focus It isn't pretty but it should be largely avoidable. The second thing is that it doesn't seem to soften the image much which most people would call a good thing. The final issue is light loss but that shouldn't bother you with the 7D (I'm using HVX with 35mm adapter so it is an issue for me).

One thing I can say for certain is that it will be easier to use than anamorphic lenses. Anamorphic lenses are difficult to set up, tricky to keep from going out of alignment in use and a pain to operate (you need to focus two lenses in most cases). So if you just want a look that's closer than just masking off the top and bottom then this adapter will probably keep you happy for a while (you still have to mask off to get the aspect ratio - this filter doesn't stretch anything, it just simulates some of the optical characteristics of anamorphics). $120 is small potatoes in the camera world so I figured it was worth the risk.
 
If you're using FCP just use the Widescreen effect, I would say that is most likely what 90% of internet videos with a aspect ratio like that are using, also, that aspect ratio in that video is off....
 
Ok, I'll check back with you in a couple of weeks! Thanks a lot for the help!

Egg Born Son said:
I can't comment beyond pointing you to their videos. I've just bought one but haven't received it yet. If you want to wait a week or two for it to arrive I'll let you know what I think. From what I've seen it is not perfect but nothing in the anamorphic world is. The main issue I've seen are that the flare element becomes visible as a line in the bokeh of out of focus point light sources when you are really out of focus It isn't pretty but it should be largely avoidable. The second thing is that it doesn't seem to soften the image much which most people would call a good thing. The final issue is light loss but that shouldn't bother you with the 7D (I'm using HVX with 35mm adapter so it is an issue for me).

One thing I can say for certain is that it will be easier to use than anamorphic lenses. Anamorphic lenses are difficult to set up, tricky to keep from going out of alignment in use and a pain to operate (you need to focus two lenses in most cases). So if you just want a look that's closer than just masking off the top and bottom then this adapter will probably keep you happy for a while (you still have to mask off to get the aspect ratio - this filter doesn't stretch anything, it just simulates some of the optical characteristics of anamorphics). $120 is small potatoes in the camera world so I figured it was worth the risk.
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The anamorphic filters are a cheap way to "cheat" yourself, rather than shooting true anamorphic.
Anamorphic lenses shooting is not very straightforward, it has drawbacks, and limitations, and lenses and accessories are scarse and expensive. However, when you manage to do it correctly the resulting organic look is unique.
Start by checking which anamorphic ratio you would like to go with:
1) 1.33x gives you 2.39:1 from 16:9
2) 1.5x gives you 2.65:1
3) 2x gives you 3.56:1
In most cases you would need to focus both the anamorphic lens and the taking slr lens, you'll need diopters to focus closer and you need to have longer focal length lenses in order to avoid vignetting.
As with everything, you get what you pay for eventually, and the "better" anamorphics are currently quite pricey.

If you decide to go the "difficult" route, I have some lenses, diopters and accessories up for sale. If you are interested drop me a pm.
 
Almost all of the cheap methods of going anamorphic are going to be very problematic. But if you go legit with a lomo, or an Isco you can get great results. Unfortunately the iscorama lenses are way overpriced, and you can get a good deal on a Lomo but more often than not you will have to put several hundred bucks of servicing into what you bought.

But you can get good results even with a 16x9 sensor. I ended up blowing up the footage I shot for this short, and it came out pretty ok.

 
Do note that if you're going to lomo method on a 7D you will only be able to mount the roundfronts. If you want the cheaper squarefronts you will need to go mirrorless.
 
any glass will lose light. most projector anamorphics will be less than one stop (many as little as 1/4, a few as much as 2), integrated anamorphic/taking lens solutions such as lomo will have f-stop/t-stop as marked. Cinemorph lists as 2 stops.
 
Before I got my legit lomos I had an anamorphic front from a squarefront, and adapter that via step rings to a Helios 85mm. I could barely detect a loss of light with that setup.
 
^ from my research the majority of anamorphic glass is in the range of around 1/4 stop of light loss (although a few like Hilux are 1 1/4 or higher). I've got three and I can't detect any light loss by eye with any of them. I assume it's so low because it's trapping twice the light the light of a regular lens, but that is a total guess - it could conversely simply be because it's not spherical.

Jealous of the lomos. I've got a 1.7x off a 16mm slide projector, a variable prism panatar (which I think has alignment issues) and a huge cinema projector lens. I could've bought a bargain Sankor or Kowa for little more than I spent (with shipping) but I've learnt a lot from having the three types to compare and now I know where to put my money if I buy another. Only the small 16mm slide projector lens is of a practical size. A bit soft in its close range but I suspect a diopter might sharpen it up - if I can ever find one that is. Just got beaten in auction for the only +0.5 I've seen on ebay (dammit, only by $10 too)!
 
What size thread diopter do you need? I have one laying around somewhere that I bought for when I was pairing up anamorphic lenses...I might not be able to find it in all my clutter of crap, or if it will even fit your 16mm projector lens but I know I have one!

Found it, Hoya 49mm +4 diopter! Want it? Super tiny thread, was meant for my Helios 55mm lens.
 
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Egg Born Son said:
A bit soft in its close range but I suspect a diopter might sharpen it up - if I can ever find one that is. Just got beaten in auction for the only +0.5 I've seen on ebay (dammit, only by $10 too)!
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I have several +0.5 diopters in 72mm thread size. Even some super rare, larger ones for the Iscorama 54, Hypergonar etc.
These are all great quality optics for your lenses, not junk. I use them anytime on my Iscorama.
If you want to buy one just send me a pm.
The +4 diopter would only be good for macro work. The most useful diopter power for anamorhics are the +0.5 and +1 (getting two +0.5 is probably the best solution).
 
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