Chris Adler
Veteran
There are other options beyond the super-expensive ones.
I bought a cheap $50 Kowa 10 pound lens off eBay and separated the front from the rear elements by removing the rings and coaxing out the elements with some force. I mounted them on rail blocks so I can adjust the distance between them to help focus. On my BMCC rig I can shoot with my 37mm, 50, 85, and 135 without vignetting. The 28 has a bit, which really isn't an issue once cropped. With my 37 and 50 I can shoot within a few feet from the subject by adjusting the element distance and then dialing in the taking lens. Wouldn't be good for any kind of rack focus, but it's nice and sharp. I suppose this isn't much different of a solution than the Hifi hack out there, other than my lens was $50, not $500. Since my anamorphic is a 2x I squeeze the footage height to 58% in Premiere in a sequence and then to master out create your sequence based on the desired end ratio of 2.35:1 or whatever. Drop in the first sequence and then adjust the framing left or right.
Since I'm adjusting the distance between the anamorphic elements the actual stretch will vary a bit, so depending on the taking lens and the stretch you might have to tweek some of the clips height different from the others to manage the right squeeze. I also don't have to use my diopters to focus close, which is a bonus.
I bought a cheap $50 Kowa 10 pound lens off eBay and separated the front from the rear elements by removing the rings and coaxing out the elements with some force. I mounted them on rail blocks so I can adjust the distance between them to help focus. On my BMCC rig I can shoot with my 37mm, 50, 85, and 135 without vignetting. The 28 has a bit, which really isn't an issue once cropped. With my 37 and 50 I can shoot within a few feet from the subject by adjusting the element distance and then dialing in the taking lens. Wouldn't be good for any kind of rack focus, but it's nice and sharp. I suppose this isn't much different of a solution than the Hifi hack out there, other than my lens was $50, not $500. Since my anamorphic is a 2x I squeeze the footage height to 58% in Premiere in a sequence and then to master out create your sequence based on the desired end ratio of 2.35:1 or whatever. Drop in the first sequence and then adjust the framing left or right.
Since I'm adjusting the distance between the anamorphic elements the actual stretch will vary a bit, so depending on the taking lens and the stretch you might have to tweek some of the clips height different from the others to manage the right squeeze. I also don't have to use my diopters to focus close, which is a bonus.