anamorphic horror

S

shAi

Well-known member
today, 24 hours before the shoot, we got the only usable ana. lens in town (the first we tried was so dirty from the inside, that it was practically unusable). i checked it at the rental house.. everything looked ok..
back to the production office, i put all the rig together, fix the lens on the camera, finally tighten up the screw on the lens, and....  :o the screw goes round and round... the plastic groves are f*cked, no way to tighten up the screw, the lens is on the camera, no way to take it off.
i thought i'm freaking out. the rental house says - we can only send the camera to panasonic. so we decide to go and find someone to fix it out.
we get to an old guy in east berlin, who runs this old-fashioned camera shop (selling those old leicas and such) who was willing to take the chance and fix it. what he did was, to put in just a little wider screw. and it worked! we payed him 5€ and came back home, feeling lucky again.
meanwhile, the plastic around the new screw (or was it only the outer surface/coating) starts to crack. after 4 hours (lens is on the camera) the screw wouldn't tighten again.
now it's friday, night, we like to start shooting tomorrow (well.. it's already today).
did anybody find himself in such situation with the anamorphic? what should i do?? trying another, bigger screw, doesn't look like a good idea at all.... i think i should look for a fine mechanic to drill a new hole.. or am i crazy?
finding a way to take this crappy piece of plastic off my camera (and postpone the shoot until i find another crappy ana), would also make me happy.
is there anyone who shares such an experience??
thanks!
 
Re: anamorphic horror

atleast the 5th case i've heard like this. the threads are mashed up, i heard the only way to fix this is by sending it into panna. man, cant imagine how pissed you must be, sorry dude.
 
Re: anamorphic horror

You paid him five euros ? - just five ?

Five euros ? !

How much work would you do for five euros ?

When did you last charge anyone just 5 euros - for anything ?

I think he sounds like a great camera mechanic - go back and ask him if he could fix it if you paid him proper money - like add a nought or two and multiply by a good hourly rate !!

Five euros ? - I must have read it wrong.

He takes the risk - removes your problem of "no way to tighten up the screw, the lens is on the camera, no way to take it off. " - and - "the rental house say we can only send the camera to panasonic" - he solves you that problem - the same day - whilst you wait - and you give him five euros ?
. . . . and I thought I was poorly paid.
 
Re: anamorphic horror

I am afraid to try mine now. Is there anyway to tell ahead of time if this is going to happen?
 
Re: anamorphic horror

Euros are worth just slightly more than the American dollar I believe...about 1.75x the Canadian dollar! :-/
 
Re: anamorphic horror

That does indeed sound like a nightmare. I agree the construction quality on the adapter could certainly be better!

I've found that once I have the lens on and leveled, I rarely ever need to mess with the screw again. I leave it tightened, and then remove the lens directly, and then when it's time to attach it I can just attach it to the filter threads and it stops attaching at almost perfectly square every time... and if it's slightly off-square, a little firm pressure one way or the other will fix it without even fiddling with the leveling screw.
 
Re: anamorphic horror

[quote author=Control_Lab link=board=Events;num=1091226762;start=0#4 date=07/30/04 at 18:38:39]You paid him five euros ? - just five ?

Five euros ? !

[/quote]
Hehe... in my imagination, the guy reached into his drawer of screws, whipped out one a little large, screwed it in and presto! Then he said something awkward like, "Well, that screw is worth about one Euro, and it took all of two seconds... does five euros sound like too much?" To which Shai responded, "No, not at all thanks a lot. You saved my ass." Or something like that. ;)
 
Re: anamorphic horror

[quote author=Control_Lab link=board=Events;num=1091226762;start=0#4 date=07/30/04 at 18:38:39]You paid him five euros ?    -    just five ?

Five euros ? !

How much work would you do for five euros ?

When did you last charge anyone just 5 euros - for anything ?

I think he sounds like a great camera mechanic - go back and ask him if he could fix it if you paid him proper money - like add a nought or two and multiply by a good hourly rate !!

Five euros ? - I must have read it wrong.

He takes the risk - removes your problem of  "no way to tighten up the screw, the lens is on the camera, no way to take it off. "  - and -  "the rental house say we can only send the camera to panasonic" - he solves you that problem - the same day - whilst you wait - and you give him five euros ?
. . . .  and I thought I was poorly paid.

[/quote]
well.. yeah, he asked for five euros.. and we promised a place of honor in the roller.. but after all.. it was like ten minutes work.. so no need to get crazy on that
 
Re: anamorphic horror

First time we used the anormphic adapter , our camera assistant broke it. His fault totally, he was used to film gear that's not plastic. But for the price point, metal is out of the question.  If only Barry's guide was around then :)
 
Re: anamorphic horror

yeah but it's not that i used some heavy metal accessory to tighten it up.. just my bare fingers. i donno. . . it's still an expensive piece, and putting a metal screw in a plastic thread. . . :-/

anyway - update. it's 14:30 and we start shooting as planed. this morning i bought a 3mm screw, hoping at least to use it to take the lens off my camera, but so far it looks like the screw placed in quite cosy, with no over pressure. i also found that there is absolutely no other place to drill a hole for another screw in that thing, as the rest of the plastic around is no more then 1mm thick, while the original thread is thick, especially made for it. luckily, since we use here the metric system, i managed to find a standard screw who's just a little little bit bigger then the original.
cross your fingers guys.. we start to rock in 6 hours :D
 
Re: anamorphic horror

Personally, I would never use an anamorphic adapter of any make on a high end production especially for broadcast or cine-release. Far better to shoot academy and then spend the money in post,on a proper Snell and Willcox type aspect ratio conversion process.
 
Re: anamorphic horror

with all the cons, i like the image it delivers. especially the flares. in addition to that, director and me decided to go on scope 2.35:1 . . so it doesnt leave us so much options . . .
 
Re: anamorphic horror

[quote author=John Hudson link=board=Events;num=1091226762;start=0#5 date=07/30/04 at 19:06:10]How much is 5 Euros?  ???[/quote]

It's roughly $1.25 to the Euro. That isn't bad... now the Pound, that really sucks... I just got back from England where it's about $1.85/Pound + the 17.5% VAT tax.

We were going to Scotland in September, but made it Ireland instead. Ireland is on the Euro with only 13.5% VAT. Scotland is still on the Pound and everything was higher anyway. In the final calculations, Scotland was going to be over double that of Ireland. I still want to go to Scotland and back to England, but not until the Pound drops against the dollar. Anything over $1.50/pound makes it ugly...
 
Re: anamorphic horror

[quote author=Barry_Green link=board=Events;num=1091226762;start=0#8 date=07/30/04 at 23:40:15]I've found that once I have the lens on and leveled, I rarely ever need to mess with the screw again.  I leave it tightened, and then remove the lens directly, and then when it's time to attach it I can just attach it to the filter threads and it stops attaching at almost perfectly square every time... and if it's slightly off-square, a little firm pressure one way or the other will fix it without even fiddling with the leveling screw.[/quote]

Useful tip... thanks.
 
Re: anamorphic horror

The pound may be up on the dollar Mitch , but my DVX100A still cost me  £2820 inc vat - that's $5217 by your conversion rate ! - we call it "rip-off britain" where someone somewhere must be raking in the cash on these goods.
  We can buy a home built Landrover ( for example ) cheaper by getting on a ferry, going across to holland, buying a 'made in england' landrover, paying the containerised shipping costs back to uk, and then paying the import duty - all above board, and it's STILL significantly cheaper than buying from a uk dealer !!
     - I hear Ireland's nice at this time of year ! mine's a Guinness .
 
Re: anamorphic horror

I have been twirling this thing for half an hour now, i left in on last time, now I know why. This could hurt the DVX in the long run. Are you listening. Panasonic? Need a seperate adapter. Recall, this cost 800 bucks!!!!!! PS- Don't buy from SAFER SEAS!!! :-X
 
Re: anamorphic horror

dahveed,

i noticed the referrence to SAFER SEAS. i was wondering what your experience was with them? i have experienced one of the weirdest most frustrating customer service headaches i ever come across dealing with those guy's. i spent over $20,000 dollars in a two week period with them and i can't even begin to tell you the sheer nightmare they have put me through. i'll expand if you're interested.

have simmilar experiences happened to anyone else out there? deal with SAFER SEAS at your own risk!!
 
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