Anamorphic Shootout

Some of you may have seen this thread over on Cinema5D, but as I'm selling these in the marketplace here now, I'm putting the info on them in this thread. Sorry for the long post!

I've found a couple of old anamorphic lenses that give very interesting performance. As far as I know these two lenses were designed for Super 8, but should be fully usable on a 7D from 50mm on, maybe wider. What is most intriguing about each of these is that they are 1.5x compression ratio and will focus down to less than one meter without the use of diopters.

They are the Isco-Gottingen Iscomorphot 8/1.5x (seems to be rarer than the Iscoramas, although there is some mention of them on the internet) and a similar lens called a Rexervision (cannot find any mention of it anywhere).

Now while neither of these is as good as an Iscorama, I've had better results with both than I was able to get with my Kowa 8Z. From my use of them, I would rate them as better than the Kowa.

Here's a quick rundown on the each of them:

Iscomorphot 8/1.5x:
- Anamorphic flares are present.
- 1.5x compression can be unsqueezed to approx 1.33x to give normal Cinemascope aspect ratio with no cropping necessary.
- Very soft wide open but still usable as it gives a beautiful dreamy effect. - - -- Highlights are soft and blooming wide open.
- Desaturated colours all the way through the f-stop range.
- Can be decently sharp (for an anamorphic!) in the center but the corners can be quite soft on full frame.
- Performs well from f4 and smaller and the corners sharpen up to meet the center performance as you stop down
- There is some haze on the rear element but it doesn't seem to affect performance from talking to other Iscomorphot owners - they are all dreamy wide open
- Focuses down to half a meter (depth of field is tiny when focused so close).
- Beautiful quality to the out of focus areas, really creamy.
- It's only necessary to focus on the Iscomorphot, the taking lens is set to infinity so focus pulls are achievable.
- Mounted using a 37 to 24 ring and then a 49 to 37. This gets the rear glass close to the front glass of lenses that have their filter threads close to the front glass (no spacing rings required, conversely not a good choice on a lens with a recessed front element).
- Alignment is aided by an arrow on the lens. There is no built in facility to adjust alignment, so I just unscrew the final 49 to 37 step ring from the taking lens a bit until it's right (but if you need to pull focus then you need to secure the step ring in the aligned position with your fingers or with tape).
- Just about usable on a 50mm 1.8 on a 5D (those corners are black though) and the vignetting only increases as you stop down.
- Best used on a 7D or 550D where vignetting should not be an issue at 50mm and longer, and you're also cutting out the worst of the soft corners at wide apertures.
- Barrel distortion is pretty good, not as bad as the Kowa, about the same as the Iscorama 36
- All in all, a really singular lens. It gives really intriguing results. Beautiful little object, solid metal. It must date from the sixties.

Rexervision 1.5x
- This little beauty is even smaller than the Iscomorphot, and its vignetting is around the same.
- Gives a more contrasty and saturated image than the Iscomorphot, doesn't have the haze problem/benefit.
- Beautiful smeared bokeh.
- Anamorphic flares are present.
- 1.5x compression can be unsqueezed to approx 1.33x to give normal Cinemascope aspect ratio with no cropping necessary.
- Can be pretty sharp in the center of the frame. Need to stop down (or focus farther away) to get corners to behave themselves. Probably not as sharp as the Iscomorphot (hard for me to tell as it seems to behave differently at different focal lengths and on different lenses)
- A tendency towards chromatic aberration at the edges of the frame around bright highlights.
- You're supposed to focus on the Rexervision and on the taking lens. However, I found that setting the Rexervision to around 10 or 20 feet and changing focus on the taking lens allows for a very acceptable focus pull, particularly when stopped down.
- Focuses down to 0.9m (maybe less). Insanely tiny depth of field at this close focus means you can stop down to f16 and still get out of focus areas in the background!
- It also flares like the Iscomorphot.
- Mounted pretty much the same way as the Iscomorphot. Again the rear glass gets close to where your filter threads are on your taking lens.
- Alignment is handled by rotating the Rexermorphot itself, the step rings stay secure. It means that it can go out of alignment a bit when changing focus, so you have to keep an eye on it, just like the Iscomorphot.
- Barrel distortion is good, not really noticeable.
- Vignettes at 50mm 1.8 on a 5d. Again, 7D should have no issues here.


If you have a 7D or 550D and feel like having a dabble in anamorphics then check out my post in the Marketplace section, as I'm selling both of these lenses. I have a 5D and don't think that they are all that useful on a full frame body as there's too much vignetting.



According to my calculations, the vignetting won't show on a crop camera.

See an analytical comparison of both here:
http://vimeo.com/10361148

And see a nice video demonstrating the Iscomorphot's close focus here:
http://vimeo.com/10489161
 
so im having trouble finding out how to monitor my anamorphic footage. im shooting on an iscorama 42 with a 7D on a marshall monitor.

are there any monitors that have a 1:33 squeeze or is there some sort of adapter box or program i can get to stretch my footage so i monitor.
 
HHL said:
Thanks for sharing man! I'm sure that you already know that 1.33 is "under" de-compressing it? It looks fine...I know some people actually PREFER it that way. Either way is fine....it's just a fact that it is 2x...again...nice either way. :)
Click to expand...

is there a way to decompress it more in VEGAS?
 
is there a way to decompress it more in VEGAS?
Click to expand...

I've never used Vegas....but I'm sure you can. In CS3, 4, 5....all you do is change the "height" setting. That's it. So....on a 2x lens, you simply resize to 50% height. This *COMPLETELY* decompresses it. So, if you did 60%, it would not be *COMPLETELY* decompressed. I think I'll have to experiment with cropping and decompressing to get a nice little medium and see what I can get away with. I've done it before about a year ago and it looked just fine...anywho...I hope that helps.

:)
 
I am very interested in that Panavision Superama. I just got bunch of mint Kern Paillard Switar 16mm cine lenses with which I'd like to do anamorphic projects. Do you think that it would work out with those well? Do you have slightest clue on how to find one?
 
I think Lomo lenses give off better flares IMO.

I think Lomo lenses give off better flares IMO.

Quick question. Has anyone tried using Caprock with the Panasonic Anamorphic adapter? I would think one would 1st mount the Caprock filter onto his actual 35mm lens and then mount the Anamorphic Adapter to the Caprock. Would this work properly or will the anamorphic adapter cause for the CapRock filter not to work at all?

speedjunkie said:
http://www.vimeo.com/5680250

thought I would share this Link for those Intersted...
Click to expand...

I was interested in the pani solution until I saw how much better the Lomo lens flares looked.

What sucks is I had a chance to buy a 4 set of Lomos a year ago and passed. They only wanted $1200.00 for all 4. It hurts:(
 
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I would really love to buy the Panavision Superama lens, does anyone have an idea or any tipps on how or where to find one... ? (searching ebay worldwide for 3 months now, and just found some auction in japan (not ebay) which i couldn't get translated :-(
please help, thanks
 
Your search is over...

Your search is over...

frictionist said:
I would really love to buy the Panavision Superama lens, does anyone have an idea or any tipps on how or where to find one... ? (searching ebay worldwide for 3 months now, and just found some auction in japan (not ebay) which i couldn't get translated :-(
please help, thanks
Click to expand...

I own one...and it hasn't seen much action in the last year...pm me and we'll go from there. :)
 
Which of the lenses that you have used HHL have shortest minimum focal length? I have been searching all over for a 1.33 that I can use for interior shots...My first choice was the hypergonar hifi2 but then I found out it has a minimum of 15ft which is not very ideal...Thanks also for all of the information in this thread! Very helpful.

Edit: I no longer care about 1.33x...just looking for something that can focus up close.
 
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omnidecay said:
Which of the lenses that you have used HHL have shortest minimum focal length? I have been searching all over for a 1.33 that I can use for interior shots...My first choice was the hypergonar hifi2 but then I found out it has a minimum of 15ft which is not very ideal...Thanks also for all of the information in this thread! Very helpful.

Edit: I no longer care about 1.33x...just looking for something that can focus up close.
Click to expand...

Just bought one a week ago from France , waiting for the HI FI to arrive to Vietnam where I am based.
The 15ft is an issue, but what about 1,2 close up filter ? Didn't measure the front thought , is it wider than 77mm ?
 
I wish I could tell you more about the HIFI. Its possible to get diopters for it but I do know where and the front of the hyper is pretty big (how big IDK). Even with the diopters I dont think you would be able to get THAT close for tighter interior shots. I'm starting to think having different anamorphic for different types of shots might be the most ideal.
 
Which of the lenses that you have used HHL have shortest minimum focal length? I have been searching all over for a 1.33 that I can use for interior shots...My first choice was the hypergonar hifi2 but then I found out it has a minimum of 15ft which is not very ideal...Thanks also for all of the information in this thread! Very helpful.

Edit: I no longer care about 1.33x...just looking for something that can focus up close.​
Click to expand...

Sorry for the delay in response. I just need to subscribe to this thread...believe it or not, I never did. (lol)

OK...for close focus, you'll find that they ALL need to use diopters to get close ups. One of my favs is the Keihan 16B. Shoot'um up!
​
 
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