Atlas Orion - is that lateral distortion normal ?

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deusex

Member
I am a first time user of 2X Anamorphics. I have waited for the Atlas Orion B-Set for more than 9 months and was very excited when it finally came in.

Everyone on set was also very excited, until the actress saw the monitor and asked "why is my face so distorted?"

I didn't know what to say and just answered "that's because of the anamorphic effect, dont worry".

So does anyone know if that "lateral distortion" is really normal, or did I got bad lens ??
OMG, and if it is normal, why is the distortion direction different across the lens? Its like one lens goes to the left, the other lens goes to the right, etc...

Shot on the Ursa Mini G2 at the anamorphic mode 3072x2560 and de-squeezed in Davinci Resolve at 3840x1600 (2.40:1)


https://youtu.be/9HlMYPdbKaI
 
Any “cheap” lens performing an 2x stretch is a bit of an ask. Mix in imperfect levelling and it’s gonna look wonk?
 
Not really familiar with dedicted anamorphic lenses per se a but you see similar effects when using anamorphic adapters when they are axially rotated just a fraction off vertical. In some of your examples the off axis rotation looks a fair way off. Do they have no rotational adjustment vis a vis the camera flange? I ask out of ignorance of course.

Chris Young
 
Leveling was perfect.
No rotational adjustment.
And not exactly cheap lens, should have at least positioned the flange right...
 
Im intterested in this!. If you cant get a straight vertical down the middle your levelling is not perfect??

This YT image we can see significant distortion but the camera is completely square to the wall giving a very even fisheye effect

The fisheye effect is typical of anny lenses (its up to you if you care or not or like it think it is art. it is very normal even for cinema anamorphic wides)

I note these lenses are PL,EF,E mount clearly the back is removable and there is space for error in assembly. EF and E dont even provide a proper lock to keep the lens flat there is a load (1/2 a degree) of rotational flop on E and EF lens mounts - does this matter? probably. Im talking aobut the camera not the lens

anny.jpg
 
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cyvideo said:
Not really familiar with dedicted anamorphic lenses per se a but you see similar effects when using anamorphic adapters when they are axially rotated just a fraction off vertical. In some of your examples the off axis rotation looks a fair way off. Do they have no rotational adjustment vis a vis the camera flange? I ask out of ignorance of course.

Chris Young
Click to expand...

I agree with Chris. It looks like the lens is not properly adjusted internally. I imagine you would have to get inside it and rotate the relevant element/s or, more likely, have the company do it for you. I doubt that there's any other way to fix the problem. Of course, I don't know that for certain. But, judging by the images, I feel confident that this is the problem.
 
deusex said:
Leveling was perfect.
No rotational adjustment.
And not exactly cheap lens, should have at least positioned the flange right...
Click to expand...

Very much a cheap lens I'm afraid, there is no cheaper set of professional anamorphic glass that you can buy. I've been saying this for years, but people's expectations of the Atlas anamorphics should always bear that in mind.

That said, if your tripod head was perfectly level when you took those shots, the rotational skew in the images would suggest that you have misaligned elements in the lenses (and in all three of them somehow). I would be contacting Atlas immediately with that video, and asking them what's up.

Underwhelming QC isn't unknown with these lenses, but they are widely available these days, so there's a good chance (assuming you're not in the US) that you can still get them serviced and adjusted locally. Whatever the case, make sure Atlas are paying for either the return shipping or the local corrections. All three lenses being out is ridiculous.
 
Grug said:
. All three lenses being out is ridiculous.
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Three lenses having the exact same problem would suggest the problem is not with the lenses.

I would suggest investivation of the mount system and the mount on the camera. Unlocked EF and E certainly are I guess capable of being off up a degree or so.
 
This inquiry might be more fruitful over on Reduser. More users there familiar with both the Atlas lenses and anamorphic in general.

But is there a cautionary tale here to learn from? Try before you buy, test before day of shoot, etc.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions!

Now it hit me - yes, the lens mounts were swapped to EF before the shoot.

So it is very likely that the adapters were not aligned during the swap and the lens are perfectly fine.
I will check on that later and will re-test with PL :)
 
I shot a movie in January 2020 where I encountered this issue. I figured out it was caused by the Iron Glass PL mount on my Red Scarlet-W. The mounting pin where you line up and insert the lens into the PL mount was slightly off where it should be, which caused the front of the Atlas lenses to be a few degrees off-level and resulted in that warped distortion effect across the image. It’s basically the front anamorphic being slightly off-level. When I switched out the mount for a Wooden Camera PL mount and Red’s PL motion mount, the distortion was gone. The Iron Glass PL mount works fine with all spherical lenses, never had any issues for many years, but I recommend avoiding it when using Anamorphic lenses.
 
Hello everyone, I fixed the issue.

It was a case of "azimuth misalignment" which is a result of the placement of the mount screws.

Since I wrongly assumed there was something bad with the optics, I deleted that video, and have to apologize to Atlas for the trouble.

Here is the new video, showing different positions of mount screws, causing different kinds of misaligment.

At the end, even when perfectly slotted, the inherent play of the EF mount may cause just a little bit of a skew.

All lenses work fine now, I can relax and be glad having them :)

https://youtu.be/pDRUAEW3dhI
 
Live & learn. Mount rotational alignment it critical with anamorphics. If it makes you feel any better, the hugely expensive and professional production of WandaVision has a few shots where an anamorphic lens is clearly out of alignment like this.
 
deusex said:
Hello everyone, I fixed the issue.

It was a case of "azimuth misalignment" which is a result of the placement of the mount screws.
Click to expand...

Hmm! That's why I queried rotational adjustment on the lens in my initial response. Looked suspiciously like that. So critical with anamorphic. Something I first observed with anamorphic projection. Azimuth adjustment has to spot on.

Chris Young
 
Mitch Gross said:
Live & learn. Mount rotational alignment it critical with anamorphics. If it makes you feel any better, the hugely expensive and professional production of WandaVision has a few shots where an anamorphic lens is clearly out of alignment like this.
Click to expand...

Really! I didn't notice. Just enjoyed the early '70s spin on the production. Surprised myself. Liked the tongue-in-cheek approach throughout.

Chris Young
 
Glad you got it sorted. I'd chalk this one up to "yet another reason all mounts but PL-mounts are stupid".
 
cyvideo said:
Really! I didn't notice. Just enjoyed the early '70s spin on the production. Surprised myself. Liked the tongue-in-cheek approach throughout.

Chris Young
Click to expand...

You can see it in some of the scenes with Randall Park (FBI agent Jimmy Woo). I noticed in at least three shots in different episodes.
 
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