cheap anamorphic lens?

J

Jonathan12uiz

Well-known member
I see all these anamorphic adapters and shorts shot on the GH13 with and anamorphic lens, where are they getting these lenses? All I see are High dollar lenses and people who are already into cinematography very deep and already have these lenses.

can anyone point me in the direction of a possible lens solution, I don't just want to crop video.
 
Jonathan12uiz said:
I see all these anamorphic adapters and shorts shot on the GH13 with and anamorphic lens, where are they getting these lenses? All I see are High dollar lenses and people who are already into cinematography very deep and already have these lenses.

can anyone point me in the direction of a possible lens solution, I don't just want to crop video.
Click to expand...



The usual channels like ebay, craigslist, etc. will have sales of anamorphic attachments.

It is indeed true that there's little to find under 100$. The anamorphics for 35mm projection usually go for little money because they're heavy and can only focus from 30ft or so.
But anamorphics for 16mm projection and shooting can be had for little money with a little luck.
Look for Eiki, Kowa, Sankor, Elmoscope, Bausch&Lomb, Bell&Howell, Proskar, ... Here's an exhaustive (but incomplete) list : http://super8wiki.com/index.php/Anamorphic_Lenses

Know that nearly all these lenses need to be focused in relation to the taking lens on which these anamorphic attachments are mounted. The exception here being Iscorama, which is why Iscos get high prices compared to say Kowas.

Real anamorphic lenses are rare to find (only Russian Lomos spring up regularly), and are never below a few thousand.
 
The Panasonic AG-LA7200 anamorphic adapter also doesn't need to be focused in addition to the lens it's mounted on. They can still be readily found for $500-$600. A bit lower in quality in terms of what's expected in anamorphic lens flare.

Also, be prepared to drop a few stops in order to maintain sharpness on just about any anamorphic attachment. Honestly, I would experiment with pre-framing your shots and then cropping in post while using a lens flare plug-in like Video Copilot's Optical Flares. It really isn't as much of a pain as you'd think. I find it easier to deal with than having to compensate on the aperture if you're looking to go 2.35:1.
 
Hey there,
I have a LOMO 35НАП2-4 lens (2X squeeze), which I found for $40 in very good condition! LOMO optics are very high quality, and were used for a long time in USSR for filmmaking. I know it's heavy, but when you put it on 15mm rails it works just great. Plus heavier the camera is, more steady image is.



Here you can see a quick video
will upload a better test soon...
 
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Hello henrikb ,
No, this is not a lens like OCT's. This is an anamorphic attachment for a projector, which you can use with another lens (I'm using Helios 58mm, which is 93mm on camera). Again, amazing quality glass. LOMO 35НАП2-4 has 80-120mm which means that you can't use lenses wider then 80mm and bigger that 120mm. See pic below...
IMG00261-20120326-1941.jpg

I found it in Ukraine, during new year trip. Transport it here to the UK, was whole another story :)
 
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fdirector said:
Hello henrikb ,
No, this is not a lens like OCT's. This is an anamorphic attachment for a projector, which you can use with another lens (I'm using Helios 58mm, which is 93mm on camera). Again, amazing quality glass. LOMO 35НАП2-4 has 80-120mm which means that you can't use lenses wider then 80mm and bigger that 120mm. See pic below...
View attachment 51292

I found it in Ukraine, during new year trip. Transport it here to the UK, was whole another story :)
Click to expand...

Holy shiznuts, someone actually tried to adapt them. Any video demos?
 
Now that I ordered a few I can start to talk about the super cinelux projector lens. Dirt cheap and will work as an adapter for 50mm lens and up. They have a two group design but you can just unscrew the 2nd non-anamorphic group off and use it as an adapter.

The cool part is it will focus under 1.5 meters and I think I figured out a way to make it be able to focus even closer. Modern look and tack sharp but because it uses top of the line coatings it is extremely hard to get to flare. I will be doing some conversions with some nikon primes soon and will post up some samples in the next few weeks. This projector lens was very common at the cineplex and as projectors get upgraded they are showing up on ebay for under $200.
 
Not trying to derail the thread, but if you like films like 5th Element and Titanic, they were made cropping from the film. Super-35 is a crop film format not at all different from cropping the 1080p video into 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Lots and lots of popular films have been made using this crop format. You could instantly see Super-35 a bit more video'ish look, though.
 
@fdirector holy crap! Ha! I'd like to see more!
I actually asked this "cheap anamorphic lens?" question at another forum.
I ended up with the conclusion that I had to get an eiki, sankor, proskar.

I got an eiki 16f + redstan clamp off ebay for $150 + shipping but I think I was a bit lucky with that price.

Got around to play with it last week for 2 days and footage is decent for the price :D

https://vimeo.com/39679993

Good luck with the search!
I was pretty stressed out looking at all the expensive prices!!!
 
ipcmlr Iwill post some better, color corrected footage soon. Meanwhile have alook at THIS thread, my LOMO anamorphic vs RED optics, no difference at all.
 
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