Crisis, need an anamorphic adapter immediately! Finder's fee available...

J

James Mills

New member
Hey, all. I normally post at the cinema5D forum but figured I'd try my luck here as well. From my post there:

"Crisis mode, my friends: I was finally able to convince the director of a short I'm DPing to go anamorphic and now he's obsessed with the idea of us getting an Isco. He's about to throw down 1,500 to some guy to rent it for three weeks when he can just as easily buy it for 3,000. It's not his budget so he's not tripping, so I got him to give me the money to essentially rent mine IF I can come up with one before Saturday for our first day of principal photography!

What should I do? I have cash in hand and live in Los Angeles... I'll do anything to come up on this deal, I'd essentially be buying an Iscorama for 1,500 dollars cheaper, not to mention the mere fact that I'm dying to roll with it on this shoot. Any help at all would be great, I can't find any on Ebay that are in the states and could ship by Saturday (unless these overseas ones could somehow still be overnighted? I'm going to look into this as well as keep checking Craigslist).

To make matters even more hectic, he's telling me he's going to just go ahead and rent from this guy if I can't confirm having one myself by 1:00 PM... I'm going to be super bummed if this opportunity passes me, lol"

In later posts I posed these questions which I could also use assistance on:

" Would I also be needing a diopter for the adapter? If so, which particular one should I demand from the guy we're renting from? Also, where could I find one if I wanted to purchase it myself? Finder's fees on these as well, thanks."

"For taking lenses I figured my Rokinon 85mm, Canon 100mm macro, and Canon 50mm 1.4 would work fine on their own, but is this actually not the case? I know it's a pipe dream but I was just really hoping I could pull it off...

Would rolling with the Panasonic LA7200 be an easier route? If so, anyone have any connections for this? I've read that you need a rare diopter for this as well though so I don't know..."

Any help at all would be great, thanks a bunch.

 
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Isco is very rare to find I think, I know Andrew Reid from EOSHD has a few, maybe you should contact him for some info?
 
My advice, take it or leave it... Skip the anamorphic adapter. The resolution you loose after cropping the sides of a 2X anamorphic on a 16x9 sensor to fit a 2.39:1 screen is not worth it. If that is indeed your plan.
 
They are not EF mounts. They useually come in PL, OCT19, or OCT18 mounts. Lomo made both primes and anamorphic zooms but they are 2x anamorphics as well, so you will run into the same issues as with a 2x anamorphic adapter on a 16x9 sensor.

What is your intended delivery aspect ratio?
 
I wanted a 1.5x to get to 2.6 to 1, though I'd prefer 2.39 to 1 and at this point am forced to use a Panasonic with a 1.33x squeeze anyways.

At this point there's no iscorama that I can get ahold of in this short timeframe, unfortunately. As an alternative however my director wants to use the Panasonic LA7200 and will give me 500 dollars to rent that for the shoot so I really want to get that. I have two sellers on ebay that can get it to me overnighted before Saturday, however I need to confirm I'll be able to use the adapter optimally.

Does anyone on here happen to have any experience with the Panasonic LA7200? I have the necessary step up rings accounted for, but I need a specific +1 diopter apparently in order to get closer and sharper focusing. If anyone knows which one is best and mounts easiest to the adapter (let alone where I could buy this specific kind), I'd be very appreciative. Or if anyone has any suggestions on using it without the diopter or whether or not it's even possible, that would be great too.
 
You don't 'need' a diopter for the LA7200... it depends what you're shooting with it.

The Foton-A diopter that EOSHD caused a run on a while ago (as everyone wanted one - before that, they were easy to find) goes for $1K now (in 2010 it went for $100) and, to be honest, you don't stand much of a chance finding one.

You can use other diopters - put a 138mm into your mattebox and use that.

I'd suggest trying to find someone in your area and hiring the extras you need.

Also, you need to consider the 'taking' lens... basically, some lenses work well and others don't... the LA7200 won't magically give you that 'Anamorphic' look... it's a lot to do with the lenses you're using too... I'm strictly Lomo and old school cine lenses so I can't help here - but there are plenty of Ops here that can help, I'm sure :)
 
David W. Jones said:
I'm not too keen on the LA7200.
Click to expand...

I 2nd the above sentiment.

I saw on reduser that someone in LA was looking to rent some lomo anamorphics and there is a guy with two kits (I believe in LA) that rent out for $300 per day. They are either Oct-19 or PL mount, and you can get adapters for whatever camera you're shooting on. If its Canon however you are limited to the Lomo roundfronts.
 
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