Diopter

[johnny001]

Hi guys i got my self Bausch and Lomb Anamorphic lens which as you know it is big lens i love this lens it is sharp sharper then my sankor 16c my question is close up diopters. I am new to them and i have no idea what to get .4 .5 +1 and if they make them as big as front of my lens. I am not looking for anything expensive something in 50 to 100 dollar range and how do they work as in numbers and how many do i need? i was reading on the anamorphic forum The Diopter Thread but i could not get all the answers



Thanks

 

[kostas]

I don't have experience with your particular lens, but generally speaking, to attach a diopter in front of an anamorphic you need a front filter clamp (the ones from redstan are the best quality). These provide a thread to attach filters.
You can find inexpensive +1 diopters on eBay, but these will degrade your image since they are not top notch quality.
From my experience the best thing is to get several (2 or 3) +0.5 diopters, depending on the minimum focus distance of your lens, in order to be able to focus closer progressively.
For instance, an Iscorama focuses down to 2m, with a +0.5 you can focus from 1 to 2m, with two +0.5 you get down to 0.5-0.75m etc.

The +0.4 Tokina achromat doublet is top quality, to use in the first place, but very expensive and rare, but there are some very good quality single element +0.5 diopters that provide equally good quality.

If you are interested, I have several such +0.5 single element diopters up for sale, with 72mm thread, that are excellent quality and I use them all the time on my Iscorama.