focusing with anamorphic lens adpter.

[Voytek_Stitko]

Do you guys have experience with shooting with anamorphic lens adapter? My question is: is it possible not to make mistakes while focusing using LCD screen on my DVX?

I ask this question cos someone told me that the image will be squized and this makes focusing very difficult?

Or maybe it's possible to "train" myslef with a monitor first and next go shooting with anamorphic (I can not take a monitor with me, I am not Arnold Shwarzeneger).

Thanks,
voytek stitko

 

[Barry_Green]

Re: focusing with anamorphic lens adpter.

The anamorphic adapter is more difficult to focus. The nature of the anamorphic adapter introduces an astigmatism into the equation, where the vertical elements of the lens focus at a different plane than the horizontals. This makes focus more difficult, and you really, really benefit from having a high-resolution CRT available.

Without a CRT monitor, I'd say the first thing to do is limit your zoom range. The astigmatism becomes more pronounced the further you zoom in, so don't zoom in past Z90.

Second, open up the iris for focus, but stop down as much as you can for shooting. If you can focus at f/2.8 but shoot at f/8 you should be okay.

The "squish" issue is relatively minor -- yes the image will be squeezed, but it's not that big of a deal. It's only 33%. On movie cameras the anamorphic squishes everything by 100%, so you need a de-anamorphosizing viewfinder. On video cameras the squeeze factor is only 33%. It'd be better to have an external 16:9 monitor for composition/framing, but I don't find it critical.