Iscorama 36 + lens of your choice. LIST

macgregor

macgregor

Veteran
Hi all,
I haven't been able to find conclusive information about this. I will be very clear so please try not to extend too much. This question only applies to the iscorama(the one known as 36).
- what other lenses can successfully replace the isco 50mm f2.8 original spherical rear lens whithout massive ammounts of vignetting?
- if so, did they retain the same single focusing procedure associated to iscoramas or did they require double focusing?

Please note the spherical lens used, the ammount of spacer rings (if any) and most important, the camera used (because obviously the sensor size affects a lot).
Thank you everyone for their help! Lets make a good list.
 
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A great alternative to the Nikon Plastic Fantastic is the old Zeiss Pancolor 50mm f1.8. Its a little more robust, very sharp and quite inexpensive. Same reverse conical design as well, so fits like a glove.
 
Ok i spent some time today testing lenses on my nikon d7000 (DX sensor) and the results were excellent.
All these lenses achieve perfect focus and do not vignette. I chose lenses with small and deep front elements. Lenses fit with a standrd 52-49 adapter ring:

- Nikon 35mm 1.8G: perfect fit with a 52 mm spacer.
- nikon 50mm 1.8D
- nikon 50mm 1.4G. It fits with an extra 58-52 adapter.
- nikon micro 55mm 2.8 ais
- nikon micro 60mm 2.8. I used a 62-49 adapter fir this lens.
- nikon 80mm 2.8. This lens is very rare and works beautifuly with the isco.

What is the longest lens you guys have tried?
Any recommendations on close up filters?
 
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The longest I have tried on the 5d is the Helios 40-2 85mm f1.5 for this personal clip http://vimeo.com/29397958
But I see that you have already tried an 80mm lens....

Regarding close up filters,the best to have is a +0.4 or +0.5 diopter that enables you to focus in the 3 to 6 feet region and get some nice close ups. If you have two of them you could also stack them to be able to go down to 1.5ft if you need a dramatic close up. +1 diopters are much more common but a little bit less handy, because they don't cover the intermediate region.
The best option is undoubtly the mighty +0.4 achromatic doublet by Tokina. However, I have also tried some excellent quality single element +0.5 diopters on my Iscorama and to be honest I cannot spot any notable difference in image quality compared to the achromat. So I use them any time and these are slightly less expensive alternatives.
I do have a couple of those for sale currently, so just drop me a pm if you are interested. These are 72mm thread so directly fit in front of the Isco.
 
OK so I´ve enlarged the list of lenses that I´ve successfully tried so far:

- nikon 100mm pancake f2.8.
- nikon 105mm f2.5 AIS
- nikon 180mm f2.8 AF
- nikon 70-200 VR II. Yep, it works on this one, amazing. But the there is a loss of about a stop when zooming in all the way. At very small apertures <f16 there is vignetting in the corners.

Now, although all these lenses work with the iscorama, I found out that the longest the lens, the closer the maximum focus distance. When you go over 100mm you no longer can focus to infinity. It almost looks sharp but it is not.
 
I have also an Iscorama 36 1x5 with a Nikon D7000, taking lense is a Nikkor 50/1.8D in conjunction with a Redstan Lenseclamp. I have to say, that i don't get real sharp images, maybe it is me doing something wrong with the setup. As my understanding is, if the taking lense is set to infinity, and the Iscorama set as well, then it should produce a sharp image from 6ft to infinity, right?

I have the 70-200/2.8 VR I , will test this as well.

Regarding taking photos with the ISCO: am i correct to change the picture in height by 66,6% to get the correct aspect? (since the lense is a 1,5x squeeze)
 
Hi, try using a simple 52-49mm adapter ring to attach your nikon to the iscorama. It´s super sharp for me.

Although Iscoramas are advertised as having a x1.5 compresion ratio, after doing a few tests I have to say the distortion is x1.4. So you should resize the photos vertically around 71% or change the aspect ratio of the videos to x1.4.
 
Well,

i have to wait for the adapter ring. I haven't found a way to change the AR to x1.4 in PPro CS 5...all i do is, interpret the footage and there i have x1.33 (HD anamorphic 1080 1.33) and x1.5 (DVCPRO HD 1.5) - besides other non relevant settings.
 
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