Iscorama Anamophic Lens Test

Holy cannoli this thread is taking off. If there is a list for testers of a new prototype ISCO please Put me on that list!! PleASE!!! hehe. Otheriwise, I want oN THe list for the ISCOs when they are released. I'd hope, as squig is saying, the price point would be $500 or UNDER per-focal length.

Keep in mind the ultimate selling point for canon MKII is it's incredibly low price.

Similiarly I'd suspect these ISCO's would have to be competivity priced with there nikon, canon prime equivilants... which granted can range from anywhere in the $350 range to the $1350 range.

As far as the market goes, correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't this new ISCO, (adapter, or prime regardless), as long as it had the nikon standard Mount for the 35mm full frame format... appeal not only to DSLR users but the following:

*35mm adapter users
*RED users in all iterations (red, scarlet, etc)
*Any other camera system that operates with interchangeable 35mm mount lenses (figuring that nikon mount is pretty adaptable, but a canon eos mount wouldn't hurt either :)

Most red productions I know utilize 35mm still lenses anyway, and with the crop factor people are already using 2x lomo's on their Reds. So how could a new ISCO prime at 1.5x and or adapter NOT appeal to the RED community?

So again, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this going to appeal to ANYONE interested in using the interchangeable 35mm lens for moving picture department? And if the price is sub $1000, for multiple focal lengths, then yes, holy crap, it's going to sell like crazy.
 
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The more specialized the tool, the more it'll cost. There needs to be a much broader interest in a product to justify mass manufacturing.

If the MKii only sold to filmmakers, I'd be willing to bet it'd cost three times as much. Instead, most of the MKii owners are Photographers (SURPRISE!!!) so mass manufacturing the camera and bringing it in at 2600.00 for a body only when it'll sell thousands and thousands of copies is good.

The same goes for lenses, which are the residuals for camera manufacturers.

Take this concept and consider how much R&D (prototypes, testing, re-testing, manufacturing prototypes etc etc) will cost as well for a product that's targeted at a niche withiin a niche inside of a larger niche.

Is it worth creating various anamorphic prime focal lengths for a company if they only sell 200 sets @ 2,500.00 for five primes?

Consider a Zeiss ZF Set of five will probably cost double that and Zeiss has sold thousands of copies.

It's either A) reproduce the old 50 and call it a day, Priced at 500.00 B) Concoct new ones @ nearly 1K a pop or C) A badass adapter that you can attach to any lens and still be able to pull focus, etc etc.

I vote for C. By the way Squig is right: the Isco 54 Nikon mount is a ***** to pull focus with. When I had one it took a fair amount of elbow grease to turn the focus ring.
 
octopi_films said:
Can you really unscrew the isco 50 and put it on other lenses? I didn't see that there is a way...I need to go and try it.
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In the words of the man himself:


squig said:
The front isco 36 just unscrews from the rear aperture part and has a 49mm rear thread. You set your prime lens to infinity and focus with the isco.
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. . . . so you can mount it on faster lenses and/or different focal lengths.

But . . . the back of the front element - which unscrews - sticks out a little, so you would need to find lenses that have their own front element a little recessed . . . or stick some step up rings in between.

I think that is the situation . . . I am sure squig could confirm.
 
The good thing about this thread is that there're more than the Isco people looking at it now. I know that Iilya was already planning on an Anamorphic Adapter, I pitched the concept and passed this thread along and hopefully got them interested in it.

This means we'll have options hopefully.
 
Kholi said:
The more specialized the tool, the more it'll cost. There needs to be a much broader interest in a product to justify mass manufacturing.
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(adapter anamorphic for moving image acquisition)

Just 50 units, my friend. ISCO's information.

As promised, I spoke today with the ISCO's technical responsible.

Some good news: they are interested in to produce an adapter for moving image (NOT for still photography such as the existing ones).

Rather than the set, the adapter route is much much easier and affordable as we all could figure.

Moreover, have you ever heard about those 35mm Rebels (working denomination, not yet decided as same as price) cine glass? ISCO Schneider joint venture. On September @ IBC.

The set route is much difficult 'cause it would depend on the Rebels success (I'd add, also on this adapter sales success too). Yet, another whole market. Higher price. The anamorphic adapter is another story to tell. It is affordable. And it allows the use of different focal lengths.

I am posting on the road now. More with detailed information to come.
 
Lee Wilson said:
One other thought occurs to me (I have at least one a month) :zombie_smiley:

Ok, nothing interesting so far - all pretty standard - but now for my thought (hold on to your trousers) would this vertical scaling not help with some of the 5DII's aliasing issues ?
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yeah it squashes your square jaggies into rectangles so they are a little less prominent
 
Kholi said:
Is it worth creating various anamorphic prime focal lengths for a company if they only sell 200 sets @ 2,500.00 for five primes?

I vote for C. By the way Squig is right: the Isco 54 Nikon mount is a ***** to pull focus with. When I had one it took a fair amount of elbow grease to turn the focus ring.
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I think they'd sell 200 prime sets in the first week, but sure a high quality adapter would be much more popular and cost effective.

It might be better to design it like the panasonic and leave the focusing to the prime lens unless that somehow affects the optical quality, it would make it lighter too. The other problem with focussing on the 54 is that it sometimes loses horizontal alignment as you're trying to pull focus.
 
squig said:
yeah it squashes your square jaggies into rectangles so they are a little less prominent
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On the recorded signal pixels are always square. We may refer to an certain aspect ratio as 'non-square pixels' but they are always square.

What I am saying is that with a decent scaling algorithm (like those found in After Effects) the frame will be blended vertically when it is scaled down - blending out any obvious line skipping.

Or at least helping a little !

I hope that makes sense.
 
squig said:
I think they'd sell 200 prime sets in the first week, but sure a high quality adapter would be much more popular and cost effective.

It might be better to design it like the panasonic and leave the focusing to the prime lens unless that somehow affects the optical quality, it would make it lighter too. The other problem with focussing on the 54 is that it sometimes loses horizontal alignment as you're trying to pull focus.
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Did you check if the same happens with the Iscorama 50mm?

And when the the Iscorama 50mm is working as adapter (Iscorama 36)?
 
Emanuel said:
Did you check if the same happens with the Iscorama 50mm?

And when the the Iscorama 50mm is working as adapter (Iscorama 36)?
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I can't recall if it happens on the 50mm but I'll keep an eye on it, the design is almost the same except it has 2 press lock buttons instead of 1. I won't have the adapter rings to use the 36 separately for a week or so
 
Lee Wilson said:
On the recorded signal pixels are always square. We may refer to an certain aspect ratio as 'non-square pixels' but they are always square.

What I am saying is that with a decent scaling algorithm (like those found in After Effects) the frame will be blended vertically when it is scaled down - blending out any obvious line skipping.

Or at least helping a little !

I hope that makes sense.
Click to expand...

hmmm...I have been scrutinizing some of my test footage with the isco and I can't see the moire effect in places I think it might show up. I think I will go shoot some brick walls and test it. :)
 
octopi_films said:
hmmm...I have been scrutinizing some of my test footage with the isco and I can't see the moire effect in places I think it might show up. I think I will go shoot some brick walls and test it. :)
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Any aliasing/artefacting will still be present on the 'raw' H.264s - but the act of vertically downsampling in post will likely help out - at least a little.
 
Kholi said:
C) A badass adapter that you can attach to any lens and still be able to pull focus, etc etc.
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I would be very interested in this. Whether it's ISCO, Hot Rod Cameras, or someone else, I would be very interested in a high quality anamorphic adapter that stays sharp at different focal lengths and apertures. If this piece of glass could be around $1000 or less, my ears and eyes will be wide open. :Drogar-Evil(DBG):
 
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