Limited Lenses.. Tips Please (Anamorphic)

R

richg101

Well-known member
Hi Guys.

I'm hoping for some assistance in getting the most from my current set up. Give me your thoughts:)

I have a sony NEX 5N, Zoom H2, Budget fluid head tripod, etc. and a number of manual focus lenses covering 18mm, 28mm, 50mm, 70-210mm etc. Some M42, Olympus, etc. I recently also acquired an anamorphic adaptor lens (optex/century) for 20gbp so have invested in an achromat +0.4 diopter to use with this.

from tests the anamorphic adapter seems to like the olympus om 28mm the most (its sharp enough to make the other lenses look inferior enough to not use them). I see the inferiority of the results obtained from the anamorphic adaptor (without yet receiving the achromat in the post, which is likely to improve things marginally), when compared to looking at image quality from the same setup minus the anamorphic adaptor. But I can live with the slight softness - the added 'feel' of the anamorphic squeeze and de-squeeze seems to create a 'glue' which glues everything together and makes it feel more organic and physical. Based on this, I am willing to consider disregarding all other focal lengths (other than my 28mm) for the time being and aim to achieve good low budget results in true anamorphic.

So this is my problem. using a single focal length of 28mm+anamorphic, situations such as portrait style close ups during conversation scenes I am using the same angle of view as when I am shooting vast landscape shots, and everything in between. are there any practical tips I can put to good use in adding a degree of variety to the various shots? The lens is f2.8, and the depth of focus is quite nice. shooting a subject wide open, 1mtr away means background landscapes are tactfully out of focus instead of looking like the usual cliche stuff kids tend to shoot with their big aperture 50's.

Maybe some additional diopters? but I'd like some practical tips rather than suggestions for my kit list.


for extra info:-
I wish to shoot some short films, adding physical efx such as puppets, some stop motion animation and good old fashioned latex costume/efx. I have an appreciation for the tripod type films such as barry lyndon and prefer this to the handheld/posh crane type shots. I think this will allow my no budget stuff to gain a look of more physical weight if the camera is anchored to a sturdy tripod.
 
The focus through anamorphic adapters such as the Optex, Soligor, Panasonic are of lower quality.
The best thing you can do, and what they do best, is deep focus wide angle shots.
They get blurry below f 5.6 and over 70mm of focal length.
Using diopters you can overcome some of these shortcomings and be able to film a bit more under certain circumstances.
Watch my test here https://vimeo.com/28327869 for more details.
The thing is that diopters limit your focus range and distance to the subject.
 
I had watched your test. it prompted my purchase of the achromat as a matter of fact:) thanks for doing that test.

I have to disagree about the blurryness below f5.6 (based on my limited experience using the zuiko 28mm f2.8).. My zuiko 28mm f2.8 is almost as sharp at f2.8 as it is at f5.6. the helios 58mm f2 looked awfully soft in comparison. I have noticed an improvement on image quality of landscape shots vs close ups. hopefully the achromat will narrow the gap in quality when shooting closer subjects.

kubricks style of shooting barry lyndon looks like it might be the key. lots of expansive wide angle shots (where the anamorphic works best). Though I dont see any problems with the closeup sharpness of this video I saw recently:- https://vimeo.com/41318206 it looks a bit like a 16mm blow up to 35mm thanks to the slight softness, which I like.
 
David W. Jones said:
My thoughts... Ditch the anamorphic adapter, and just tell your story.
Click to expand...

I agree to a point, but looking through some of the footage I just got today, I cant agree to the point where i will go through with it. It looks better with the anamorphic adaptor than without.
 
I agree with your findings above. This kind of lens works better with wide angle.
If you need telephoto or close ups you need to use diopters.
Almost everything can be done, but it may be more tedious this way.
But if you are happy, I am happy too. I like a lot anamorphic lenses when used properly!!
 
I see nothing there that couldn'tve been framed out slightly and had the aspect ratio cropped in post. Then you could've used all your lenses at maximum sharpness. IMO, using the adapter is severly limiting your options simply for the sake of a device that decreases the lens quality and provides absolutely no gain to the story itself. Plenty of major films shot in simple 1.78:1. Just my 2c
 
While I dig the anamorphic look as much as anyone, it seems like you'd be much better served by just cropping in post and shooting with your whole array of lenses. I've resisted the temptation to try out some of these adapters simply because to get something that's workable in a viable way on a set you have to spend more cash than I'm willing to at this point.
 
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