New Device for getting the anamorphic lens look without Anamorphic lenses.

TimurCivan

Director of Photography
Staff member


This is test footage for a device i am building that seems to be shaping up quite nicely. It mimics the beloved characteristics of the anamorphic cinema lens, but without the complexity, size and most importantly the price. I have been working on this for a while, and the pieces have finally come together.

bunch of information here:

http://timurcivan.blogspot.com/
 
Tim, This looks great. And I for one (one who as you mentioned is putting a matte over my 16X9 frame) look forward to seeing this developed further.:beer:
 
Timur,

So psyched about this, would buy this in a heart beat. Keep it up and keep us posted. Great footage by the way.
 
Tim, This looks great. And I for one (one who as you mentioned is putting a matte over my 16X9 frame) look forward to seeing this developed further.:beer:

Its designed specifically fo rthe low/no budget indie filmmaker.

I have some friends that literally call me and ask " hey man tell me about the elite anamorphics you used on that music video..... Yea... how were they.... How big were they... yea tell me how they flare.... yea.... yea...." it gets kinda weird after a while, hahah. I realized so many people have very limited/no access to them. That driving factor plus the fact that i needed to match a non anamorphic lens to a RED w/ anamorphic one on a recent shoot led me to develop this. ITs not perfect, of course, because it doesnt squeeze the image into true anamorphic, but for the folks that are matting the image ( myself included for personal projects) it helps them sell the effect and you get to see the effect immediately on set.
 
Hehe, that sounded like some NIN material there for the music :) Looks really cool. Question I had, the reflections from the Candle, are they coming from your device as well? When I shoot at night, I've found I have to remove all filters from the front of my 7D and whatever lens I am using as I get a lot of light reflecting back and forth inside the filters. I've wondered if really expensive UV filters are better at no causing the multiple reflections, but haven't tried one yet.

In any case though, really neat!
 
Looks cool - and I'm all for more options being on the table, but I personally think the strength of anamorphics and the reason they ought to be used is for composition, not the bokeh or the flares. Anamorphic composition is an art to itself and it's not something one can achieve just by cropping the top and the bottom of the frame. A shot done anamorphically cannot be achieved by cropping -a similar shot (fov both vertical and horizontal) can be achieved, but not exactly the same as if you'd done it with anamorphics.

That said this device would be very useful for situations in which you can't shoot anamorphically (i.e. wanting to shoot at really wide open apertures or very close focusing distances) and/or if you're doing a project with mixed footage so that one can achieve a look with non-anamorphic footage on that looks closer to the rest of one's true anamorphic footage. I'm doing a project now that's a 50/50 split of anamorphic footage and non-anamorphic footage (for the reasons I mentioned earlier) and something like this would be very useful for those shots I do have to crop.
 
Hehe, that sounded like some NIN material there for the music :) Looks really cool. Question I had, the reflections from the Candle, are they coming from your device as well? When I shoot at night, I've found I have to remove all filters from the front of my 7D and whatever lens I am using as I get a lot of light reflecting back and forth inside the filters. I've wondered if really expensive UV filters are better at no causing the multiple reflections, but haven't tried one yet.

In any case though, really neat!

It is from a UV filter. The final unit may be devoid of that reflective flare... but as of right now im using it as a spacer.
 
Looks cool - and I'm all for more options being on the table, but I personally think the strength of anamorphics and the reason they ought to be used is for composition, not the bokeh or the flares. Anamorphic composition is an art to itself and it's not something one can achieve just by cropping the top and the bottom of the frame. A shot done anamorphically cannot be achieved by cropping -a similar shot (fov both vertical and horizontal) can be achieved, but not exactly the same as if you'd done it with anamorphics.

That said this device would be very useful for situations in which you can't shoot anamorphically (i.e. wanting to shoot at really wide open apertures or very close focusing distances) and/or if you're doing a project with mixed footage so that one can achieve a look with non-anamorphic footage on that looks closer to the rest of one's true anamorphic footage. I'm doing a project now that's a 50/50 split of anamorphic footage and non-anamorphic footage (for the reasons I mentioned earlier) and something like this would be very useful for those shots I do have to crop.

BELIEVE me i whole heartedly agree that anamorphic lenses about composition, not flares and bokeh. Some times i cant afford 2500$ in rentals for a small project whose budget is $2000, in this case, my device is perfect.

But since you are composing for 2.4:1 any way, mind as well have all the effects there to back up the look.
 
Interesting, but when you say device do you mean software or an actual physical tool used on set like a 4:3 to 16:9 converter? Sounds, and from the video looks really good but I've just put in money on a century optic anamorphic for 399 USD for the GH-1 which now produces native anamorphics, to be honest I don't know what can beat that in straightforward ease of use.
 
this is awesome, I love the look. Can this device your creating be used on any video camera. Or is it a post device or plug in?
 
Interesting, but when you say device do you mean software or an actual physical tool used on set like a 4:3 to 16:9 converter? Sounds, and from the video looks really good but I've just put in money on a century optic anamorphic for 399 USD for the GH-1 which now produces native anamorphics, to be honest I don't know what can beat that in straightforward ease of use.

It is a physical object. And it would be perfect for a camera like a GH1 that has a (hacked) native anamorphic shaped video. However, the use of the Century optic anamorphic adapter would negate the use of the anamorphic shaped video. If you combined the two you would get a Super widescreen that loosk weird. you would use one or the other. For the individuals that choose to use the built in 1920x811 pixel 2.4:1 aspect ratio, the device makes perfect sense. for thoes using the glass anamorphic, you wouldnt need it. though having the ability to dial in your amount of horizontal flare could still be useful.

this is awesome, I love the look. Can this device your creating be used on any video camera. Or is it a post device or plug in?

It can be used on most Fast 35mm lenses. I have it tested on a 50mm F1.4 Canon, 85mm F1.8 Canon, and it works on every length above that. Im getting it to work on 35mm lenses as we speak. It does not work on Video camera lenses. IT only works on large sensor cameras. 5D, 7D, T2i, 60D, D90, D7000, RED, Alexa, etc.....
 
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