The anamorphic's limitations

[Anartiste]

Hi there,

I tested the Panasonic anamorphic lens a few days ago. I'd like to use it for a film I'm supposed to shoot in September that is very likely to be printed on 35mm, so I tested the hell out of it.

Here's my humble report :

1/ There's a great perspective distortion on the lateral edges of the frame up to zoom 22-23 which makes your shots look like fisheye shots. Vertical lines look like this : (). (There's also a slight horizontal distortion but this one is quite acceptable).

2/ When the zoom is over 90, it's impossible to focus on things — shots are soft.

3/ It's very difficult to be sure that the anamorphic is correctly fixed onto the camera. If not, the vertical distortion gets oblique. More critical : the adapter can rotate very easily when "fixed" on the lens, which obliges you to check its horizontality before every take.

4/ I can't fix my Cinetactics Matteblox on the anamorphic. Therefore, I can't use 4x4 filters anymore.

In spite of these limitations, I saw 35mm print tests with and without the anamorphic and the extra pixels the anamorphic gives you make a real difference when projected on a large screen, so I'd like very much to use it.

So here are a few questions for you guys, who know everything :

— Is there a DIY way to fix the Matteblox and its filter holders onto the anamorphic ?

— Is it possible to put an achromatic diopter lens (or a rotating polarizing filter) AND the anamorphic together on the DVX ?

— Do you guys have any tricks to be sure of the horizontality of the anamorphic and/or keeping it horizontal all day long ?

— Is there another anamorphic lens for the DVX ? If yes, is it more reliable than the Panasonic's ?

Thanks for the inputs.

 

[Barry_Green]

Re: The anamorphic's limitations

[quote author=Anartiste link=board=news;num=1087127139;start=0#0 date=06/13/04 at 04:45:39]
1/ There's a great perspective distortion on the lateral edges of the frame up to zoom 22-23 which makes your shots look like fisheye shots. Vertical lines look like this : ().
[/quote]
That's called barrel distortion. It's not the anamorphic's fault, it's inherent in the DVX lens. The anamorphic adapter magnifies the barrel distortion because it acts like a wide-angle adapter. You'll see the same effect if you use a .7 or wider wide-angle adapter lens.

2/ When the zoom is over 90, it's impossible to focus on things — shots are soft.

I originally reported that as well. Since then the great Adam Wilt has come up with a focus/aperture chart, which shows the minimum aperture you need to use, at certain distances, to get adequate sharpness. According to him, you can get acceptable sharpness at Z90 as close as 3 feet away, but you'd have to be on f/16. You can even get acceptable sharpness at full Z99 telephoto as close as 3' 7", but again you need f/16. You can get a sharp image on Z99 at infinity with an f/6.8. Check out the chart at http://www.adamwilt.com/24p/7200chart.html

3/ It's very difficult to be sure that the anamorphic is correctly fixed onto the camera. If not, the vertical distortion gets oblique. More critical : the adapter can rotate very easily when "fixed" on the lens, which obliges you to check its horizontality before every take.

Here I disagree, I don't think you set it up properly. Use the translucent lens cap that comes with the anamorphic adapter. Zoom out to full wide, and point it at a bright light source, and focus on the surface of the lens cap -- you'll see a rectangular groove in the lens cap. Use that to align the adapter, you can basically get it perfectly square using that. Make sure you tighten the lens threads and the aligning screw, and it should never get off-axis.

— Is there a DIY way to fix the Matteblox and its filter holders onto the anamorphic ?

Someone here discussed doing that with velcro and the french flag, search for it.

— Is it possible to put an achromatic diopter lens (or a rotating polarizing filter) AND the anamorphic together on the DVX ?

Don't know about the diopter, unless you find one that's 4x4. For a rotating polarizer, look at the centuryoptics.com site for a 4x4 polarizer that rotates within its frame -- might be perfect for your circumstances.

— Is there another anamorphic lens for the DVX ?

Currently, no. Century keeps promising one, but the anticipated price is around $2000 with no delivery date in sight yet, so if that price is affordable to you, keep your fingers crossed.

 

[Guest]

Re: The anamorphic's limitations

I wonder if there is a chart for the DVX100A/anamorphic...
...since the focal distance is not the same as the DVX100

I dont have the patience (it takes a lot of) to write one by myself...

 

[Voytek_Stitko]

Re: The anamorphic's limitations

I bought over sized french flag (matteblox) and put some extra velcro on it plus velcro on my adapter and now I have matteblox on my anamorphic adapter.

guys from the company (they advertise on this site) which make matteblox say that they are working on mattebox for anamorphic but if you have to have it now you can buy oversize french flag plus black velcro. I dont need filters in front of my camera. Total cost: less than 100$

voytek stitko

 

[toolart]

Re: The anamorphic's limitations

Cinetactics now has just released a matteblox specifically for the anamorphic lens. We went by the other and picked one up- still testing it but it is a great deal at less than $400.

 

[scharky]

Re: The anamorphic's limitations

Antoine, it's already been done for you. Check out Barry's Anamorphic guide.

 

[matthewd5]

Re: The anamorphic's limitations

one tip on making sure the anamorphic lens is level on your camera...

i went nuts trying to zoom out and look for the white lines on the lens cap as barry suggests, i thought i was missing something.

but when i connect up my dvx-100a to my sony monitor and do the underscan mode i could just barely see the white lines.

i think there is a difference somewhere between either the 100 and the 100a, or maybe the lens caps, but anyway, if you have a problem seeing the white lines i have a simple fix that worked wonders for me...

take your white lens cap off, put it face down on a table so the part that is normally closest to the lens is face up and just carefully trace the inside of the white lines that form a box with a black sharpy.

i guess you could use a magenta or blue sharpy, but definitely not yellow.

with the black box it is much easier to see the box now and it takes just a few seconds to be relatively sure that the lens is on straight.

i am still leary of focusing the sucker. i really wish there was a better way...

matthew

 

[shAi]

Re: The anamorphic's limitations

i once managed to align the anamorphic lens without the white lens cap, like this:
when the lens is on the camera and uncovered (lens cap off), face it and look inside. you'll see the ana's rectangle aligned (more or less..) with the Leica's rectangle. all you have to do is to make them both parallel / aligned.
i was double-checking with the lens cap as reference, and it was perfect. it's not as obvious as the lens cap method, but under sufficient lighting conditions you can get it done easily, and maybe even more accurately... (?)

 

[matthewd5]

Re: The anamorphic's limitations


even the lens cap method certainly has a bit of room for error.

the lens cap doesn't exactly fit with a high level of precision.

i keep wondering how bad a picture could come out if the lens were to be a little bit off, especially if someone were doing a very serious project that was blown up to film.

its one of those things where you keep thinking there must be a better way, but you certainly can't think of it yourself!

matthew

 

[Barry_Green]

Re: The anamorphic's limitations

Once you have it aligned to your camera, you could always just draw a tiny mark with a sharpie at some point on the lens and on your camera, so in the future all you have to do is match up the marks and it'll be in perfect alignment.