@ Redstan, amongst all the anamorphic options you listed with much sympathy, how many are truly usable out of box on an HD camera ? How many would be a perfect match to " A " or " B " or ... taking lens that one could purchase from store. The comercial demise of anamorphic adapters came as the result of quick shift of DV to HDV and consumer eating it up like hot pastry. Many prosumer HDV cameras came with lens built in and bad with low lights. God knows I tried to put my anamorphic adapters on them to no avail. You are making it like consumers decidedly turn their back on anamorphic in consumer level. Before that shift the consumer anamorphic was a dud because consumers were not able to enjoy their anamorphic DV on their tubes - conveniently, at the least as conveniently as it was on home 16mm - 8mm projectors.

The only reason average Joe is attracted to anamorphic again is because of DSLR revolution and sensor sizes and of course the plethora of third party taking lens adapters.

Make it convenient to use, give it OK quality, keep the price reasonable - people will buy. Unless we all shift to 4K in less than a year. That would be the repeat of history from DV to HDV.

any old panasonic and sony mini dv shooters will remember the panny,the optex and the century. b&h new york 15 months ago still had new old stock of the panny. 6-8 years after they where made only sold because of the recent craze. the optex sold out because the bbc purchased loads i know cos i purchased loads of them cheap 3 years ago. century sold off new old stock 3 years ago for 99 dollars each. the spare original stock was remounted and sold off as generic and soligor brands 1 production run soligor,century,generic and optex and it took 7 years to clear out all the new old stock. an anamorphic priced at 200-400 usd will sell a ton. more is cutting the market down. the people that are making the most noise here should give slr magic a lump sum up front if they are so sure of what will sell and what will not say 10 thousand dollars. this is not a cctv lens adapted for m/43 it is a big financial risk. panasonic dumped the entire anamorphic stock on 2 stores in new york because after 3 years sitting in storage they did not want them hanging around any more. century sold close out anamorphics for 99 dollars..go to bottom of page even then it took 6 weeks to clear stock. a hell of a lens for 99 bucks.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-gl-series-dv-camcorders/18850-century-optics-16-9-widescreen-adapter-4.html

anamorphics nearly wiped century out but they got saved by schneider. in and out inventory is the key i here warehouse space in hong kong is quite expensive. not to mention the mainland china copy cats who will also be offering real or fake slr magic variable compression anamorphics.

great times for the customer i suppose. low price is the key to big sales and empty warehouses.or if slr magic make the lens like this

then they can charge lot's more by going slow with good quality.

Why it is so difficult to make people to see the obvious? of course f2.0 anamorphic primes will be expensive, but an anamorphic adapter, an improved version of LA7200 with 1.33x or 1.5x squeze is what we need. with that adapter we can use lots of lenses we already own and we will have all focal lenghts we need. i do not understand why people are avoiding an adapter, maybe everibody is afraid of an adapter quality, but i strong believe a good optics adapter with oval bokeh and horizontal flares can be designed and made for an average price.

the m43 fast lenses like the 14/20/25/45 and the nikon/canon fd from 20 to 85 all have small entrance pupils and it helps to make an adapter with good IQ in corners.

i used to be an 35mm adapter manufacturer and reading this thread as a manufacturer i can see the main point of the game. the adapter will not give to manufacturer de same amount of money of a prime lens. why the manufacturer would give us an good adapter for a good price if he can sell a more expensive prime or set of primes? there is no competition in this market yet...

I worked with lenses some time ago to do my 35mm adapter manufacturing lenses and i can say: it is not so expensive as people think it is. when a manufacturer ask a lot of money for a 50mm 0.95 it is because everybody dream about it, it is not due to the manufacture price. of course a 50mm 0.95 is more expensive to build, but not so much. a 50mm 1.8 also have a complex optical system, and the price to do it is not so different. the retail price is much more due to what it can do instead of the money to do it. this is the reason why sell a anamorphic prime will be much better to the manufacturer, one milion dolar will come easy... but selling an anamorphic adapter means more units do build and much less money to get...

open your eyes!

@slrmagic "Anyone on the same page as I am or we still in disagreement?"

I completely agree, I'm on the same page, and I would certainly buy a lens like that

apefos no disrespect but you is smokin crack : ) i have seen the arri/zeiss prototype seen 2 versions it is a lens for rental as each optic costs over 60 thousand euros to make. do they cost that much well probably once you factor in the 5 years that zeiss have been working these optics. i want a ferrari with scarlet johanson sitting in it to give me blow jobs i wanna pay 1500 euros for the car and the girl. it is not gonna happen. why even talk about zeiss. after leica they are some of the best minds in optics for a reason and like arriflex they go slow. when they release something it works because they have reputations to consider. slr magic cannot make an iscorama quality for 3000 euro a kowa quality for 2000 euros and your asking for a copy of a new zeiss prototype scope with over 5 years of testing in a company with over a hundred years of optics experience and you expect a hong kong lens the same quality for 600-1200 : )

80% of this movie was shot with a 2x compression 40mm panavision lens plus some close up lens this film is a scope masterpiece. but what does john boorman know about what film makers need.

@LPowell - Not implying 4:3 AVCHD.

http://www.avchd-info.org/format/

Is there a market for two anamorphic adapters?

1. An inexpensive 1.5x with a plastic barrel for 16:9 8bit 4:2:0 AVCHD.

2. A more expensive 2x with a metal barrel for 4:3 10bit 4:2:2 ProRes & 12bit 4:4:4 CinemaDNG RAW.

Entry level cinema camera bodies with 4:3 non-AVCHD recording are possible by the time these lenses would be available.

I hope the goal isn't 8bit 4:2:0 anamorphic AVCHD.

@flydef - "Then it's up to the camera manufacturers and hackers to enable 4:3 recording."

4:3 AVCHD frame size on MFT cameras? Of all the options discussed in this thread, that's one of the few things I'm sure is NOT going to happen!

Carl Zeiss anamorphic press release today:

http://www.zeiss.de/C1256A770030BCE0/WebViewTopNewsAllE/8902B748EC0347ABC1257A72002B968B

2x anamorphic lenses for 4:3 Arri Alexa.

A 2x anamorphic adapter with a 77mm front thread, 58mm rear thread and the largest possible rear element would be great.

Such an adapter would be preferable to any 2x on eBay.

Then it's up to the camera manufacturers and hackers to enable 4:3 recording.

If 2x anamorphic adapters are commonly available there will be an incentive to enable 4:3 recording.

No compromises with this long term solution.

@thepalalias f4 is definitely possible but it seems people are hoping for f2.8

@redstan - "2x is the most unique look anything else you might as well buy a bad flare filter and crop and pretend you are cool"

LOL, if you're that ashamed of your 1.5x ISCO's, I'll be happy to take them off your hands...

@itimjim Still samples is fine. Just want to see the anamorphic feel. Some ovals for everyone if possible. Even better, a 16:9 still that is not edited in post as that is what everyone will be dealing with. thx

@slrmagic 1.5x video samples? I have a few I can post if you want.

16c 2x anamorphic on a gf2