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SLR Magic 2x ANAMORPHIC lens
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  • @BurnetRhoades Great tip re Tungsten. I will definitely be testing that out. Will also check out Drewnet video. Thanks

  • @matt_gh2 I just put IntraVenus on there and hadn't ever shot with it before. As soon as I patched my GH2 I was using Flowmotion because it was the best patch I could use with the SDs I had. Once I upgraded to the "gold standard" Sandisk I swapped to Moon Trial 3 and then when I needed a low-bit, long GOP patch I shot some on Driftwood's Slipstream (which is also really good). I've still never shot anything on Quantum 9B either. I was curious to see how IV2 looked with the Anamorphot and am planning to do another series of quick shots as I get the time and inspiration with this patch.

    Also, all I did here was de-squeeze the frame grabs. I left them "Cameron blue" since I've been in the habit of just shooting everything in the Tungsten preset after studying Drewnet's revelation video on how this was getting him cleaner red performance, shooting tungsten and then doing a color temp correction later, versus shooting daylight in daylight. Shian did a video that independently supported the conclusions that the GH2 isn't great with daylight when you're balancing for it. An interesting alternative to this method of getting cleaner daylight footage is with something like the Project Blue Light method of shooting through a magenta filter but I've not done anything along those lines yet. I just leave the camera in tungsten.

    edit: oh, and I always shoot on "Smooth"

  • @BurnetRhoades Jesus those shots look good. I'm curious if you get similar looking daylight results with Intravenus v2 and Nikkor lenses when not shooting with Anamorphot? Shooting smooth, or standard?

  • Just a bokeh example, for an example of what you can get when you shoot for bokeh (IntraVenus 2):

    ...the taking lens for all three was my Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 @ f/1.4-2.0 split with the SLR Magic +1.3 achromat. On that stop I can get useful sharpness at just above 1m distance and beyond with no diopter but the doublet lets me get better sharpness closer while also improving the look of bokeh. I backed off f/1.4 because this 35mm Nikkor, like a lot of older SLR lenses, kinda "blows up" totally wide open, introducing coma, highlight halation and marked low contrast.

    On the GH2 the 35mm focal length @ ~f/1.7 corresponds to ~57mm @ ~f/2.8 for anamorphic 35mm (factor of 1.64). The F.Zuiko 50mm I have (82mm equiv) doesn't pair well enough with the Anamorphot for ~f/1.7 shooting so I'm on the hunt for one that does.

    SLR Magic recommends the Anamorphot be used at a max stop of f/2.8 on MFT cameras when pairing with taking lenses in the 20-60mm focal length range. That's a recommendation based on best compatibility so these stills only represents what that specific Nikkor can do with the adapter and other 35mm lenses might work even better or much worse.

  • @BurnetRhoades

    Just let me know as I would be happy to lone you a few lenses for a few days if you wanna play with those combos. I also have a GX7 body with peaking which should make for a nice combo with the Anamorphot.

  • @grisnjam very cool. Something like that 75mm sounds rather perfect as well.

  • @BurnetRhoades

    Thanks for taking the time to make that video. I am also in Austin with a host of native m4/3 lenses (20mm f1.7 from Panasonic, 45mm f.8 from Olympus and the 75mm f.18 from Olympus) if you want to test the Anamorphot on some native m4/3 glass. I hear that the 20mm in particular pairs well with it.

  • @jleo THANK YOU! Hah, I was hoping someone noticed! Love me some Shawscope!

  • @BurnetRhoades Thanks, a good overview. A nod to Shaw Bros. there!

  • Ah, gotcha. That makes sense.

  • Sorry, the test was to show the extreme of the bokeh, it is focused on the chart as best as possible using the adapter's ring and taking lens. Yes, 1.7 is too wide open for an actual shot.

  • 5' from the chart on a 50mm and you're that smeary even with the diopter says to me either something is wrong with your particular adapter, the Near/Normal dial is improperly set, or it just really doesn't like the design of that Minolta.

    Putting bokeh aside, look how bad it is on the chart itself. Something seems out of whack.

    edit: oh, ~f/1.7 might just be too open for that particular lens. They don't recommend wider than f/2.8 as a general rule at 50mm. My F.Zuiko at f/2.8 is usable but not as sharp as at f/4 yet a different lens might work just fine at f/2 or larger.

  • @BurnetRhoades The angular bokeh (i.e. diamond shaped) is being created by the adapter, not the lenses. Here are three images using the same Minolta lens. Minolta MC 50/1.4 at one click closed (1.4/2 split) and five feet from the focus chart. The first is with a Schneider projection lens modified for closer focusing and without a diopter. The second is the Anamorphot without a diopter. The third is the Anamorphot with the 0.33X diopter.

    As you said, it might be a little different depending on the taking lens. I will try to do tests with many lenses I have here.

    10.50-1.4_2.05_5'_SWA-SWA_1.70.jpg
    2048 x 858 - 190K
    16.50-1.4_2.05_5'_ANAM_0.00_1.30.jpg
    2048 x 858 - 190K
    17.50-1.4_2.05_5'_ANAM_0.33_1.33.jpg
    2048 x 858 - 193K
  • @fredfred27 I saw it, but the adapter performs differently at a given focal length depending on the lens design. I certainly won't be trying to pair it with those Minolta lenses. Prior to release and in all the literature this has been disclosed, that some lenses pair well while others might not.

    I'm going to be looking for an alternative to my F.Zuiko 50mm for similar reasons. I like it less as a short telephoto lens than I do for close-ups, but for close-ups the hexagonal bokeh is ugly, to me. For non anamorphic photography the hexagons are fine but I don't like them at all with even a little stretch. Thankfully, there are lots of choices out there in the 50-60mm range just like there are at the 85mm range. It'll just take some experimentation and research for me to find one that pairs better.

    But an ugly, angular bokeh is still going to be ugly with a 2x stretch on it.

  • @vicharris I was not saying that the Anamorphot did not work with longer lenses, it does. What I was saying is that the bokeh (especially for point light sources) is odd to me. Do you get the same results as I do in the examples that I posted, or do I have a bad copy?

  • I've tested the SLR with a 50mm and 85mm and they were fine.

  • Thanks @BurnetRhoades. The Anamorphot has proven to be great for wider lenses, but I am still working on adapting projection lenses for close-ups. I have found that the bokeh of longer lenses with the Anamorphot is quite odd. See the earlier tests that I posted above.

  • Here's my first compilation of test footage with the SLR Magic Anamorphot. Even before the lens arrived I knew this would be an upgrade in both performance and functionality coming from the Century Optics 16:9 adapter I'd been using for over a year now but I was anxious to see just how much.

    My favorite lens pairing on the Century Optics was my Nikkor 24mm f/2 which, on the GH2, became pleasantly wide instead of feeling more like a normal focal length. Some folks hate the distortion you get from non-rectilinear lenses once you start getting this short but I love it. It's a subtle curve that doesn't feel fisheye at all and the anamorphic glass + scope framing just accentuates this quality. Paired with the GH2 both adapters can go a bit wider, to about 18mm-20mm depending on the lens design, but this Nikkor is the widest prime I currently own.

    On the Century Optics if I needed infinity focus I also got soft, chromatic edges regardless of stop with the Nikkor. This isn't always an unattractive quality and more than once I've read reputable DPs giggle over their choice to shoot on some vintage set of anamorphics because of their soft, soft-edged, chromatic character. One man's lens with character is another man's junk lens. Anyway, if I didn't need infinity focus then slapping on my Tokina +.4 achromat provided good, sharpenened up footage mostly free of chromatic effects. The SLR Magic Anamorphot, on the other hand, doesn't need any extra help. It's sharper at f/2.8 on my Nikkor 24mm than the Century Optics at this stop with or without the Tokina doublet, doesn't go soft at the edges and doesn't go all chromatic either.

    Where I really felt the limits of the Century Optics adapter was anything above 24mm. For straight 16:9 shooting I loved the look of my F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 even though it's a bit soft and exhibits coma wide open because most of its faults are hidden from the GH2. To get soft but still maybe useful footage with the 50mm on the Century Optics I'd have to be at f/4 though I really needed to be more like f/5.6 which is decidedly not "bokehlicious". Stacking diopters let me open it up but with a serious restriction on range. With the SLR Magic Anamorphot I could happily shoot at f/2.8 on the 50mm thanks to its close-focus system which behaves like a built-in variable diopter.

    Speaking of, SLR Magic decided to also produce a new line of high quality achromats as a set (+1.3 and +.33). Where diopters are an absolute necessity with the Century Optics and LA 7200 adapters they're totally optional on the SLR Magic Anamorphot. They become more of an aesthetic choice for further enhancing bokeh in close-up photography, enhancing its stretched quality.

    SLR Magic rates the Anamorphot as sharp on lenses in the range I shot at as wide as f/2.8 though YMMV depending on the complexity of the lens design. Some lenses have been shown to perform even better than the ratings provided by SLR Magic. For the sake of this test footage I kept generally to the f/2.8 - f/4 range, which I anticipate will be my preferred spread of stops for shooting with the lens though for anything serious this will require a 1st AC to pull focus. A few daylight exteriors are likely shot at f/5.6 but I only went further stopped down, to f/8, on one comparison shot against the Century Optics adapter.

    All footage was shot with @Driftwood "Moon Trial 7"

  • Some very early clips since receiving the SLR Magic Anamorphot. Initially hoped to use my SLR 25mm CINE lens as the taking lens. Unfortunately the 25mm lens design is not really suitable without support which is not the direction I want to go in right now. In the absence of any other taking lens, I decided on a different approach. Here is footage using a Panasonic 14-45mm kit lens. I was amazed at how easy it was to mount the adapter on the lens (there are several very helpful YouTube videos around) and was immediately able to go film, all hand held.

    The lens, while functional and having the benefit of IS, is also not totally suitable for the task due to the sliding zoom housing. If I had to, in a pinch I would certainly use it. I tried the Panasonic 20mm with the adapter which yielded a wonderfully compact system, but again construction wise, it’s not really suitable for what I want to do. While I wait for an alternative, I’m testing it on a variety of other lenses. So far the best results have come from a LOMO 35mm lens and the Helios 58mm. Both have drawbacks for portable use. The LOMO has a rotating front aperture ring which means if you change aperture you have to realign the adapter. But for a controlled shooting environment, it certainly delivers lovely images. The Helios also really needs a lens support as the weight of the adapter binds the focus mechanisms.

  • Hi Everyone, Here is a test with the the SLR MAGIC ANAMORPHOT and the SLR Magic CINE II 35mm T1.4. I did not find the combo hard to focus with peaking on the BMPCC and the D.O.F was easy to control. it was shot in cine mode @ 400 ISO As "Left of Right"is about a bounty hunter, I wanted to create the sense that she is being watched as she tracked her bounty. She also senses he is not far.. So that is why it is hand held, also because it is a lens test, any stabilisation in post would have affected the sharpness. The clip was shot at a shallow shutter angle about 45-22 deg (1/200-1/400th) to increase the sense of unease. I actually found the ANAMORPHOT and the CINE II 35mm T1.4 combo easy to hold. Oh and I used a zacuto Z finder which also made it much easer to hold well. In retrospect I should have mounted it on a shoulder rig, ( as per VicHarris suggestion.)

  • Another set, but with a Minolta MC W.Rokkor-X 35mm f/1.8.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/110076354@N02/sets/72157641681668605/

  • I got my SLR Magic Anamorphot 1.33 - 50 this week and have been getting familiar with it. Here is a link to the bokeh tests I did today.

    "These are tests of the bokeh from the Anamorphot 1.33 - 50. They were shot on a Panasonic GH2 with a Metabones Speedbuster and a Minolta MC Rokkor-X 50mm f/1.4 lens. The notation of each shot is read as follows:

    (Photo#).(FocalLength-MaxAperture)(ApertureUsed)(FocusDistance)_(Diopter Used)

    The string of lights is 25 feet behind the focus chart. The focus chart measures 3.75" x 3.75"."

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/110076354@N02/sets/72157641677798745/

  • The lens isn't being compared in the sense of being implied better than an Iscorama.

    The Iscorama is one of the benchmarks for amateur anamorphic. It has nice qualities. What's being addressed above is the incorrect notion that you cannot get oval bokeh from a 1.33x adapter. You can, but it takes a little more work and a little more care. The above examples demonstrate that you can get it and that it, in fact, can be at least as pronounced as some Iscorama examples.

  • @BurnetRhoades both lenses are of different kind. No need to be offended. You can use any lenses you like that are within your budget. No one says you have to use an iscorama. I mentioned it because the lens is being compare by the video above.

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