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SLR Magic 2x ANAMORPHIC lens
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  • I don't think you can achieve boked that big with the slrmagic, unless you stack dioptersor something. From my experience for boked of that size, it is not on a wide lens and the slrmagic I believe won't work well with lenses over 50mm. Correct me if I am wrong. On iscorama, I used the Nikon 105mm and still work great. Alot of flexibility with iscorama for sure.

  • @vicharris Thanks again for your input, but if that's the case, they should have measures to guard "unreasonable" returns, instead of creating misconception that the quality of their Standard Edition is similar to mint condition (used) lenses. It's unfair to them as a company, but equally unfair to serious buyers.

  • @gh2hacked folks are being very clear about how to achieve oval bokeh. It's the same for all lenses of this compression ratio. It's even part of the SLR Magic press release. It's why they developed a new set of achromats which will be useful to folks who don't have a Tokina and who aren't willing to spend the current street price for one. Diopters and anamorphics go hand-in-hand but for the 1.33x types they also provide bokeh enhancement.

    85mm is also a focal length that's part of their conservative recommendations. I have the Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 and I'm here to tell you it does work. FYI, from a filmmaking standpoint, the SLR Magic Anamorphot is tuned to be useful across a full-grammar range of focal lengths. Most of what you see during a 90min film is in the wide to normal focal length range anyway but one of the most common CU lenses for an anamorphic package is the 75mm focal length so you're quite covered with their conservative recommendation for up to 85mm.

    Yes, Iscorama has a lot of flexibility. What it doesn't have is availability. All that will ever exist already exist and by now that's fewer than were ever made. The few that come up for sale can cost more than a 5D mkIII last I saw. They had better damn well be flexible.

    Nobody is disputing how good an Iscorama is. It would be completely obnoxious, however, if Iscorama owners thought somehow they were the only folks who deserve to practice or enjoy anamorphic photography.

  • Well we'll see in a few weeks what a long focal length looks like :)

  • @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.

  • 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.

  • 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/

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

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

  • 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.)

  • 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.

  • 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"

  • 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.

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

  • @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?

  • @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.

  • @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
  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Ah, gotcha. That makes sense.

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

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

  • @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.

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

  • @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.

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