Anamorphic Lens

[Korhan20]

I am planning on buying the dvx100a in the near future, but i have a couple questions about lenses.

- I also plan on getting the anamorphic lens so i can shoot widescreen without loss of resolution. I read that if i use an anamorphic lens i don't need a wide angle lens because the anamorphic lens IS a wide angle lens.

 

If this is the case and i don't need a wide angle lens, then i will just purchase a telephoto lens and this anamorphic lens i think i will be set.

What do you guys think?

 

-Korhan

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

No, not quite. A wide angle lens lets you shoot wide angle pictures, that is, images where the camera has a very wide angle of view. They expand the view of the camera equally in both the vertical and horizontal direction.

 

Anamorphic lenses, which are a bone of some contention, expand the horizontal angle of view but leave the vertical one alone. This allows you to get 16:9 widescreen images from a standard camera, but their performance is questionable. Search the forum for information.

 

Many consumer camcorders benefit from a wide-angle lens adaptor, particularly if you are intending to shoot handheld at all. Often they lack a really good wide end.

 

Phil

[David Mullen ASC]

The DVX100A goes wider-angle than some other cameras like the PD150, so with the slightly wider view that the 16:9 1.33X anamorphic adaptor would give you, I'm sure you can get away without a wide-angle adaptor (although I don't know if you can zoom to maximum wide-angle or telephoto position with the anamorphic adaptor.)

 

I don't think it would be wise to add a wide-angle or telephoto adaptor onto an anamorphic adaptor. You can test it of course and see for yourself if the results are acceptably sharp. But to some extent, the limitation in focal lengths is what you live with in exchange for the 16:9 optical squeeze.

[Korhan20]

So now i am left with this kind of hard desicion, i can not use the anamorphic lens and use the "squeeze" option (or change it to 16:9 in post), but by doing that i will lose quality. Or i can use the anamorphic lens, but then i won't be able to use the telephoto lens with it because it will not give me a sharp image? Don't know what to do :)

[David Mullen ASC]

You're in the same boat as a lot of people shooting consumer DV for 16:9... wish I had an answer for you. It's basically an issue of which path is the least bad. Some people live with one set of compromises over another. The best thing would be to shoot some tests.

[Korhan20]

Well could some one explain the main advantages of being able to use a telephoto lens, is it just to zoom in better so the camera doesn't have to be as close to the action?

[David Mullen ASC]

A longer lens compresses perspective more while also exaggerating the focus differences between planes of depth as to give a more shallow-focus look. It also allows farther objects to be larger in frame. Whether you want or need a longer lens depends on the style you choose for the project and what your particular problems will be that a longer lens can solve. For example, shooting indoors in small rooms tends to limit your ability to use really long lenses anyway.

 

The trouble is that experience tends to teach you what focal lengths you will want to use, hence why shooting some tests will at least give you an idea of what you need.

 

Entire movies have been shot with one single focal-length lens so it's not like it's a requirement to have every possible focal length available.

 

Or to put it another way, if your longest lens is "X" and your shortest lens is "Y" and that's all you have, you generally make it work somehow.