Ryan Puckett Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Hi, I searched around quite a bit, and found some of the basic info regarding the different models of Lomo anamorphic lenses, but wanted to find out some asthetic info.. Does anyone here have much experience with these lenses, particularly the older models? I've seen some samples of stuff shot with the newer "round front" models, but was curious as to the performance of the older "square fronts". Also the "adaptor" models that kind of have the spherical lens mounted in the large anamorphot held up by the support plate/rods. I assume they are probably fairly low contrast lenses and might flare a bit since they don't appear to have much of an anti-reflective coating on them. But how bad are they? I see them sell so cheaply, that I'd be interested in getting a set to play around with. Any insight, samples, or funny stories? Thanks Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Adam Frisch FSF Posted August 7, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted August 7, 2004 Check the archives - this has been talked about extensively before. But mainly, you can say that the square fronts produce fairly good images as long as you don't rack focus much, since they breathe A LOT. They were basically made between 1970 and 1980 (the serial number tells you what year), so they're pretty low contrast, in a kind of nice way. Not bad considering their price, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Appelt Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 To me, the square fronts have a kind of 1960s look, which I happen to like very much. You can get even better performance if you do some tests before production and try to work roughly at optimum f-stops, meaning not wide open and not at f16. Don't expect the scope image to look as flawless as footage from new Hawk primes or Panavision Primos, but these Lomos were good enough to shoot Tarkovski's ANDREJ RUBLEV and other amazing anamorphic films of the past. Have your lenses calibrated on your production camera, make sure the scales are correct and mechanics are smooth. That's for the primes, the older zoom lenses with a front adapter will give a good picture too, but they are slow and should be stopped down to at least f5.6 IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted August 7, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted August 7, 2004 Matt Uhry, who used to post here, has a set of Lomo anamorphics and a zoom. I looked at them and thought the quality was fine except when shot wide-open. I believe he has some clips on his website: http://www.fuzby.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Puckett Posted August 7, 2004 Author Share Posted August 7, 2004 Thank you for the info. I searched the archives here, and CML and only came across vague references. Sorry if I'm treading a well worn path. Any suggestions on lens techs to consult regarding check ups for these older lenses? Does SlowMotionInc. work on these lenses as well as the newer stuff? Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Adam Frisch FSF Posted August 7, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted August 7, 2004 Slow Motion Inc does work on them, although when I asked for a quote on some things I almost choked. I think it's fair to say that they're more interested in getting people to buy their new Elite series anamorphics than to fiddle about with ancient anamorphic lenses... In the end it was much cheaper to send them to Russia to get them fixed (the last lens element on my 35mm was chipped at the edge). I finally sold the whole lot some years ago with the camera since I have rental access to the newer round Lomo's in PL at very low prices. In the end, the prospect - and cost - of converting them to PL (which is a must if you want to use them professionally) was simply not feasible (they're very tricky to rebuild - you have to rebuild the whole housing). I do miss them sometimes - it would be nice to able to whip out a set of old anamorphics on the occasional music video from time to time, but hey, that's life. My philosophy these days is to own a lightmeter only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Puckett Posted August 8, 2004 Author Share Posted August 8, 2004 "when I asked for a quote on some things I almost choked." Yeah.. I figured any type of service would be disproportionately expensive. I'm probably going to just pick up a Konvas 2M to accompany them, and just keep the whole package as dirt cheap as possible. I absolutely love anamorphic films, and dealing with cropping and blow up from super 16 seems way too much of an ordeal for the things I do right now. After a little price hunting I figured that I could shoot my little side projects on 35mm for close to the same cost as 16mm, and not deal with any odd post processes. I guess I'd rather screw up learning on my dime, then someone elses. If I was in a better rental market, I would never consider it, but rental isn't an option here... especially anamorphic lenses. Can the basic stuff like flange focal depth be checked and adjusted by any lens tech? Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Adam Frisch FSF Posted August 8, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted August 8, 2004 Yes, you can. The FF on them is 61mm. They're pretty straightforward to service actually if you're in touch with some optical guys - no great mysteries. I believe the spherical assembly is a straight rip on the Zeiss lenses of the time. The OCT-19 mount is a BNCR type mount. I've never compared them exactly, so maybe they're identical? The russians liked to "borrow" (as in, like, steal) western designs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Puckett Posted August 9, 2004 Author Share Posted August 9, 2004 I've noticed a lot of "borrowed" design aspects in the soviet cameras.... It's not stealing when it's for the "people" :D Thanks again for all the help Adam, I really like the stuff on your site, but couldn't get any of the clips to work...... Thanks to everybody Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Paul Bruening Posted August 19, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted August 19, 2004 Do any of the Lomo squares fit Arri IIB standard mount? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Adam Frisch FSF Posted August 19, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted August 19, 2004 No, unless you rebuild them to Arri B or PL mount. Which is a major hassle on these lenses. The newer round ones are a breeze, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Paul Bruening Posted August 20, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted August 20, 2004 Intersting. Please tell me more about the round ones and the IIB. Thanks, Paul Bruening Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Appelt Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Advantages and characteristics of these lenses has been discussed before, please simply do a search on "anamorphic lenses" in the Forum archives. Pictures of some, but not all Russian lenses are to be found here: Russian Bent Glass by Steve Morton Lomo Anamorphics (1960+1970s) Foton Zoom with anamorphic front adapter Round front Anamorphics (1980s ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim Sargenius Posted August 24, 2004 Share Posted August 24, 2004 Two recent Australian movies, Alexandra's Project and The Tracker (both shot by Ian Jones, ACS) used the roundfront ones -- ranging from 25mm to 150mm. Mostly they seem to hold up very well but I doubt they were shot close to wide open. The 25mm has *massive* barreling and is apparently a monstrosity size wise. The lenses were supplide by Cameraquip Melbourne and are PL mount. Steve Morton is very knowledgeable about these lenses, and also very helpful! : ) cheers, Kim Sargenius cinematographer Sydney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Adam Frisch FSF Posted August 24, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted August 24, 2004 I bought my lenses from Steven Morton! He was very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattuhry Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 As David Mullen mentioned I own a set of Lomo Round Fronts and a 40-240 Lomo anamorphic zoom . All converted to PL mount. The primes are very sharp and have pretty low distortion, coloration is a bit warm like an Angenieux HR. They flare with a little provocation and the flare color is greenish. The problem with the lenses is that the set is somewhat limited, the 35 has alot of distortion and is immensely large, and heavy. the 50mm is great and so is the 75. Longer lenses 100mm and 150mm are just the 75 with an extender 1.4 and 2x. Not an optically desirable way to increase focal length. I miss not having a 40mm which is a real bread and butter focal length in anamorphic. The lenses come marked in meters and without any kind of focus gear. The front element spins when focused and goes in and out about 20mm. It can be a pain to use a matte box with them. You need a 6x6 for the 50mm and I've never been able to find a mattebox that fits the 35mm. The lomo 40-240 is much like a converted cooke 5-1. It barely breathes when focused it's quite sharp from 40-180 except for a band of defocus at the top and bottom which is a typical problem with rear anamorphic adapters. This improves greatly when you stop down a bit. In summary these are good lenses. Great when you consider that they cost about a tenth of what a set of anything else decent costs. Nice to own if you are addicted to anamorphic I've turned alot of DV projects into 'scope films by offering the lenses for free, hard on my wallet but wonderfull for the reel. Matt Uhry www.fuzby.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Puckett Posted August 30, 2004 Author Share Posted August 30, 2004 Thank you so much Matt! How do you go about filtering the larger lenses? Behind the lens gels? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Adam Frisch FSF Posted August 30, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted August 30, 2004 Long time since we saw you around here, Mr. Uhry. I have managed to wrangle Arri's 6x6 mattebox on the 35mm Round Lomo, but I had to remove the doughnut and tape that up and then tape the filter to the actual mattebox in front of it's appropriate tray/slot... Works, but a bit of pain. Arri's Follow Focus doesn't fit either, so that had to be turned around so the AC had to pull focus on the other side of the lens. I did not know that the 100mm and the 150 just had some extenders built in. That's why they're considerably slower than their shorter siblings, I'd imagine.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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