Todd-AO 35 lens technology

[Christian Appelt]

There's a Todd-AO 35 anamorphic lens for sale on eBay.

 

Todd-AO 35 lens

 

Does anybody know if all Todd-AO-35-lenses were anamorphic converter plus spherical lens, and what focusing scheme did they use?

I remember hearing or reading that Todd-AO-35 lenses were made by Shiga, the Japanese company that also made anamorphic rear adapters for spherical zoom lenses, but I cannot find any description of this anamorphic system.

 

Could someone please shed some light on this?

[David Mullen ASC]

I looked at some over at Clairmont -- they reminded me of C-Series or JDC anamorphics in size, although they were more beat-up looking. I'm guessing they are similar in design, with a front anamorphic element for the wider primes.

 

Originally, all Todd-AO lenses, 65mm spherical and 35mm anamorphic, were listed by their degrees of coverage, not their focal lengths.

[Adam Frisch FSF]

That's a bit steep that price, when you can have a Lomo roundfront in PL for like a

tenth of that. A much newer lens too, designed in the 80's.

[Christian Appelt]

That particular seller often has vintage equipment linke strange anamorphic lenses from the 1950s (Naturama lens, Zeiss Opticon), I image these are rarely bought for actual shooting but as collectibles.