C-mount for the 70's

[David Ghast]

Im going to be shooting with MVC's (machine vision cameras) which use c-mount lenses, and i'm looking to capture the 70's retro style. Given that im not shooting on 16mm ektachrome and its not the 70's, could you suggest a lens and any filters that would help emulate this look?

 

Heres are a few examples of what im trying to go for:

 

Edited March 23, 2009 by David Ghast

[Saul Rodgar]

I have found that the look of a movie is not due to a single factor but rather a combination of them. I use some Angenieux and Zeiss lenses from the seventies, but the footage I shoot with them does not automatically look like it was shot in the seventies because of that _although some of those lenses do have a warm and softer quality, very much like the rest of the lenses form that era.

 

The stills you post look like the seventies because of the stock and the lenses used, the wardrobe / hair and the art department / production design.

 

While you may certainly try to use older Angie lenses _such as the 12-120 mm T2.2 c-mount zoom, originally built in the sixties though_ to help achieve the look, I think you will need to put more emphasis on art department, hair and wardrobe to get there. Then once the footage is shot, you can tweak with its color balance, gamma, etc in post to finalize the desired "shot in the 70's" effect.

[David Ghast]

Soft and warm, yes, that describes it beautifully. I love that look, instead of the sterile digital look that comes from modern lenses. If i were shooting mutlicam's, what are the chances of a set of angie retro lenses producing the same looking image (given that they werent scratched or anything)?

[Saul Rodgar]

Soft and warm, yes, that describes it beautifully. I love that look, instead of the sterile digital look that comes from modern lenses. If i were shooting mutlicam's, what are the chances of a set of angie retro lenses producing the same looking image (given that they werent scratched or anything)?

 

Hard to say what is available out there in terms of Angie c-mount zoom sets, but lenses of the same kind and vintage should theoretically match if they have been kept in the same physical conditions. And I have several Angie lenses that, though different models, match pretty well picture wise nonthelesss, so it doesn't have to be exactly the same model of lenses for them to match.

 

A lens that you may look in to is the 10-100 Zeiss T3, although not available on c-mount, it fits what you are looking for. If you found a matching set of those, you could have someone (Les Bosher, Bernie O'Doherty, etc.) make you set of Arri B to C - mount adapters . . . But it also depends how much money you want to spend on this quest for vintage matching lenses.

 

What MV cams are you using, out of curiosity?

[Saul Rodgar]

Oh, I forgot. You may also want to look at older c-mount TV lenses. I have a late 70's, early 80's 10-140 mm T2 Fujinon that was a lot more affordable than the Angies I have. I have seen similar good quality lenses go for very cheap on eBay, like very, very cheap. So you can buy a few and match them accordingly. If and when the Scarlet comes out with c-mount option, all those lenses are suddenly going to see a rebirth, and will be priced accordingly. ;)

Edited March 23, 2009 by Saul Rodgar