FAQ: ANAMORPHIC LENSES

[Reuel Gomez]

Recently Panavision have combined E-Series glass with C-Series mechanics. These lenses have better contrast and color rendition than regular C-Series, as well as better close-focus. The first films to use these lenses were ?The Island? and Terrence Malick?s ?The New World? which features stunning deep-focus cinematography that really show off the anamorphic format.

 

 

 

Do these hybrid C- and E-Series lenses have the same weight as the regular C-Series?

[Saba Mazloum]

Anyone have info on Nippon scope?

 

Thanks

[David Namir]

Hi Max

Great work on gathering information. i think this thread nailed them all and ofcourse there are the new coming Cooke and Angenieux

A set of Kowa anamorphic consists of 40mm 50mm 75mm 100mm

I am now working on a front optical adapter which makes the 40mm to 32mm like listed under Clairmont

We have two sets of Kowa and anamorphic back adapter which works on our Cooke Zoom 25-250 MK3

 

David Namir

+972-50-7753000

http://www.dnkarentals.com

http://www.dnkarentals.com/#!kowa/c17hr

Edited November 9, 2013 by David Namir

[Mohd husni abu hassan]

Gh3 with adapter anamorphic les

http://youtu.be/6Ghm7b93PWQGh3 with adapter anamorphic lens

Edited July 17, 2014 by Mohd husni abu hassan

[anamorphishop]

http://youtu.be/6Ghm7b93PWQGh3 with adapter anamorphic lens

GH4 with Schneider Cinelux 2X. YOu might find it usefull

[Valery Akos]

GH4 with Schneider Cinelux 2X. YOu might find it usefull

 

 

I thought that advertising your own stuff here is not permited... Am I correct guys? Anyone knows better??

Where's Tim to delete that guy from here??

Edited June 30, 2015 by Valery Akos

[Matias Nicolas]

HI, Why does the lens flare (line) is blue?

 

Whats the real difference when comparing Panavision anamorfic lenses with another brand?

 

Cause I heard that some lenses, (not Panavision) in their construction, has only one optical element only, so you don't get the real flare or a "cool" flare as Pana optcis do..

[Satsuki Murashige]

The blue flare is due to the lens coatings. Some older non-multi coated anamorphics will flare white. I believe the new Cooke Anamorphic lenses also flare white, though I haven't put them through a test yet.

 

Looks like Camtec in LA got Cooke to customize their Anamorphic lens coatings for more blue flare: http://www.fdtimes.com/2016/03/18/cooke-anamorphics-with-flair-at-camtec/

[Matias Nicolas]

Thanks!

[Saul Lotzof]

Just on the topic of the Panavision C - Series anamorphics, does anybody have a rough idea on how much a set would be daily?

[Jay Young]

Just on the topic of the Panavision C - Series anamorphics, does anybody have a rough idea on how much a set would be daily?

 

Panavision is really good at emailing you a quote for lenses. Just email them with your needs and they'll get back with you fast!

[Shashank P Walia]

 

Few shots taken on recently serviced Kowa Lenses.

[Rafael Monta]

Mapping Lens - ARRI WCU-4

 

I don’t know what you guys think on this matter, but if you want my two cents it is crucial to be fast when you change the lens while using remote control systems, in situations such as steadicam, cranes or simply hand held when the cam operator wants to be more free than with a standard follow focus. Previously I used to prepare pre-marked rings during camera prep and switch them while the motor were calibrating, but I always dreamed about a more precise and reliable system. A couple of months ago, a local distributor of ARRI products hosted a workshop on how to map lenses on the new WCU4, but sadly I wasn’t in town so I couldn’t attend...

 

Fabio Giolitti - Focus Puller

[Rafael Monta]

 

Few shots taken on recently serviced Kowa Lenses.

 

 

Testing Kowa Prominar

[Rafael Monta]

5 questions you should ask yourself before shooting with vintage anamorphic

 

Lately I had the chance to shoot a lot with vintage anamorphic lenses and I sometime had a pretty hard time dealing with them, not only focus wise but really in general. And I have the feeling that sometime directors or Dop forget that everything is a tool and every job have a specific "tool" that fits best its needs...

 

Fabio Giolitti - Focu Puller

[saleem dad]

hi,

can any one explain me ?

1. why we used Anamorphic lens on digital camera ?

2. what is the big difference Anamorphic between spherical ( normal lens like ultra or etc lens) ( forget about FOCAL LENGTHS difference) ?

pleace shear your thought or experience

[David Mullen ASC]

You can see the difference in these frames from "Star Trek V" (anamorphic) and "Star Trek VI" (spherical):

 

 

 

Why do people use anamorphic lenses on a digital camera? Because they want the look of anamorphic lenses, either because they are reminiscent of older movies shot in anamorphic (nostalgia or paying homage, etc.) or because they feel that shot close to wide-open, the distortions of anamorphic lenses act to soften the digital image, make it less perfect.

 

Common characteristics of anamorphic lenses when shot at wide apertures are: vertically stretched bokeh / backgrounds, more barrel distortion and fall-off in sharpness in the corners, more lens flares (sometimes a blue horizontal flare), generally shallower focus because of the longer focal lengths needed to get the same horizontal field of view (though that gets mitigated if you have to crop your anamorphic image in order to fit it on your sensor and get a 2.40 frame once unsqueezed.

 

Anamorphic lenses traditionally have a 2X horizontal squeeze and are meant to expose an image onto a 4-perf 35mm 1.20 : 1 negative area to create a 2.40 : 1 image once unsqueezed. 1.20 : 1 is a bit taller than 1.33 : 1 (4x3) and most digital camera sensors are wider in shape so you end up cropping the sensor to 1.20 : 1. The 4-perf 35mm frame is almost 18mm tall so if your sensor is that tall, like some of the full-frame digital cameras are or the 4x3 Alexa sensor, then you can match the same field of view / depth of field characteristics on digital. But a lot of the Super-35 digital cameras are a bit shorter than 18mm, more like 15mm or less in height so you end up cropping into the lens image vertically and you only use a 1.20 : 1 area width of the sensor anyway, making the view of your anamorphic lens narrower and thus making you use a shorter anamorphic lens to match the view of 4-perf 35mm anamorphic, and thus getting back some depth of field.

[Ahmed Al Dhahyan]

Great topics and many thanks for Mr:Jacobe . Also thanks for Mr: David Mullen about great information. So Just I want ask about anamorphic lenses with 4-perf 35mm to 1.85 or 1.78 aspect ratio,  so does this method give me large size of objects and characters such as look at real events through the window of the room for example.  Or just I get widescreen( 2.35 )or sharp image when I want to make ratio to 1.85 or 16x9 .       Thanks all and I'm happy especially since this is first post

[Gianluca Mazzanti]

Hello to everyone,

In some weeks we're going to shoot a commercial with Alexa Mini and Arri/Zeiss Master Anamorphic Lenses. I wanted to know: if one can shoot in 2.39:1 2K Ana., or you need to shoot in 4:3 2.8K Open Gate Licenced feature? If both options are available, what are the main differences between the two (besides resolution and format)?

Thank you

Edited November 6, 2021 by Gianluca Mazzanti

[David Mullen ASC]

https://www.abelcine.com/articles/blog-and-knowledge/tutorials-and-guides/at-the-bench-capturing-anamorphic-shots-in-prores

Keep in mind that Open Gate is uncompressed Arriraw and the whole sensor area is recorded (3424 x 2202) even if you select 4:3, etc.

You can see the recorded dimensions here for the Alexa

ProRes 4:3 2.8K: 2880 x 2160
ProRes HD Anamorphic: 1920 x 1080
ProRes 2.39:1 2K Anamorphic: 2048 x 858
ARRIRAW 4:3 2.8K (OG 3.4K): 3424 x 2202
ARRIRAW 2.39:1 2K Ana. (OG 3.4K): 3424 x 2202

These are the pixel areas used:

4:3 2.8K: 2880 x 2160
2.39:1 2K Ana.: 2560 x 2145
HD Ana.: 1920 x 2160
Open Gate 3.4K: 3424 x 2202

So you see that 2.39 2K Anamorphic mode converts 2560 x 2145 to 2048 x 858 in camera (desqueeze and rescale).

"HD anamorphic" is for when you want a 1.78 : 1 image but using 2X anamorphic lenses.

So you first have to choose whether you prefer to work in post with uncompressed Arriraw or compressed ProRes 4444 (probably) in Arri Log-C.

You have to decide what you final delivery requirements are: HD, UHD, 2K DCP, 4K DCP, etc.

If you choose ProRes, you have to decide if you want the camera to desqueeze and rescale to from 2560 x 2145 to 2048 x 858, or want to record 2880 x 2160 (4:3) and do the desqueezing and rescaling in post. If you have to deliver UHD or 4K DCP,  this might be better than the 2K anamorphic recording option.

Keep in mind that if you record Open Gate Arriraw, you'd be cropping the sides to get a 2.39 image once unsqueezed, so you only would be using about 2620 x 2202 out of 3424 x 2202.

So resolution-wise, they all use about the same pixel area to start with.

 

 

 

[Robert Hart]

Useless information warning for what follows in this response.

For what it is worth knowing. the Laowa 1:33 PL to PL rear anamorphic adaptor can be rebarrelled for PL (rear) to Nikon F-Mount lenses - just, but doable. Why would one do so? If one is an unmoneyed individual with a Nikon F-Mount stills set of lenses, then there is an element of "not because one should not but because one can." It would be possible by use of a custom made extra part to remachine the Laowa genuine barrel but its utility as a PL-PL adaptor would be ruined. 

I examined adapting the Laowa anamorphic tail for attaching to an EF-Mount or Nikon F-Mount. However this is not easily possible, doable maybe but with interference to the anamorphic adaptor's focus trim adjustment system which would by necessity have to become the EF lens tail. I also examined the possibility of making an EF-Mount to EF-Mount version but there is not enough workspace between the front of the internal anamorphic optical cell and the rear of EF-Mount lenses, a pity because there is only 2.5mm difference between Canon EF-Mount and Nikon F-Mount flanges. 

Venus Optics' website suggests that mount options other than PL- PL will become available in future. I imagine Venus Optics will choose a different design path to my hacks.

Edited April 3, 2022 by Robert Hart
ADD IMAGES AND CORRECT ERRORS

[Jon O'Brien]

Looks great Robert. Thanks for posting. I've got some Nikon F lenses and wouldn't mind doing some anamorphic shooting at some stage. So this could be just the ticket. It sort of amazes me at times, what could potentially be possible with low-cost gear. There are some really high quality lenses out there that are selling so cheaply. Surely they could be used to great effect.

I'm even thinking for features. After all, I hear that Canon stills lenses were used on Alien (1979) and other films. Nikon lenses were used on one of the Indiana Jones movies, for special effects shots.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Jon O'Brien

[Robert Hart]

After some headache-inducing concentration firstly chain-drilling two "C" channels then hand-filing them out, I finally got the internal focus trim re-installed on the rear of the adaptor and infinity focus dialled in. Sharpness numbers are comparable via the adaptor as with the NIkon lenses direct to camera in their aperture sweet spot of f4-f5.6. However the sharpness falls away more with the wider apertures.  

Edited April 4, 2022 by Robert Hart
error

[Robert Hart]

For curiosity. A test drive of the modified Laowa 1:33 rear anamorphic adaptor with a Laowa 12 lens for Nikon F-Mount attached. Camera is an original "big" URSA 4K PL recording in Pro-Res LT. The sport is Australian Rules football at local competition level.
 

 

[Jon O'Brien]

Looks good to me.