Jump to content

Anamorphic lens for super 16?


Chris Burke

Recommended Posts

Is there such a lens that would be a 1.32xxxxxx:1 ratio for super 16 cameras? this would give an effective 2.35 image area and not waste any of the negative. Could be quite an alternative to shooting 35. $$$ Anyone ever heard of one? Could it be made?

 

 

z

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member
Is there such a lens that would be a 1.32xxxxxx:1 ratio for super 16 cameras?

 

Panavision has some anamorphic primes.

See the January 2005 issue of Kodak's IN CAMERA for an article titled "Jolly Good Show".

 

It's an article about two music promos that was shot in S16 anamorphic.

 

John Mastrogiacomo

Spectra Video

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

The article states that they used E-serie Panavision anamorphics, which have a 2X compression.

 

You can use 2X anamorphics on 16mm; it's just that with regular 16mm you end up with a 2.66 : 1 aspect ratio and with Super-16 (as with the project in the article), you get nearly 3.36 : 1. The article stated that they had to crop a quarter of the image to get it back to 2.40 : 1.

 

The only non-2X anamorphic camera lenses were the 1.5X lenses for 8-perf 35mm Technirama and the 1.25X lenses for 5-perf 65mm Ultra Panavision. I have heard of a 1.5X anamorphic ISCO projector lens attachment being put on a Super-16 camera.

 

The only 1.33X anamorphics I know of are the attachments used on DV cameras and Canon's 1.33X rear-mount extension tube for B4 video lenses.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Panavision has some anamorphic primes.

See the January 2005 issue of Kodak's IN CAMERA for an article titled "Jolly Good Show".

 

It's an article about two music promos that was shot in S16 anamorphic.

 

John Mastrogiacomo

Spectra Video

There is also a set of anamorphics designed for 16mm use by Joe Dunton. This was about a year ago, and also appeared in an article in Kodak's IN CAMERA. But I'm not sure if they were intended for Super 16 use - I don't recall their compression ratios.

 

Saul.

Edited by Saul Pincus
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi;

 

I did once see the lens David mentione, the 1.5x Isco (Iscorama :D ), Mounted infront of a Switar prime on a Bolex with some serious bracket holding it steady.

I don't recall the exact set up but it looked heavy, I see them knocking around in the UK every now and then.

Olly

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a set up I'm working on - it's a Beaulieu R16 with a custom shoulder mount and a 16:9 anamorphic lense from a Panasonic DVX-100 -- I know it's not the best set up in the world but at my budget level I think it will be fine! We're going to run a video spit from the viewfinder to the small camcorder.

 

cam2.jpg

 

There's some more info on the web page for the short film it is being used for and on this thread at Shooting 8mm

 

We're going to shoot the film at the end of March start of April - and I will post some frame grabs as soon as I can.

 

Scot

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's why - economics! I just can't afford more - here's a breakdown of what it's costing me:

 

We're shooting about 1000 feet - which is short ends which I bought for 16.5 cents per foot (don't know where you are - if you're in the US that's probably about 9c US) - so that cost me $165

 

developing is about 36.3 cents a foot (about 23cents US) - which will cost $363

 

the camera mount cost $40 to make (about $27 US)

 

the anamorphic lense is costing about $100 for 10 days hire (or $65 US)

 

the telecine is going to cost about $300 (or $200 US)

 

the cameras mine - so don't have to pay anything for that

 

So for approximately $968 or US$645 I get to shoot 16mm anamorphic for 10 days - I don't think at that money anything else will beat it. I can't buy or hire a Super 16 or HD camera for that money for that time (and I wouldn't want HD anyway) and I don't want to work in the 4:3 frame of standard 16 so this is the best way to go. Of course the image quality won't be the same as S16 or if I could afford a better anamorphic lense - but I can't - so I think this is great! Like I said I'll post frame grabs in a month or two once we've shot it.

 

Scot

Edited by Scotness
Link to comment
Share on other sites

why not just grind one to 1.33:1?
Lenses are not made by hand as this suggestion seems to think, but on machine tools that must be set up for specific results, and to designs that must take a whole heap of factors into consideration.

 

Using Matt's car analogy - why not call Ford and ask them for a car that's exactly like a current model - but one foot shorter. "We know internal combustion engines work, no need to redesign it all, just make the car a different size".

 

"Oh - and we're doing this to save money on extending the garage, so it mustn't cost any more than a current production model."

 

I don't think so.

 

Incidentally, on a practical note, if you shoot at anything other than a 2:1 squeeze, you will be more or less committed to the DI path to get to 35mm - while you might be happy to build your own rig, you will have difficulty finding a lab that will do a blow-up from your non-standard ratio.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Matt and Dominic are right but it can actually be done with prisms not just ground lenses - check this thread for more - it's another discussion of this sbuject with links to tutorials etc

 

 

 

5493.gif

 

anamorph59.jpg

 

 

- I guess the question is the quality - you'd want it to be perfect before you used it on anything significant

 

Scot

Edited by Scotness
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am not saying "why not make a car". Yes, I reckonize that there must be a whole load of work that goes into making a lens. But just the same. To those who could or maybe should. They are already set up to make lens.Why not? 1.33:1 is not 2:1 so, I guess that optical prints could be made. If you already have an anamorphic format which Super 16 is, than it wouldn't be that much of a jump up to 2.35.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

Contact prints could be made of a 1.33X squeezed image, but since scope projection lenses unsqueeze by 2X, you wouldn't end up with the correct image. You'd need to optically convert the image from a 1.33X squeeze to a 2X squeeze (by adding an additional 1.5X squeeze?) and it would be hard to find an optical house capable of that, so a digital conversion would be the easiest method.

 

Super-16 is a film negative format that usually uses spherical lenses. It is not an anamorphic format generally, and since no one makes 1.33X cine lenses yet, you'd either have to use 2X anamorphic lenses and crop horizontally to achieve 2.40 or spherical lenses and crop vertically to achieve 2.40.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...