favourite anamorphics

Keith Mottram · March 18, 2005

I've decided to shoot anamorphics for my next short and I'm wondering which type people prefer. As the shoot is low budget aprox £9000, I will be slightly tied by where i get the best deal/ freebie. I'm going to meet panavision next week and was thinking of plumping for C series lenses as the short is quite dreamy and I think they'll provide the right look (the flares and the distortions will help add to the look). The film is in three parts. The first is in a wake, which is in a wood panneled function room (decorated with artwork all over the walls - think chaotic art gallery). The second is evening driving externals on country roads and internal shots (old Land rover) which i was considering shooting with digital shot back projection like 24. The third section is from dawn to early morning and is set on a lake- the actors on a rowing boat (possible location below). So we basically start clostrophobic and finish with a breath of fresh air. I want to shoot the car shot internals and the wake footage with the lenses as close to fully open as possible and the lakeside footage closed down. Any advice would be really apreciated as I want to be fully armed when I go to Panavision (I'm also meeting Arri the week after). Also is there a Panavision equivelent of the simple Arri Motion system that will work with anamorphics.

Thanks for all your advice,

Keith

Christian Appelt · March 18, 2005

Have a look at the Hawk Anamorphic series, I have not worked with these myself, but I saw films shot with Hawk lenses during festivals, and the quality was astounding.

Nice website, too:

Vantage Film > Hawk Anamorphics

Max Jacoby · March 19, 2005

If you are shooting in the UK you have 3 options for anamorphic lenses:

Panavision:

They have Primos, E-Series, C-Series and Ultra Speed Golden in PV mount and Cooke Xtal Express lenses in PL mount. They also have some BNCR mount anamorphic lenses (Zeiss and Canon) that they might have changed to PL mount in the mean time.

Arri Media:

They have the Hawks V-Series. Very nice lenses, but they do not give you horizontal flares, since the anamorphic element is in the middle of the lens.

Joe Dunton Company

They have both adapted Cooke S3s (same as the Xtal Express) and Zeiss Superspeeds as well as long Elite lenses (135mm and up)

Adam Frisch FSF · March 19, 2005

Arri Media:
They have the Hawks V-Series. Very nice lenses, but they do not give you horizontal flares, since the anamorphic element is in the middle of the lens.

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Not sure about that. Haven't tried them, but they're derived from the Lomo's that also had the anamorphic elements in the middle and they flared. Not as easy to flare, but they sure flared.

I'd say any anamorphic lens flares as long as the anamorphic elements sit before collimation, i.e. before it leaves the lens. The rear-of-zoom adapters don't but that's because they're in collimated light. For the same reason they also don't throw out of focus objects into ovals.

Max Jacoby · March 19, 2005

I've shot with them and they didn't flare with a horizontal line, but then again we didn't really try to get that kind of flare. But I also remember hearing from other people that they tried it and it didn't work. They still flare though.

Max Jacoby · March 20, 2005

Just saw the French film 'Boudou' shot by Gérard Simon on the Hawks and there was indeed one shot where there were blue horizontal flares around streetlights and headlights of cars. The flares were only on the lightsource itself though, and did not extend to other parts of the image (which one has with other anamorphic lenses, like the C-Series for example)

Keith Mottram · March 21, 2005

cheers for the feedback. I guess the next question is if you had the choice which lenses would you choose and why?

Keith

Max Jacoby · March 21, 2005

All these lenses can give you good results. One needs to be a bit more careful with older anamorphics, like the C-Series or the JDC/Xtal Express lenses, because the quality varies from lens to lens. You really need to test them individually to find the good one (and not get stuck with a really bad one).

You can check the FAQ for more info.

Edited March 21, 2005 by audiris

David Mullen ASC · March 22, 2005

Some people shoot anamorphic lenses BECAUSE of the optical quirks, distortions, flares, etc. and thus prefer the older optics and use them nearly wide-open. Others shoot anamorphic more because it uses a larger negative area and try and avoid the artifacts by stopping down the lens, using the newer (heavier) lenses, etc. There's no right or wrong choice -- this is a format with PERSONALITY (a kind way to phrase it... David Watkin used to refer to anamorphic as an "optical catastrophe".)