anamorphic adapter

[Damian Vicente]

Hi, general question.

 

Anyone has an Anamorphic adapter?

This in particular: http://letusdirect.com/cart/letus-anamorphx-adapter.html

 

Opinions?

 

How does it work when the lens expand as you move the focus (or zoom)? Does it have a space reserved to that or it stops the lens preventing it from expanding forward?

I think it's too heavy to use it as clip on (which would solve this hypothetical problem).

 

The adapter has it's own focus system, is it a slow procedure to focus on set, take by take, or it doesn't affect the dynamics of the set...

 

thanks in advance

cheers

Damian Vicente

[dan kessler]

I have an older anamorphic adapter with a 2x squeeze designed for film use,
but the principle is the same.

You are correct, these are not clip-on lens attachments. They need a robust mount,
usually affixed to the rods, that will keep it in place in front of the spherical lens.
You must leave a small gap between the lenses for focusing.

They also focus independently of the spherical lens, so, yes, you must focus two lenses.

Opinion? Well, this was the way cinemascope worked in the beginning. A lot of movies got made
this way. It didn't take long, though, for Bausch and Lomb to come out with anamorphic lenses that
integrated everything into one barrel with one focusing mechanism, which became the preferred design
from that point onward. Nevertheless, if cost is a factor and you can live with the inconvenience,

adapters still get the job done.

[Dom Jaeger]

The Letus adapter is designed to clamp on as well as have the option to be supported by rods. The basic clamp diameter is 114mm which would fit Zeiss CP2s and their lightweight zoom, Canon's Cinema primes, as well as most Master Primes and many Angenieux Optimos, and can easily be spaced down to 110 mm or other common front diameters. I wouldn't recommend clamping for telescoping lenses like Super Speeds or many stills zoom lenses as it places too much pressure on the mechanics, and obviously it's not appropriate for lenses where the front also rotates as they focus. In those cases you'd need to use rods - ideally using a support that can slide and connecting with rotatable filter thread adapters, otherwise leaving a space to accommodate focus travel. The problem then is to cover the gap to prevent light entering, and also the focal range of the taking lens will be reduced, as a gap will introduce vignetting on wider lenses.

 

One of the big advantages to the Letus AnamorphX is the range of focal lengths it covers, down to 15 mm for Super35 formats, which is way wider than any of the vintage adapters can cover. The focussing system uses 3 distance settings, which seems simple enough, and let's you get pretty close without needing diopters. Not as simple as proper anamorphic lenses, but probably the best low budget option around. Certainly much better than the Panasonic AG-7200 adapter, and the matte box and new filter holder seem well designed.

 

It's only a 1.33 squeeze, so the anamorphic artifacts are much subtler than traditional 2x anamorphics. But you can choose different coating options for more or less flare. At NAB 2014 Letus announced a yet to be released Pro version of the adapter for $1000 or so more, promising better correction and around twice the resolution, as well as a 1.8x squeeze version for 4:3 sensors.

[Damian Vicente]

Thanks guys