Anamorphic Depth of field calculations

[Chris Adams]

Can anyone tell me what tool/tools to use to accurately calculate depth of field for anamorphic production. I will be A.C.ing an upcoming project and want to know if there are any downloadable tools to do the job.

 

Also, what is the difference in depth of field between std 16mm and super and std 35mm and super? I've only worked in Std 16mm and 35mm up to this point.

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

[David Mullen ASC]

A 50mm anamorphic lens has the horizontal view of a 25mm lens but the vertical view of a 50mm lens. Since it "seems" more wide-angle than a 50mm spherical lens, many people tend to use longer focal lengths for anamorphic, hence why the depth-of-field is lower. In other words, the depth of field of a 50mm anamorphic is the same as a 50mm spherical -- but you are more likely to use a 75mm or so when shooting anamorphic when you would use a 50mm in spherical.

 

So you can use the same charts for spherical lenses in terms of depth of field.

 

Again, when using the slightly larger Super-35 negative, you are getting a slightly larger field of view with the same lens -- BUT you are probably shooting Super-35 in order to crop it vertically to widescreen. So I think you can use the same depth of field tables as for regular 35mm. The difference is only that you may tend to use wider-angle lenses to compensate for the cropping to 2.35 : 1, the opposite of anamorphic where you tend to use longer lenses to compensate for the increased horizontal view.

[Peter Martin]

Please visit the Vantage Website: www.vantagefilm.com - In the download area you can find depth of field tables for the Hawks. Anamorphics tend to have more depth of field compared to spherical lenses with the same focal length. The quoted focal length of an anamorphic lens stands for the effective vertical focal length only. The horizontal focal length for 2.40 lenses is always 1/2 of the vertical one and it is influencing the depth of field as well.

 

Peter Martin

Lens Design Hawk Anamorphic

Vantage Film

[Mitch Gross]

Peter--

 

Good to have you posting here. The Vantage website is very well-designed with lots of great info on the Hawk lenses. I've heard tale of some more Hawks in the pipeline--any truth to this? B)

[Peter Martin]

Dear Mitch,

 

We are improving the V-Series 35 and 40mm at the moment. There will be a V-Series 85mm/T2.2 with cfd 2' as well as a V-Series 65mm/T3 Super Close Focus, cfd 1' in September. Some more Vs are in the design process right now.

 

The Cs (our first range) are being build until the end of this year only - after ten years of production and forty sets sold! New small Hawks will follow.

 

There will be a new spherical Hawk Zoom lens as well. I cannot tell you the range right now - but it will be an impressive lens.

 

Thank you for your interest.

 

Peter

[David Mullen ASC]

Do the V-Series wider-angle lenses have less barrel distortion than the C-Series?

[Peter Martin]

Yes the V40 and V50 have less distortion compared to the C40 and C50. There are no wider Cs than 40mm.