16mm anamorphic?

August 22, 2005

I dont know if this is a stupid idea but has anyone ever tried to use an anamorphic prime designed for 35mm on a standard 16mm camera? Seems like it would be easy if you had a camera with a pl mount to try it.

I don't know if you'd really get any benefit over cropping super 16 to 2.35:1 but just kinda curious if it would actually work?

Adam Frisch FSF · August 22, 2005

I just did a video like that (there are some frame grabs on my webiste - the band is called The Research). It was a nightmare for many other reasons than the format, but that didn't help.

There's simply nothing harder in the world than trying to explain 16mm anamorphic - even the telecine guys were completely lost and it was 16x9 cockups and re-transfers in abundance. And at the end of the day you gain nothing in neg area or sharpness - masking a s16mm frame is almost exactly the same thing as using the anamorphic lens and chopping the sides. Add on top of that that the widest lens you can realistically get (if you're not Bay) is a 30mm - which isn't a very wide lens on 16mm. On all the wide car shots I had to resort to spherical lenses just to fit stuff in.

But we did go with anamorphic because we wanted that look (or, as it turned out in the end, I was the only one who truly knew what that meant). We used C-series.

In the end it wasn't a very pleasurable experience and I learned some valuable lessons - don't go with strange formats unless you've made everybody understand fully what that means. Don't expect people to be clued in because they've shot anamorphic on 35mm - scope on 16mm is a completely different ballgame.

I would do it again (because we did get some nice shots from it) under the right circumstances, but only then.

Matthew Skala · August 22, 2005

JDC has a set of anamorphic lenses specifically for 16mm. They are located in London, and in North Carolina. The NC # is 910-343-1089.

they specialize in anamorphic and make a lot of the lenses themselves.

August 22, 2005

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience adam.

Your frames look really good.

I dunno...Clairmont camera has a 25mm anamorphic pl mount prime that goes for $150 a day I think. So theoritically if you had a one or two day shoot with a standard 16mm you owned ....it wouldnt be that expensive to shoot a video with one.

Considering that most people watch 4;3 displays....the grain would be really slight.

I would think you would use most of the standard 16mm frame though right?

Just trimming a tad off the sides. Trimming a standard 16mm frame to 16:9 chops quite a bit of frame area and cropping it to 2.35:1 would be pretty extreme.although I think cropping super 16 to cinemascope would be neck in neck in frame area.Probably the better choice.

August 24, 2005

JDC has a set of anamorphic lenses specifically for 16mm. They are located in London, and in North Carolina. The NC # is 910-343-1089.

they specialize in anamorphic and make a lot of the lenses themselves.

Do they have a web site?

Adam Frisch FSF · August 24, 2005

JDC has a set of anamorphic lenses specifically for 16mm. They are located in London, and in North Carolina. The NC # is 910-343-1089.

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That's what I'd heard too, but when I called about that nobody had heard anything about it... Panavision is soon coming out with a 1.33x squeeze series for HD, hopefully they'll make them available for a panavised SR3.

timHealy · August 24, 2005

try and search this topic. It gets asked all the time. David Mullen has contributed a fair amount to the knowledge base in general and this specifically.

Tim

September 7, 2005

JDC has a set of anamorphic lenses specifically for 16mm. They are located in London, and in North Carolina. The NC # is 910-343-1089.

they specialize in anamorphic and make a lot of the lenses themselves.

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Please give the email address of JDC,

I am trying with 16mm anamorphic to blowup 35mm anamorphic

for theatrical release.

September 7, 2005

Please give the email address of JDC,
I am trying with 16mm anamorphic to blowup 35mm anamorphic

for theatrical release.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

YES I have done with anamorphic front adaptor and

the BlOWUP 35mm anamorphic prints are good.

I have done two feature films in 16mm anamorphic

and has got them Blown up to 35mm anamorphic

release prints and released in theaters without

any problem.

Stephen Williams · September 7, 2005

Do they have a web site?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi,

Try www.joedunton.com

Stephen

Bernhard Zitz · September 8, 2005

Hello,

Did it whit a Kowa 16-H front-adapter for 16mm-projectors. It's a DIY-Way, but works. Only problem is pulling focus on your prime-lens and the adapter-lens the same time.

The system developed by french DOP Thierry Tronchet is often mentioned. It's an font-adapter too, but you fix the focus on your prime and pull focus only on the adapter...your focuspuller doesn't need three hands and can work as he's used with a regular setup.

There are some rear-adapters around, if I remember right, "Hawk" produces a rear-adapter for PL-Mount...

Hy Moorty, what Front Adapter were you using?

Bernhard