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Shooting 3perf or 4perf 35mm with anamorphic lenses


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10 hours ago, Gregory Irwin said:

Of course, I appreciate  you and Panavision. Your knowledge is valuable! We were referring to only anamorphic lenses which are getting older. My previous show was a Marvel show and we shot with the T Series. Every week we had to send in a lens for service/return due to elements dropping out of position, dublet’s coming unglued or other failures. The coveted Cs and Es are getting fewer and far between because of age and breakage. Part of the problem is that we use Prestons full time and the older lenses were never designed with the powerful motors constantly driving them in mind. That’s a lot of the wear and tear. Panavision has made many gains in the large format spherical world but the anamorphic world is lagging in my opinion. I guess I should mention the anamorphic expanders that help convert 35mm rear elements to cover large sensors which is good but still a bandaid solution.  
I love what we can do with detuned lenses but the problem is that every detuned lens becomes a prototype. If or when that lens goes down, there is not an inventory of custom detuned glass waiting to replace it. In fact, we really don’t have the luxury of testing several anamorphic lenses like we used to, spending a couple of weeks making our selections because the detuning process can take too long for most prep schedules. They are chosen for us ahead of time to facilitate the process. That, I don’t like. Thankfully, I can still convince producers to grant me prep schedules that can accommodate the time but I realize that isn’t the norm for most. For my current job, BLACK ADAM for Warner Bros, I had six weeks of lens prep. That was for testing lenses, making my selections and then detuning. Afterwards, the camera prep began for another three weeks.  But that is not the typical prep time for most jobs. 
 

G

6  weeks of prep for testing lenses?! Not even when I was a 2nd AC on Knight & Day or any other major US motion picture we had that! Wow!

In Spain and Ireland nobody is using Prestons anymore because of the power of the motors and how they affect the older lenses that are becoming more and more popular. 

A friend of mine who has a Preston was a 1st AC on a massive movie shot with the B Series and they had to change the Preston on day 1 of prep because the lenses couldn't handle it. 

They are all using WC4s now (which apparently brings different problems) but it seems like a better solution when you use old lenses. 

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It's interesting that the overpowered lens motor issue comes up. It's a problem I've noticed even on the low-cost focus controllers people use. It's actually even more of a problem on the sort of lightly-built converted stills lenses that are often paired with these lower-cost controllers.

I think they're probably trying to make a point of showing they can provide a lot of power to handle difficult lenses, but there's often no way to moderate the torque.

P

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5 hours ago, Miguel Angel said:


They are all using WC4s now (which apparently brings different problems) but it seems like a better solution when you use old lenses. 

In my work, which entails doing stop pulls on long Steadicam moves, I can’t rely on the signal using WC4s… 

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3 hours ago, David Mullen ASC said:

In my work, which entails doing stop pulls on long Steadicam moves, I can’t rely on the signal using WC4s… 

That’s exactly the issue I’ve experienced with the WC4. It’s not reliable. The nice thing about the Prestons is that you can adjust the torque levels of the motors. We normally have them on the lowest level but even that seems too much at times for older lenses. But the signal is always solid for good distances away from the camera and I like incorporating the read outs of the Cine RT or Light Ranger right on the display of the handset. 
 

G

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16 hours ago, David Mullen ASC said:

In my work, which entails doing stop pulls on long Steadicam moves, I can’t rely on the signal using WC4s… 

 

13 hours ago, Gregory Irwin said:

That’s exactly the issue I’ve experienced with the WC4. It’s not reliable. The nice thing about the Prestons is that you can adjust the torque levels of the motors. We normally have them on the lowest level but even that seems too much at times for older lenses. But the signal is always solid for good distances away from the camera and I like incorporating the read outs of the Cine RT or Light Ranger right on the display of the handset. 
 

G

That's what he (and all my focus pullers friends) complained about. 
Maybe they will fix it with the release of the new WCU5 (or however it will be called)? ? 

 

Was this you @David Mullen ASC when the lens failed? ? 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KZ6mIsbDc4

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