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Anamorphic on PL BOLEX?


Joao de Botelho

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Hi everyone!

I have been wanting to shoot anamorphic for some time on my Bolex PL mount. It's got a Les Bosher adapter to PL and it works wonders with any PL lens. The thing here is....what lenses or lens to use here? What about focusing/operating?

Cant wait to hear your suggestions...

Best 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello,

I'm guessing your Bolex is a standard 16mm. A 2x squeeze will give you a 2.66 aspect ratio. Wider than standard, but gives you a little wiggle room with framing if you want to crop to 2.35  later. 

Most PL mount anamorphics aren't going to be very wide on such a small format. It's rare to find one wider than 35mm, which won't be too wide a field of view in 16mm. 

Were you planning to rent?

You may be better off using Switars and a Scope projector lens in front with a single focus solution such as the Rectilux.

You might be able to go as wide as 25mm that way. 

 

 

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Most PL anamorphic lenses are heavy and would need to be supported if you're just using an adapter to C mount, so on top of a lack of wide angle choices you would need to sort out rods and a lens support for your Bolex. The lightest PL anamorphic option is probably Kowa anamorphics which you can sometimes find at rental houses. Vantage make PL anamorphics for S16 which go quite wide, but they are expensive to rent, and will definitely need support. Ideally you would use a follow focus attached to rods to focus, but I don't know of any that attach to the little Bolex rod accessory, so you would probably need to try and adapt a standard base plate with rods to the Bolex.

As mentioned, using a C mount lens with an anamorphic adapter may be a better and cheaper option, though that brings its own difficulties with support and focusing.  There was a Bolex anamorphot accessory made in the 50s that attached via the other lens mounts on a turret Bolex, but it's a rare beast:

http://www.bolexcollector.com/accessories/filter50.html

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