Attempting to Understand and Model Delrama Anamorphics

[Selinica Harbinger]

This has taken days of searching to no avail so I am hoping someone knows some historical documents on Delrama anamorphic lenses (such as the technirama ones and the 16mm and 8mm ones) that cover any of the design behind them, dimensions and drawings would be even better. I've been through every search engine and even gone to the company that made them, but there just isn't the information there. I'm attempting to understand how they did the curved anamorphic lens and the focusing so I can model one up and try to make a new one for testing and usage for the particular look and see what can be done with it. The issue is, none of the information seems to exist anymore. Regular anamorphic prism pairs I can find plenty of information on angles and distancing but nothing relating to the curved anamorphic elements the Delrama used. I've even tried the company for information but they were bought up along with several others by another company who seems to know nothing of the products the original maker made, and then that company has been bought by Canon and just makes medical imaging equipment. Even if it ends up simulating as inefficient, I'd like to be able to get something modeled up to see since my odds of seeing one in anything other than a museum setting is unlikely.

My other motivation is that maybe if it simulates as super amazing maybe there would be some way to update it and loan it out, see what others have to say and let people get a chance to use one that isn't a historic artifact.

[Daniel Klockenkemper]

Hi Selinica, have you looked up the patents for the system?  This one seems to be related, and has some drawings and dimensions:  https://patents.google.com/patent/US2780142A/en?inventor=Bouwers+Albert  It sounds like an interesting project!  What are you using to model the optics? 

[Selinica Harbinger]

Thank you so much for the patent link! I threw it together just for a start in solidworks and it does appear to do something basic. I've got a render working that is a 180 rotation from the optical axis on one side to the other to see how it goes. I'll be getting a .step out after this finishes and into freecad since there does seem to be a snell's law solver someone made for it, and I'll double check with some paper calculations since the patent provides the ratios and theory. One radius the half of the other and a spacing relating to the difference of the ratios. I'd have not caught the second bit on my own, I had guessed at the ratio bit but wasn't getting much of anything without that last detail so thank you very much!

I'll try to get some final details for a mount together as I can based on the technirama one with the focus and what I can guess at from the patent and anything else that can be found or turns up. I'll need to try to figure out a motor and some other stuff too for LCS or something so it can be double focused rather than being purely fixed, and since it's the ratios it'll hopefully be easy to scale for other magnifications.

I'll have to get the whole lens model into some better optical program once I have more of it completed rather than a basic proof of concept two floating prisms in CAD model and see what results are given, but I don't have anything currently that can solve more advanced lens models. I'll try to get a basic work in progress model up asap online for anyone else who wants to poke at it too.

Thank you so much for the patent link!