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Hi, all! I personally would like to have a space to discuss new developments in anamorphic lenses, how they compare to tried-and-true options, and perhaps even where things may be headed in the not too distant future. My copy of Andrew's Anamorphic guide is, I think, up to date, and yet it simply doesn't touch on some of the newer stuff that's come out. (Andrew, if you're reading this, get your hands on an FM Module, and a Rectilux, and push SLR Magic for some info on their 2X Ana.) The FM Module seems promising: works well with Schneiders, but the Schneiders themselves have some distortion problems . . . may yet work even better with other projection anas. The Rectilux looks to be more or less the same kind of optical solution as the FM Module, albeit bespoke, and I suspect higher quality too (though at the moment mostly vaporware). Andrew wrote one article on a 2X from SLR Magic, and I have not heard anything since. And honestly, I wasn't impressed with their 1.3X (nor were others. They seemed to be quickly resold by early adopters, same with the VanDemien ISCO. There are several on the 'bay already.) So what do people think? There are of course the old faithfuls: Iscoramas, LOMOs, and a smattering of vintage single-focus options. How does it all stack up? I'll start things off by saying that I'm cautiously optimistic about the future of 2X Anamorphics

I had the Optex a couple of years ago and I recall it has to be stopped down to get sharp like all focus through adapters. Unfortunately it will still not become that sharp even at f5.6. But as GH4 is so sharp this is not so bad maybe? The Tamron diopter is quite good. Nearly as good as the 0.5 Tokina.

Hi Tito, I just watched Zona S. SP. and I am very impressed! Great job. Really, realy well done. I have to say you definitely are the right man to own those fine lenses as it is much better to make good films than boring flaretests and so on Unfortunately I cannot provide you with any good resources regarding the Iscorama stuff. I know some filmmakers who have decades of experience with Iscos. One in particular knows some engineers from Isco and had a quite close relationship I think. He owns all the good stuff... Keep up the great work! Hope you have a nice time in Vancouver (heard it is a great city)

Hey ROMSPROD, 1) it depends 2) I like 35mm on the 5D, I have no idea of how that should be on the GH4. 3) 75.8% tall or 133% wide. 4) it depends. here's a couple links to help you About this kind of lens: http://tferradans.com/blog/?p=7204 About diopters: http://tferradans.com/blog/?p=7282 About workflow and post production http://tferradans.com/blog/?p=7370 also, there's the Diopter Thread here in this forum that will probably solve your questions regarding these auxiliary lenses.

Why not make a fake label for the whiskey and use similar looking alternative to the famous medicine you speak of, if it is what I am inferring it is. That way you should have nothing to worry about.

@nahua and @Cosimo, if the idea is downscaling, then I'd rather have a superb 1080p camera than shooting 4k. I'm currently attending a 3D/VFX course and the thing they tell us the most is "no one but you and your family is gonna take time to watch this even in full HD. 720p is more than enough". I can't agree more. I mean, a shortfilm should look superb in HD. The resolution doesn't matter so much after a certain point. Also, our eyes have physical limits for resolution depending a lot on the size of the screen and the distance from it. If you're more than 2m away from a HUGE screen, you're missing the 4k fine detail ANYWAY. (reference: http://carltonbale.com/does-4k-resolution-matter/) I love raw, I love the intricate process of it, and I agree not everyone would shoot like this (heck, most of my time I'm still shooting h264). 4K is something that should be used when you're ABSOLUTELY sure that your product (ad, short, feature, whatever) is gonna be played on a huge movie screen at festivals or something (and that isn't even near as common as people wish it was). Then, I agree, 4k is cool, but not even Hugo (2011) was shot 4k, no one cared, and it still won the oscar for best cinematography, so... I agree 4k is a good testing procedure to see how much can a lens resolve, and 4k tests should be standard, yadda yadda.

Let's wrap this up. This is not bloom, it's the NX1 doing what it wants to do if it doesn't like the exposure. Would be OK for a cell phone, but in a camera with a fully manual video shooting mode I'd rather not have it. It doesn't do it under low exposure. Sure, might be that not every camera has this issue (though I'd really like to have one that is supposed not to have the issue in my own hands), but apparently lots of units do. So, as has been stated before, this should be a top priority for the software guys, not 1000 new features (that might work as sensationally as the histogram). Here's the comparison featuring a Nikon D800, a Blackmagic Cinema Camera and the NX1: Settings of the NX1 definitely all manual, no guides, no auto anything, I spent 5 minutes making sure of that. Firmware 1.10, though. With the other cameras I did what's usually to be done: throw 'em into manual and roll. Hope I'll manage to get the Vimeo in here, can't seem to get it to work intuitively. Sorry for the bad quality, only one HD upload per week. To everyone who doesn't see the drifting: I envy you, I'd love not to see stuff as well, life probably would be bearable at last.

@Tito You would rethink 4K if you could shoot 4:3 or 3:2 like I'm doing with my GH4. And you can always downscale 4K to 1080P if you want. So much less hassle than ML RAW. File sizes are so much smaller and I can do real time previews too. If it wasn't for that, I'd agree with you.

​ Hi Andrew, Richard, Thank you for your kind words, Rectilux 3FF pricing can be found at the website and also in the download brochure. Rectilux 3FF ordering information is also available for download at the website using a procedure which should be familiar to you. Ordering is already in place with several orders confirmed for Kowa BH/16H/8Z and ES Cinelux and others. There is also a white paper explaining how these focus units work and also some guidance on what benefits should be considered before making a purchase. Recently, I needed to explain the name and rather than drag your readers away from this forum, I can reproduce my reply here. Rectilux comes from the Latin: Recti = straight Lux = light, in other words Rectilux means the light passes straight through, no effect on footage. Rectilux has neutral optical transfer function (see wiki - optical transfer function) which is a tech way of saying no effect on footage. The following are test shots purposefully taken to show the exceptional performance of the focusing optics by mimicking a 4K to 1080p workflow from 16mp stills and are best viewed full size on a 1080p monitor. See this shot below taken at F1.8/50mm 1/50s, (check EXIF) the left part tells you nothing about the focusing optics because it is all bokeh blur, however the right part tells you everything - it is very detailed and no CA, over by the bookshelves which are about 20m away @https://www.flickr.com/photos/125986580@N05/14892655303/sizes/o/ below I have a stealth shot of a Rembrandt at the art gallery, worth a few million, when the security guards were not looking, Rectilux is light & small, goes unnoticed. Shot up close, handheld, less than 1 metre at a slight angle F1.8/50mm 1/50s, (check EXIF) see the corner performance, the detail in the bubble at 1:1 pixels @https://www.flickr.com/photos/125986580@N05/16042907897/sizes/o/ below I have a mid range outside shot with a zoom about 80mm F5.6 1/50s with 3xND filter, check performance across the frame @https://www.flickr.com/photos/125986580@N05/14686111660/sizes/o/ below I have a far range shot with a zoom about 150mm F5.6 1/50s with 3xND filter, check performance across the frame @https://www.flickr.com/photos/125986580@N05/14849888436/sizes/o/ more links to performance tests at the web site. I mainly use footage to show the breathing and mechanical focusing performance and effect on flares, the first few seconds of this one below show me pulling focus into the bottom left corner close-up focusing is where the stroke and throw is biggest of course, @https://vimeo.com/108008419 there are some quick focus pulls in this one, and you can assess breathing @https://vimeo.com/107346885 and slow pulls in this clip comparing mumps with a v-lite @https://vimeo.com/105439595 All my tests are concentrated on the focus unit you are buying, not on the anamorphic which you already own. Rectilux system is expanding, I will be adding Bolex 8 & 16 1.5x quick change support soon and more later. All Rectilux are single wavelength coated optics with a non-coated option by special request. Rectilux complies with the standard legal 14 day money back after delivery regulation.

Thanks! I was midway through a brief post on my blog regarding the exact subject of this thread. a LOT has come out since Andrew's guide and some more (bringing great changes) has came out after I wrote my essay. I wanted to cover SLR Magic's anamorphot, FM lens, that little moondog labs thing for iphone, the new cinemorph that works in the back of the sigma 18-35, john's rectilux, and maybe move on to reviewing more expensive ones (hawks, anyone?) for real if I have the chance now that I'm not anymore in Brazil. hahaha. I'm gonna need a better camera to test this resolving power stuff, though. hahaha. I don't like 4k - I feel like it's being pushed down on the users, but it's not such a great deal - , but that's something for a whole different talk. hahaha

I also think the guide should be redone. Maybe a combination of Andrew's and Tito's guide. Both are excellent! The 2x or 1.8x look will always be the preferred anamorphic format. I think the new options are very welcome and open a lot of doors for everyone. Unfortunately at this point you have to buy and experiment yourself to find the right options.

http://www.artslaw.com.au/info-sheets/info-sheet/using-brands-and-products-in-film/

You know what. It totally depends. Strictly speaking, you would need permission. If it's a well known brand (medicine) and you are showing it in bad light then they could object. Also depends on which country you are in and where you intend to show the short.

​This is the USA, Andrew - there's always room for one more cinematic immigrant.

That's insane. Blanket 20%+ sales tax on virtually everything in the UK and Europe for virtually everyone. No wonder our economy is screwed

Rudolf, thank you very much for the comment! I know it's harsh, and this was one of the few pieces of the whole article I considered taking out, but well, if I did, I wouldn't have learned this just now! I don't remember where I got that from, still! hahaha. Thank you very much for this, do you have any link, video, magazine, whatever, where I can go more in depth on the subject? I'll be more than happy to fix that. Regarding the achromats, I didn't know they existed until a couple weeks back, when some popped on ebay and I was able to grab one. HAHAHA. Had NEVER heard of them before - and I spent quite some time looking for both things before writing the paper (Iscoramas and achromats). The only reason I was able to afford the gear was buying weird lenses and reselling them on the brazilian market. The profit from that eventually was enough to match a unique opportunity to grab the Foton-A. The other LOMO was just blind luck, no other explanation. Paid $800 for it! One thing I took from the process was: the more fucked up the lens, the more you'll learn by trying to fix it up (true for the Foton and Iscorama). One more thanks for your comment, and I hope you enjoy the episodes!

Hi everybody. I was at CES today and at the Samsung CES booth where they had some NX1 cameras mounted around a photo booth with a couple of models in a living room setting. I happened to notice that the Samsung people did not have the NX1 SD card slot glued shut so I slipped in my own SD card and made some video using the Gamma Normal, Gamma C, and Gamma DR profiles that is in the 1.2 pre-release firmware. I thought that I would share them with all of you. Before I made the video, I performed a RESET ALL on the camera so I would be shooting with pristine default settings. Attached are the screen grabs of the video playing in KODI/XBMC of my MacBook Pro. Take note of how the black colors in the picture frame that is on the bookshelf to the left of the model's head perform under Gamma DR and Gamma C, and Gamma Normal. You can get the raw H.265 files from my MediaFire file share: https://www.mediafire.com/folder/63s4q7yuwp7nk/CES2015_NX1

sometimes a great director comes up from nowhere, watch this movie shot with anamorphic zeiss lenses killer scenario killer images makes you want to go out and shoot