QuickHitRecord

Hmmm. If you focus the lens by only touching the black part, does the striped part still move on its own? There are some tiny holes in the black part. Are there tiny screws in them or are they missing?

Sounds like he's nursed it back to health for you, at least to the point where you can get a good image out of it. He did the same for my Iscomorphot 8/1.5x a little while back. I can't wait to see what you do with it.

John recommended something called SuperLube to me. He told me that it is his go-to for anamorphic lenses. I've used it on several lenses and it has worked well.   How much did those repairs run you, if you don't mind my asking?

Thanks, Tony. I figured that if anyone knew anything about this lens, it would be you. I'm glad to own a little piece of Isco history with this lens.

  Great to see you here. I'd love to see a side-by-side test of these lenses.

  It's single focus!   I had made myself the same promise, but when this became available at this price, I had to go for it. Had you seen one of these on eBay before? I know that there was one listed a little over a year ago. I believe that it may be the same one that Kostas picked up (and then had polished and recoated).

  About $200.   eBay.

http://vimeo.com/70264199 I had all but given up on ever finding the perfect 8mm anamorphic lens, but I recently got my hands on what I think is the most rare anamorphic lens that I have ever owned -- the Zeiss Ikon Anamorphot 22/1.5x. It is almost impossible to find any information on this lens. I could not find any pictures of the lens, nor any test footage. In fact, the only reason that I knew that it existed was a tip from anamorphic Godfather Kostas Petsas, who also has one. He compares his Ikon to the Iscomorphot 8/1.5x. Like the Iscomorphot 8/1.5x, it's an 8mm "baby" lens that is fully rack-focusable. The helicoid is smooth and has a very manageable throw, so focusing is no problem at all as you will see in the test video above. The slightly wider diameter actually makes the lens easier to focus the baby Isco, and of course it is much more focus-friendly than the strenuous focus throw of the Iscorama. It's a little bigger than the Iscomorphot 1.5x (front filter thread is about 43mm, and rear diameter is about 32mm) but still much smaller and lighter than the Iscomorphot 2x or the Iscorama. It's nice not to have to add in a support system to hold the weight of the additional lens. Coupled with a DSLR, a taking lens with a silver finish and a silver clamp from Redstan, this could be a great stealth anamorphic setup. I think that perhaps the most substantial difference between the Ikon and the Iscomorphot is that the Ikon is usable when the taking lens is wide open (at least at f/1.8). Though it is not razor sharp like the Iscorama, I don't see a limitation here. The minimum focus distance is impressive. I've been able to focus as close as 22" wide open without any diopters. I haven't really put it through the paces yet, but from what I've seen, the lens has some nice, understated character. It's a lot less smeary than some of the 8mm anamorphics that I have used. The flares are thinly stretched blue ovals, similar to my Moller 32/2x (but I think that I may like the Zeiss flares even more). I have been able to use it with my FS100 with a 50mm lens, which is usually my go-to lens when I first get an anamorphic lens. I'll have to test it to see if I can get away with using a wider taking lens. I am excited about this lens. It is the easiest, simplest anamorphic lens that I have ever used and the image is very pleasing. I think that this is a winner. If anyone else has one, I'd love to compare notes.

Yes it will. But you may also see an increase in distortion and/or chromatic aberration with some lenses.

  Agreed. I thought that Pierce Brosnan's Bond had it right. Daniel Craig's Bond echoes Jason Bourne a little too much for me.

I used one of Wide Open Camera's thicker zip tie gears and an Edelkrone FocusOne Pro. As as long as I was able to put support underneath and around Redstan's clamp, I was able to pull focus smoothly. But that was not the problem. The problem was the incredibly long focus throw, which made it very difficult to pull off a standard rack focus. In terms of protecting the Iscorama, I bought a 72mm-85mm conical step ring and used it like a lens hood for a little extra protection. But ultimately, I was too stressed out to really put such a rare and high-value lens through its paces, so shooting with it wasn't any fun and I sold it.

I enjoyed watching that. Nice work!

  The stopper on mine was a plastic bump that was easily removed with the dremel. With regard to making a new stopper in a more favorable position, I don't believe that it will work. As I recall, the new stopper would need to stick out past the barrel, getting in the way of the full range of focus. It's best just to leave the barrel without a stopper. It's pretty easy to tell when you've focused too close and you're about to come off the threads (and it's easy to screw back on when you do).

It's pretty easy, guys. Rich's instructions in this thread will take you step by stop. I don't have anywhere near the experience that he does but I was able to complete the mod fairly simply. I think that it took me around hour from start to finish.   EDIT: I had both threads open at the same time. This is the thread that I am referring to: http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/1711-i-just-modified-my-iscorama-36-for-close-focus/

There's no real workaround. Consider getting a monitor with 2x magnification like the SmallHD AC7.

I do not own any Canon DSLRs at the moment, but I just went through it and it's a useful technical guide.

Unless he has sold it, Rich Gale (also a member of this forum) has been known to rent out his Iscorama. He is UK-based.

Wow. Just... wow.

Yes, please close it.

  "Traces de champignons mais ça se restaure."   "Traces of mushrooms but can be restored."   That was a chuckle.

A really cool and inspirational setup. Thanks for sharing with us!

I'm in Northern VA too. I'm very familiar with the herons of Great Falls and I really like the photo that you got. Nice shot!   If you can wait, I'd suggest the BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera $1000) with the Panasonic Lumix 100-300mm lens (goes for around $500). If not, the $1,300 GH3 gives you weather sealing and 60 frames at 1080P (for slow motion; no other DSLRs that I know of offer this). Here is a sample that I found with that very combination:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlCCaI-ee1g So:   Panasonic GH3: $1300 Extra Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery: $80 Sandisk Extreme 64GB 95MB/s SD Card: $120 Lumix G Vario 100-300mm F/4-5.6 OIS Lens: $500   TOTAL: $2,000   Replace that with a GH2, and you can shave $600 off of that price. You'll lose 1080P slow motion (you'll only get 720P) and the weather sealing, but you won't have to worry about moire patterns as you do sometimes with the GH3.

You can adapt many different kinds of lenses to Micro Four Thirds mount cameras. It is a very versatile mount and sensor size combination. Dumb adapters usually run under $25 and they do make them for both Canon EF and Canon FD lenses.   If you are using EF lenses, you may have some difficulty because the camera won't be able to communicate with them electronically. So if you don't have a manual focus ring (versus direct coupled) or manual aperture ring, you may not be able to focus or change aperture while using a Micro Four Thirds camera. That would pose a problem. But if you are shooting with manual glass, then they will work beautifully. I primarily shoot with Nikon AI-S prime lenses from the 80s and they give me great results.   I think that depending on your budget, you may want to keep your existing kit and make a separate investment on the GH3 or the BlackMagic Pocket Cinema camera and the Panasonic 100-300mm f4-5.6.

I am by no means a wildlife filmmaking pro, but I've done a couple shorts in that vein. Here's one a from a few years ago, shot with the 7D:   http://youtu.be/fo_rpn3b83k   If I were you, I would stay away from the full frame cameras like the 5D for wildlife (and bird) films and actually look into micro four thirds cameras. The crop sensor will get you in a lot closer to your wildlife subjects. A 50mm on a full frame DSLR gives you a 50mm field of view, but the same lens on the Micro Four Thirds Panasonic GH3 would be a 100mm field of view. The GH3 is also weather sealed, which is pretty valuable if you are really going to be off of the grid.   Or you could always wait for the Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera. Put the Panasonic 100-300mm lens on it, and with the Super 16 (approx. 3x) crop factor on that camera, you'll have an image stabilized 300mm-900mm field of view -- that will get you really, really close. Much closer than I could get for the film above.

At a glance, the 5D looks the best to my eye, but that pesky fixed pattern noise (vertical lines) is pushing me towards the KineRaw on this one.