dahlfors

Interestingly enough for all you anamorphic shooters, I just figured out that if you switch the D800 into stills mode, choose 5:4 crop in the menus and then enable Live View - it will show you 5:4 in Live view. So, I set my camera to 1080 output on HDMI and hooked it up to my computer monitor with HDMI-in - and presto - the video output on the monitor was in 5:4 format! Unfortunately I don't have access to any recorder like the Atomos Ninja so I can test the video quality of the 5:4 output - but this could be very interesting news for people shooting with 2x anamorphics on a D800, since (5/4) * 2 = 2.50:1 aspect ratio! Guess I'll better start saving up some money for a ninja as well... :)

It doesn't matter which camera you get, Black Magic Design, GH2/3, Canon, Nikon, Sony etc: You will want to get more equipment as time goes by - be it lenses, reflectors, lights, microphones, tripods or handheld stabilizers and such... When I buy camera bodies myself, I expect them to last around 5 years or so. The lenses, tripods and such I expect to be able to use on upcoming cameras - or sell. They usually retain their values better if kept in shape. So, I'm with QuickHitRecord here: If GH3 is released next month, I'd wait and see what that one has to offer over the GH2, and then either buy the GH3 or a used GH2. Prices for both used & new GH2 cameras will probably drop when GH3 is out.

The vid-atlantic clamp is attached with three screws to the anamorphic. The clamp itself has filter threads fitting 52mm filter thread, so I screw the anamorphic onto the taking lens. My Nikon lenses only extrudes forward and backwards, the front does not rotate. There is a bit of focus breathing on the lenses, which isn't really an issue since I don't refocus while shooting sequences. Closest focusing mark on my Ultrastar is 1.5 meters, and it surely can focus nicely at that distance with my Nikkor 85mm and 105mm. For focusing I estimate the distance as good as I can and set the Isco to that value. I then focus it as sharp as I can with the taking lens. The larger the aperture on the taking lens is, the more carefully I need to adjust the focus. On your video it looks like the lack of sharpness is due to the focus on the two lenses not matching each other perfectly. Try filming with aperture around f/8 or f/11 and adjust the taking lens and the Ultrastar to match each other to the distance of the subject you want in focus. It's a bit more forgiving with the focus on the taking lens at those apertures, which in turn makes it a bit easier to nail the focus on the Ultrastar. When you nail the focus with the ultrastar, try microadjusting focus a bit on the taking lens. I believe that some of your focusing issues might be due to the fact that the distance between the front element of your taking lens and the rear of the anamorphic changes when you focus the taking lens. So, getting a clamp might make it easier with the double focusing. You just need a lens with 52mm or smaller filter thread as well as a lens without rotating front element. The double focusing sure takes some practice before you start to get used to it :)

Sounds great :) I sent you a more detailed private message here on the forum :)

Not particularly rich, but I got a fulltime job and my money goes into camera equipment :) I'm searching for an Iscorama in nice shape, in around 1500-2000 euro price range. Would you have one for sale? [quote name='tony wilson' timestamp='1343138764' post='14419'] i have such things... are your rich? do you have family members to trade or property houses or cars what about gold i can work with all the above [/quote]

1) Yes. I believe you will get the best results by first stretching the image with something like 170% to 200% horisontally, and if you output to a lower resolution, then just resampling down the footage for the exported version. I work daily with Photoshop, and that would certainly be the method I would choose for stills, so I'm pretty certain that same procedure would be the best option for film footage. I'm unsure if all anamorphics behave like this lens or not - but this one seems to be squeezing the image a little bit more at the edges than at the center. I've seen that on a few of my shots at least. It might also be related to what lens I have been using the anamorphic lens with, haven't really done enough testing to confirm that though. 2) On the D200 setup photo, I had a 105mm f/2.5 AI-S Nikkor attached to the anamorphic. The Isco Ultrastar works nicely with lenses that have about 52mm front diameter filter thread. I got five such lenses which fits the anamorphic: Nikkor AI 200mm f/4 (works with fullframe + crop sensor), Nikkor AI-S 105mm f/2.5 (full frame + crop), Nikkor AI-S 85mm f/2 (full frame + crop), and at 50mm, Nikon 50mm E Series f/1.8 as well as Nikkor 50mm AF-D f/1.4 - which both only work with a 1.5x crop sensor or smaller. So, the widest I can get with full frame sensor in use without vignetting is with the 85mm f/2. A 2x anamorphic lens gives you twice as wide angle horisontally though, so for width I can squeeze in as much as 42.5 mm (85 divided by 2) lens could reach. The horisontally widest option to shoot with in 1.5x crop sensor mode is then 50mm * 1.5x crop divided by 2 = 37.5mm. Which means, you can get fairly wide shots with this Ultrastar. I know Andrew Reid of EOSHD tells to avoid most anamorphic projection lenses in his anamorphic guide. Personally, I'd say that this lens does not fall into that category, and I guess Andrew might change his mind if he tries out one of these, especially since he seem to love the really wide 3.55:1 aspect ratio :) The major downsides with the Ultrastar is no refocusing while filming and the size of it makes it extend quite far out. If you shoot with a crop sensor, I'd really recommend getting the Nikkor E Series 50mm, which is a pancake lens. Makes your rig far smaller: [url="http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/images1/50mm-series-e/KEN_5166-460.jpg"]http://www.kenrockwe...EN_5166-460.jpg[/url] 3) Thanks. I got quite a few years of background on still photography. Trying to pick up as much as I can on filming now, and there's a lot to learn :) [quote name='septemberdawn' timestamp='1343101983' post='14392'] 1) I've merely been opening my test images in Photoshop: Image>Image Size, unchecking the 'constrain proportions' checkbox and changing the horizontal width from pixels to percent and selecting 200%. The ISCO images have more vertical height than those delivered by the Kowa 16-H when following the above proceedure. I'm unsure if this is the correct method...I'm new to anamorphics. 2) What lens is the ISCO attached to in your D200 setup, a 55/2.5 Micro Nikkor ? 3) I enjoyed looking through your samples (a good variety) [/quote]

Oh, and I guess I can share some of my still shots with the Isco Ultrastar: [url="http://sprawl.dahlfors.net/anamorphic/"]http://sprawl.dahlfors.net/anamorphic/[/url] These are stills shot with Nikon D200 at its full 10.2 Mpixel resolution, downsampled and stretched to 1080p. I shot these shots to test the stretch factor of this lens, since I've seen people telling they are anything from 1.7x to 2x. Hence, the shots have a bit different stretch applied to them. As you can notice on the shots of buildings, I had the anamorphic slightly misaligned, so vertical lines have a slight angle to them. (and yes, I cleaned the sensor after seeing the dust on some of these test shots ;))

I am looking for an Iscorama 36, no difference if it is single coated or multicoated version. I'd prefer to buy one within EU if possible (since that means less tolls for me), but buying from international sellers is not a problem either.

[quote name='Simco123' timestamp='1342946037' post='14300'] The 50mm E series lens from Nikon were cheap and probably doesnt have a motor. Vintage lens are usually smaller than modern lens for good reasons they are not jam packed with motors, mirrors, etc. While I'm at it Nikon has been using the same 12mp sensor on their FF cameras since 2007 and only did something about it in 2012. [/quote] No. Nikon had new APS-C sensors in midst of 2010 already, used in D7000 and D3100.

Yes, I have one of those Isco Ultrastar projection lenses as well, a red one fitted with a vid-atlantic clamp. It doesn't flare that much and you can't rack focus, but yes - it's very sharp. I use it on my Nikon D800 now. Here's a shot of the lens attached to my old Nikon D200 (did some still test shots with the anamorphic on my D200 before I got my D800): https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/412222_10150722492877263_610404309_o.jpg The Isco Ultrastar is usable with as wide as a 85mm f/2 Nikkor lens in full frame (FX) mode, as wide as 50mm in 1.5x (DX) crop mode.