Stanley Hsu

Thank you! I used f2.8 throughout the shoot. It wasn't as sharp as you see in the video when I first got the lens. At f2.8 it was a bit blurry, had to step down to f5.6 to have a sharper image. Then I tried to figure out how the Lomo system works and adjusted the glass alignment myself. I was surprised that it became so much sharper after that, even at f2.8. The sharpness from this Lomo is just stunning compared to my Sankor 16C and Sun Anamorphic. I think my adjustment got the sharpness back, but somehow I feel it lacks the "vintage look" or lacks the optical aberration that I expected to have from an anamorphic lens. I need to do more tests on these characteristics with this lens. As it's already sharp at f2.8, I didn't notice any obvious improvement from using the Hoya diopters. So it feels that the diopters just shortened the focal distance and DOF. It does indeed. I watched your test videos before I got mine. The overall condition of this lens is quite good. Glass is clean with minor dust and micro scratches. The focus ring is a little stiff, but I decided to use it as is and not to send out for services for now. Thank you. I used two of the cheap 3-light 5500K studio continuous lighting kit from the right and top. One Neewer CN-126 LED Video Light on a stand with a red gel from the left for her upper body and face. Color was graded in DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro.

Shot a short video with the Lomo Anamorphic 35mm Square Front on the GH3. It's true that the OCT18 version is difficult to work with, so I managed to make it work. The close-ups were shot with hand-held Hoya diopters. The simple rig that I used. ( )

  Thanks Gabor.       I use Hoya 77mm +1 +2 +4 and a 72mm Tokina +0.4. I got a 72mm front filter clamp from Red Stan and use a 72mm-77mm step-up ring to connect them. The combination from these diopters works pretty well for me.    This photo shows you the diopter setup I had with a Sankor 16C: http://instagram.com/p/WSCWlGBRO6/   Results (Sankor 16C on the GH2): https://vimeo.com/77214099 https://vimeo.com/60234710   I shoot 16:9. Then de-squeeze depending on the image. The Sun has various stretch factor, I assume, due to the lens breathing. I de-squeezed my footage 2x at first and then realized that using my own judgement for artistic reason makes more sense. To me it's a part of the freedom and fun to shoot with anamorphic. A de-squeezed 16:9 gives me more flexibility in composition as well when the final video is 2.35: 1 or 2.66:1.

For example, I use a 2X anamorphic with a 50mm lens on the GH3 (sensor crop factor 2X) (50mm x 2) / 2 = 50mm So I actually get a 50mm image with the GH3. Correct?

A project I recently shot with the Sun Anamorphic (80%) and Nikon lenses (20%).   https://vimeo.com/80152537

reminds me this music video:

Hello,   Does anyone have a used OCT-18 LOMO to micro 4/3 adapter from ciecio7 for sale?   Thanks,

  Thank you! The O-Ring does work nicely for this kind of work. I wish the adjustable height range of the O-ring and the camera base can be longer. In this picture http://instagram.com/p/ZjoF0TBREW/ the O-ring is set on it's lowest position but it's still touching the lens. The other thing I wish to be better is the camera plate. The camera would still twist no matter how tight I screw the plate. The two small metal stopper just isn't practical for flip-out lcd. Other than these I think it's a very good quality rig.       With the handle, the weight helps with stabilizing handheld shots a bit. Not entirely a disadvantage. I think the most difficult part is focusing and keeping the lens orientation correct. The focus ring is quite stiff on my lens. When I rotate the ring, it sometimes unscrewed the clamp or slipped within with clamp (I used the vid-atlantic lens clamp). The other thing is the lack of front filer mounting ability. It has a huge front diameter so a custom-made solution for filters is required. On the GH2 and GH3, 50mm is about the limit, anything wider than 50mm will give unusable vignette.

https://vimeo.com/76936274   Found this Rectimascop 48/2x II on eBay for a very small price and finally got some time to play with it on the GH3. I noticed that from the pictures I see online, most of the Rectimascop 48/2x lenses have a minimum focus distance mark at 6 meters. This "II" version I got has a 3 meter mark. Hopefully I'll get another chance to test more with the minimum focus.   As the lens makes the setup very front heavy, I used the Skier O-ring Rig's adjustable handle to get the right balance point on the 15mm rods.    More in my blog: http://goo.gl/Vei5i8      

https://vimeo.com/72163697   I've been learning DaVinci Resolve to add to my video workflow. This is the first project that I graded with it. The footage was shot with the GH2 (Driftwood Cluster_v7), Voigtlander Nokton 25mm f/0.95 and Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 Series E.   Program used: Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve   There are many ways to do this. I figured out this workflow by reading the manual PDF and some tutorial videos. It works for me so far.   1. edit using MTS (from the GH2) in Premiere Pro (sequence01)  2. lock the edit 3. transcode used clips with 5DtoRGB to MOV (ProRes422(HQ), ITU-R BT.709, Full Range) for Resolve to grade (I tried to export XML from PP with MTS in timeline, then Resolve kept asking about missing video files. Looks like Resolve doesn't recognize MTS) 4. bring the transcoded MOV to PP and replace the edited MTS in timeline (sequence02). 5. export XML from PP 6. in Resolve, add the transcoded MOV to Media Pool 7. import the XML, uncheck "automatically add clips to media pool" 8. grade (time consuming) 9. export graded clips to ProRes422(HQ) MOV with unique names 10. go back to PP, import the graded MOV and replace the clips in the previous timeline (sequence03) 11. Retouch skin in some clips with AE, using the graded MOV 12. create motion titles 13. in PP, add extra adjustment and add titles made in AE.  14. I actually go back and forth between PP, AE and Resolve a few times to adjust the skin tone for consistency. But the way I set up files let PP and AE relink the clips automatically, which is nice.  15. fine-tune music 16. export the final movie in PP   It's really time consuming, but it worked for me. Again, this is my first attempt to incorporate DaVinci Resolve to my workflow. If there are only a few clips, I can grade first and edit. But a shoot like this has like 50+ clips, I have to edit first to know which ones to grade, therefore a workflow like this.   I wanted to share my steps and to see if there's any suggestions to improve the process.   P.S. The famous stair-step gradient in GH2 is something I have no idea how to fix.   Thanks for reading.

Thanks for clarifying, Gabor. I've never used a step ring directly on my anamorphic lenses.

As I mentioned, I haven't experienced too much difficulty when trying to focus and get sharpness. When I shoot I just guesstimate. It's like, the subject is around 3 meters away, focus the Helios 44M while the Sun is attached, focus the Sun, adjust Helios 44M, adjust Sun, then BOOM, it's sharp. It's just like that every time.   I've never tried to full focus or change focal points when filming. It's just not practical to do so manually to both lenses when the camera is recording.   Sometimes I add very subtle unsharp mask when finishing a video, but it depends.   Not sure what you meant by using a 40.5mm step ring.   Here is a picture of my setup. Hope this helps.  

Thanks! Seems like every anamorphic lens has its own personality (one of the reasons that I love anamorphic). It didn't take me too much effort to get in focus comparing to my Sankor 16C. It's still not an easy job though, especially the crew is waiting and clock is ticking. 

I'd like to share a video I shot with SUN Anamorphic + Helios 44M with HOYA diopters for close-up.   https://vimeo.com/70412970

Andrew, cool footage. Did you use any steadicam?