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PREFACE: I have been doing some testing with this lens for a while now, but lately I have been swamped with work. Also, there has been some sadness surrounding the girl who appears in the demo video (and several other anamorphic tests of mine), so anamorphic shooting has been on the back burner for a while now. But I'm seeing now that someone else has had the same idea, and is trying to make an unrealistic profit from it. And so I feel that I must post this write up, because this isn't a $1400 lens. The search for the perfect anamorphic lens is over (at least for me). Some months ago, I saw a post here from a member named frerichs. He claimed to have purchased a Bell & Howell 2x 16mm Anamorphic Projection lens (not the excellent Kowa model) for cheap and discovered that it was single focus, like the coveted Iscorama. I was skeptical, but since they can often be had for between $75 and $150 on eBay, I bought one to try out for myself. At first glance this lens does not look like a winner. It has neither the steam punk appeal of the Lomo square fronts, nor the timeless curves of the Iscorama. The impossibly long and narrow build of the lens suggests that this would never be viable match for anything but the longest taking lenses. And yet it works. The front element is a -7 diopter that focuses the other two elements in the housing as the head is turned, similar to the Iscorama. Unlike the Iscorama, the lens takes about five full rotations to go from infinity to close focus, which is limiting for practical use. But I have been working with a CNC machinist to resolve this, and I now have a prototype that allows me to do a full range rack focus in a one and a half turns: (Want to do this yourself? Ask a machinist to design a new front housing with a "multi-start thread" that will house the front diopter and screw directly onto the existing thread on the tube; this could also conceivably be done for Iscoramas to the same effect). We have also added a standard 58mm threading for easier filter mounting, and I've since installed a custom seamless ultra-wide delrin focus gear to add just a little torque for even easier focusing (not pictured). The Bell & Howell projection lenses that originally shipped with this lens were f/1.2 and f/1.4, so it is designed to be sharp at faster apertures -- and I find that it is. Perhaps not razor sharp, but as sharp as I'd ever want an anamorphic lens to be. And once you've removed the two limiting screws from the "head" of the lens, you can focus as close as two feet without diopters. Too much closer than that and the head will screw right off, but it's just as easy to screw right back on. Flaring is nice: The lens is not without its drawbacks. For one, it focuses to about 40 feet, not true infinity. That's not an issue for me, but it might be for some shooters. It's all-metal construction makes it a bit heavy which combined with its length will benefit from a lens support (which eliminates the shake that appears in my rack focus test). It vignettes when paired with wider lenses, so it is a better fit for smaller sensor cameras or Canon DSLRs with Magic Lantern raw crop mode enabled. For instance, I can shoot 1600x1200 with a Pentax Takumar 105mm f2.8 lens on my 5D Mark III and I don't see any vignetting before f/8. I also tested it with a Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AI-S on my GH2, and it was vignette-free so long as I cropped my 2x image down to 1.5x. So how does the footage look? Here's something that I shot with it: I am excited to add a sharp, easily rack-focusable, short minimum-focusing anamorphic to my arsenal. It won't be the right lens for every anamorphic user, especially those who want to be able to shoot as wide as possible, but for the price, it could make single-focus anamorphics more accessible to those who have not had a chance to work with them yet. Happy shooting!

Hi, An excavation into the attic unearthed an old TOSHIBA COLOR VIDEO CAMERA ik-1900 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Owners-Manual-Toshiba-IK-1900-Color-Video-Camera-/230389930914) It has a Nikon TV-nikkor zoom macro 12.5-100mm 1:1.6 lens which i have unscrewed out of the camera and wish to use it on my Panny GH2 but have no clue what mount to use to do the same. I tried asking all the DP's and techies i know but they have no clue on the lens. Even google hasnt been able to help at all. Can someone who knows their lenses well share any info on this and recommend me a mount for this lens for my GH2? Links to the right mount or names will be much appreciated.  

Hi there,   I am currently working on a research project for my final year in university where I study film production.   The paper is called "The Evolution of the Cinema Camera" and will discuss the technological advancements within the cameras through the decades. In particular though it will focus on the move from 35mm film to digital.   For the project I have been talking to various D.O.P's and also camera companies such a Panavision, Arri and RED, and getting their opinions on the change from 35mm to digital.    However, with digital now the primary choice for shooting a film, companies such as Canon began creating DSLR's with video shooting capability and with that came a new type of film making. It is this type I wish to speak with you all about today.   I want to know your opinions on DSLR film making and how you think it stands up to industry standard digital cameras. Do you think the market is being flooded by films shot on a DSLR that have no real quality to them or do you think DSLR film making has opened the doors to people being able to do what they want and create their film?   Why do you think people went from film to digital? Was it because it is cheaper and faster to work with or something else?   If you had the choice to work with either format which would you pick? Film or digital?   What do you think is next for the film making world? Digital cameras are now shooting extreme resolutions such as the RED Epic being able to shoot in 5K and 3D is beginning to show the world it is not just a fad as more and more films are now being shot in it and not just post-converted. What do you think the next big 'thing' will be?   I also created a poll which you are welcome to do if you wish? It simply asks the question, "Which do you prefer? Film or digital?" and then gives you the option to pick which. The link for this is below:   http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=515b2863e4b0ecbcda3739ce   Feel free to comment and share this post, the more opinions I gather the better. Also if you have experience in working in both film and digital and would like to be part of the project itself then please get in touch and I will arrange an interview with you.   Thanks guys!   Dan.  

Came across this Sankor 16C on Ebay. Looks excellent! But you need to be fast! :o [url="http://www.ebay.nl/itm/140793931643?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_500wt_1413"]http://www.ebay.nl/i...9#ht_500wt_1413[/url]