Introducing the SLR Magic anamorphic lens - hands on with new V3 prototype

[Jon de Zwaan]

that is very good news.

what is the filter size on the back?

I think the backside of the adapter is 77mm, so it fits 77mm or smaller sized front threads of lenses. But that's just  how I read it; "V3 has a slightly larger form factor to accommodate for 77mm front filter threads."

[nahua]

I want to buy this NOW!  :-)  Can't wait to see the footage!

[CameraRick]

I think I would rather go with that:

http://www.newsshooter.com/2013/09/10/letus35-launch-high-quality-anamorphic-lens-adapter/

but lets wait and see... 

With the much bigger formfactor, an especially horrible edges? Meh...

[grisnjam]

I think the backside of the adapter is 77mm, so it fits 77mm or smaller sized front threads of lenses. But that's just  how I read it; "V3 has a slightly larger form factor to accommodate for 77mm front filter threads."

 

Actually the quesiton was explictlly about the front of the Anamonphic adapter:

 

 

Also, I can't see from the images at EOSHD, will it have a front thread and if so what's the diameter?

 

Answer:

 

 

@stip the V2 anamorphic adapter that @ed_lee83 tested had a smaller form factor but has a "cap" kind of hood with no filter threads. V3 has a slightly larger form factor to accommodate for 77mm front filter threads.

 

Seems pretty clear.

[KarimNassar]

Seems pretty clear.

 

yes 77mm is for the front for sure.

Really looking forward to Andrews footage

[Sean Cunningham]

that is very good news.

what is the filter size on the back?

 

Andrew states it has a 50mm rear element, comparing it to the Iscorama 54.  In the picture where he's holding it with the Panasonic 20mm pancake lens attached you can clearly see a 46mm->52mm step-up ring.  So the rear threads are 52mm, which makes this essentially the same size as a Century Optics adapter.

[Erin Nuski]

It

that is very good news.
what is the filter size on the back?

It said in the article the rear glass element is 50mm and the filter on the 35mm is 52mm so most likely 52.

[tony wilson]

Andrew states it has a 50mm rear element, comparing it to the Iscorama 54. In the picture where he's holding it with the Panasonic 20mm pancake lens attached you can clearly see a 46mm->52mm step-up ring. So the rear threads are 52mm, which makes this essentially the same size as a Century Optics adapter.

they purchased everything on the market including iscorma and they went with the century optex this makes sense as the glass for the century optex was china.
2 single element system is much cheaper and less complex than spaced doublet with expensive complex focus assemblies.
the glass orientation of the x y was the main issue this then is an optex with more accurate alignment with small close focus adjustment built in.
my guess is the only improvement will be quality of the metal housing structure and different spacing of the plano concave and convex and maybe more factory accuracy of the cutting of the glass.

[Sean Cunningham]

I would blame fear of patent lawsuits more than anything.  There is no good reason at all to introduce a new dual-focusing product since the hipsters won't like it if it's both a pain-in-the-ass and new.  So what then is there left?

 

The LA7200 and Century Optics/Optex are the only variations on a theme that make a lick of sense.

[tony wilson]

lazy it is what china does..

100s of variables why bother when you can copy.

i may be wrong we will have to wait for the pat pending logo.

if slr magic sell that for that price..and the lexus sorry letus sells the panasonic copy  i might have to jump start my dead projects..

[Mariewills00]

I've heard 1200-1500

its 1500

[jgharding]

I'd like a 1.5x one...

[Sean Cunningham]

lazy it is what china does..

100s of variables why bother when you can copy.

i may be wrong we will have to wait for the pat pending logo.

if slr magic sell that for that price..and the lexus sorry letus sells the panasonic copy  i might have to jump start my dead projects..

 

100s of variables the Germans weren't up for, or the Brits or French or any Americans or even the Japanese, apparently.  You have a couple LOMOs and a couple of Iscoramas, for focusable or focus-through options,  and in thirty or more years the only answer to these that anyone has brought forth are the DV era 1.33X adapters.  

 

Dig a hole and bury all those projection lenses and dual-focus cop-outs created by companies that were likewise too afraid or unable to make something truly useful.

[tony wilson]

100s of variable as in optical design variables.

posh anamorphics did not sell well in the  8 and 16mm years mainly lunatics a few could afford iscorama most happy with sankor projection lens.mnost of the use was for projecting movies not shooting then projecting zero market.

nothing to do with being affraid.

2 extremes hollywood big boys and home movie projection nutters the home movie guys just did not shoot a lot of scope.

and as i am sure you know the optex century was a quick product to fill a gap for companies like the bbc who had 100s of cameras with 4.3 sensors.

[Sean Cunningham]

Yes, I'm aware, and it's quite amazing that these 16:9 adapters from the DV era, where most cameras couldn't even muster 500 lines of resolution, are useful at all with HD cameras.  My point is, no other companies have introduced products that approach the usability of the couple of LOMO or couple of Iscorama models.  

 

You say no market but 16mm and Super-16mm shooting has been going on this whole time, and is still happening, and not even here do you find options for focusable or focus-thru like these prized LOMOs and Iscoramas.  Not adapters.  Just that dual-focus stuff which, however lovely the optics are, are useless to me and others who are not okay with shooting on sticks mostly or with a rigidly fixed relationship between camera and subject.  I'd sooner shoot spherical with a Vid Atlantic slap-on bokeh and streak filter.  Because 99% of the audience won't know the difference and I won't be tempted to smash the camera and lens into a million pieces.

 

So I don't think it's fair to just shit on something new, that's already showing a marked improvement in most respects over those DV era adapters.  I've already made peace with knowing I'll likely never own a set of LOMOs or an Iscorama 54.  The rest don't interest me at all because I'm not going to be limited to telephoto or fixed focus (that I have to do twice).  So there's these or rent the stuff priced like a car.

 

If you've got a shelved project better than this one, do it.  I double dog dare you ;)

[tony wilson]

only china can compete with china i am not in china.
i cannot compete with vid atlantic and his china crap clamps never mind getting into optics.
never have been that hungry for the cut and thrust of cockmanship

the image quality looks good
and so it should they are a lens company after all.
simply stated they are lazy that's all.
fella whoever you are, i never shit on this product i pointed and guessed on what they have done.
not difficult when you look at the design.

i do have a test lens if your ever in london i can show you pretty sharp at f1.4 as well. but as i said never been one for sports or the cut and thrust of competition i leave that to the jocks and the capitalists.

[Rob Bannister]

Tony Id love to hear more about your dead projects or this test lens you have.

 

I dont travel that way often but Im sure its a beauty man, people need to understand that you are not going to get an anamorphic lens with a great build and excellent characteristics for the price of a sigma lens. You should be expecting on the cheap end around $3000-$5000 maybe even more. I mean cine lenses alone cost more then this and these guys are heading for $1500 is great for some but also you cant expect a lomo or hawk replica for this price.

[Sean Cunningham]

You can already buy a few LOMO or one of the more desirable Iscrorama 36 or 54 models for something like $3-5K, if you find someone willing to sell.  I'm guessing the rate of people willing to pony up that kind of cash looking for the classic stuff might have a similar rate of goods for money changing hands as someone buying a new product of similar price, quality and design from a cottage manufacturer.  If one existed.  That makes it a wash, IMO, until someone actually makes one of these mythological devices and offers it for sale to the throngs of 2X customers that are reported to exist and that aren't being served.

 

Also, Cine lenses are also complete lenses, not adapters.  Their pricing isn't relevant.  But quick math shows that if SLR Magic were to combine this adapter with one of their existing cine primes, bingo, you're at around $3-5K.

 

Regardless, the purchase price of high end products is based on what the market will pay and how few are likely to pay it.  High end items tend to have incredibly bloated mark-up built into their price versus consumer goods.  Their prices are not based on being proportionally more difficult or costly to make.  Goods and services aren't priced according to rational, proportionall, all-things-being-equal measurements.  I learned that very quickly working for Sony.

 

We know exactly what new cinema anamorphics cost customers.  They start at around 30,000 Euros each for wide(ish) and normal primes.  See the Zeiss website.  

 

Don't conflate that issue with new adapters designed to be (hopefully) compatible with a variety of lens manufacturers at a variety of focal lengths which automatically assumes all sorts of caveats and design restrictions for folks not in the market for integrated cine solutions or who want something they don't have to rent to get ahold of.  

 

Of course, a lot of these folks may also be some of the voices who somehow thought $400-500 was too much for an adapter that magically turned their MFT camera into an effectively larger than Super-35mm sensor with optics designed by rocket scientists.  And with that in mind maybe the smartest thing for SLR Magic and anyone else to do is to ignore this market completely because it's a no win.

[Lucian]

Not sure what, or with whom you are trying to argue at this point. We get it, your'e very interested in this 1.3x adapter, some of us are not and we are entitled to our opinion. 

 

There is no need to desperately defend some product you've never used, it's okay for people to differ in their preferences. Enjoy the product when it comes out!

[Rob Bannister]

yeah I already have the Iscorama from 1968 and its beautiful and I am looking at lomo roundfronts to own but of course money is always the issue. Look is much more important to me then anything else.