Best way to focus

[John Carty]

What is the best method to use when shooting with a anamorphic lens. I have a Isco Ultra Star lens and I am using a Nikon 50mm prime. I have heard to set the taking lens to infinity and use the scope to do all the focusing. I  am shooting on 16mm with a bolex H16. would this be the best way? or could I use both lens for the focusing?

 

Thanks

[Tito Ferradans]

 

[heart0less]

32 minutes ago, John Carty said:

or could I use both lens for the focusing?

Not only you can, but actually you have to, unless you place a variable diopter aka single focus solution in front of your setup.

33 minutes ago, John Carty said:

I have heard to set the taking lens to infinity and use the scope to do all the focusing

Will not work.

World would be a much more beautiful place (and I wouldn't have wasted so much money on a single focus), if it did.

[leslie]

On 9/18/2019 at 2:25 AM, heart0less said:

Not only you can, but actually you have to, unless you place a variable diopter aka single focus solution in front of your setup.

Will not work.

World would be a much more beautiful place (and I wouldn't have wasted so much money on a single focus), if it did.

wasted sounds a bit severe, considering there is not that many other options and none of them are cheap. Perhaps you should look at like joining an elite club, only certain members get in and the riff raff stays outside ?

[Grimor]

I remember a master trick I learned from a YT channel (I think it was Erik Ivar Persson) for perfect dual focus on the fly:

If we want to focus on a subject, say 3 meters away, we will put the lens taking lens completely wrong, in this case to infinity in order to get a pronounced bokeh on the subject. I remember lighting a bright object at that point of the subject (keys with a flashlight) and getting the bokeh at the desired focus distance. At that time I played with the anamorphic focus and that bokeh changed from vertical to horizontal, passing through a small intermediate point that was round. That is the desired focus point of the anamorphic block. Once in it, we corrected the taking as if it were single focus. It is an easy and fast method that helped me a lot.

Dou you remember this anamorphic short? What's happened with his channel? 

[leslie]

That's an interesting idea I'm going to have to try it and see if it can makes things any easier. pretty sure I have seen the short too

[Grimor]

21 hours ago, leslie said:

That's an interesting idea I'm going to have to try it and see if it can makes things any easier. pretty sure I have seen the short too

It's hard for me to explain it in English, but that trick changed my workflow, going from having 80% takes out of focus to having almost 90% perfect focus. Remember that the key is to look for the perfect circle with the anamorphic block and then it's just a single focus with the taking lens. The bright object must be in the desired focus plane.

[TurboRat]

On 9/24/2019 at 4:59 AM, Grimor said:

I remember a master trick I learned from a YT channel (I think it was Erik Ivar Persson) for perfect dual focus on the fly:

If we want to focus on a subject, say 3 meters away, we will put the lens taking lens completely wrong, in this case to infinity in order to get a pronounced bokeh on the subject. I remember lighting a bright object at that point of the subject (keys with a flashlight) and getting the bokeh at the desired focus distance. At that time I played with the anamorphic focus and that bokeh changed from vertical to horizontal, passing through a small intermediate point that was round. That is the desired focus point of the anamorphic block. Once in it, we corrected the taking as if it were single focus. It is an easy and fast method that helped me a lot.

Dou you remember this anamorphic short? What's happened with his channel? 

So is this correct?:

1. Get the bokeh to perfectly round by rotating anamorphic lens

2. Focus the taking lens

For me, it's also rotating the anamorphic lens to something that doesnt look too distorted then fiddling with the taking lens. What I also realized is that your taking lens' sharpness will dictate how sharp or how focused your shots will be. I have a Helios and thought that the Sankor 16c can't focus. But I tried a Takumar and I got nicer, sharper shots

[Grimor]

2 hours ago, TurboRat said:

So is this correct?:

1. Get the bokeh to perfectly round by rotating anamorphic lens

2. Focus the taking lens

For me, it's also rotating the anamorphic lens to something that doesnt look too distorted then fiddling with the taking lens. What I also realized is that your taking lens' sharpness will dictate how sharp or how focused your shots will be. I have a Helios and thought that the Sankor 16c can't focus. But I tried a Takumar and I got nicer, sharper shots

1. Set taking lens out of focus where your subject is and wide open to get nice bokeh. 

2. Make a shiny spot on your subject focus plane so you see the bokeh on the subject. 

3. Turn scope both sides and see how the shape of bokeh change. You need a middle point where bokeh is perfectly round. 

7. Now focus your taking lens as usual. 

8. Remove the shiny spot if you don't want it on the shoot