Hypergonar HiFi2 on a 7D & BMPCC

[twocik]

Hello,

New to the anamorphic game, have some questions.  Few pics of the Hypergonar HiFi2 on a 7D (BMPCC next up).  So far the results have been very nice and love the flares, but we noticed this lens is a bit soft.  We've tried adding 1", 2", 3" of space between the camera lens and anamorphic lens hoping to find the "focal point"... didn't notice any difference. Moving on, Stopping down at F5.6 - F11 has increased the sharpness, but not by much.  I'm curious if anyone else has a quick fix or has played with the inner glass orientation ?  Any info. is good info. :)

 

 

[dhessel]

This adapter is a dual focus lens so they both have to be focused together to achieve a sharp image. If you are confident that you are focusing them properly and it is still not sharp chances are the front and rear anamorphic elements are slightly rotated out of alignment. This is fairly common with the age and shipping around of these lenses. The alignment is very sensitive even the slightest offset will result in a blurry image. 

 

You may need to have it serviced, I have been able to realign the optics in the past so you may be able to do yourself, but do so at your own risk. I am not familiar with this lens so I have no idea how difficult it would be, however most of these lenses are very simple in design.

[twocik]

Thank you for the reply ! You know I thought this could be the case, because I've been at it for 15 hours + trying to figure this out.  I have already taking the lens apart to re-grease & clean, in perfect shape now. With both lenses focused properly, on my focusing chart I can only get the N & S or the E & W lines in focus.  After reading a few post I see this is normal with anamorphic lenses due to the shape of the glass...  I'm using a spherical B&W focusing chart, any chance you know where I can find an anamorphic focusing chart ?

[Julian]

What distance are you trying to focus? You probably need diopters for close focus. How about sharpness at long distances?

[twocik]

I had it on a dolly pushing in/out to find the correct focal point, min was 7' or so.  Turns out the front element was slightly shifted and needed to be realigned.  This lens is rockin now !   Any idea how old this lens is ?   

 

I've looked into diopters and actually have a few laying around from the 35mm adapter days.  In the past I used century optics achromatic lenses, but I remember they weren't cheap.  I might try a few cheap macros off of amazon for testing, not unless you have any recommendations ?

[Tito Ferradans]

I'm getting rid of a bunch Series 9, if you want them! I actually bought them (and plenty of spares) to use with my Hi Fi 2, but ended up selling the lens. I have 72 and 77mm adapter rings for them and some +1, +2 and +3 diopters, tiffen branded. They're 83mm wide, enough to cover the front element of the lens. Send me a message if you're interested! :P

[twocik]

Tito I'm not sure if you owned a 35mm/16mm Hypergonar HiFi 2, but using a digital caliper I'm getting a read of 81mm maybe 82mm if I push it. Can anyone confirm the 16mm Hypergonar HiFi 2 has a 81mm or 82mm front thread ?  

 

 

I've been looking at a few CU's, but 72mm shows a lot vignetting..

 

 

 

 

Here's a quick screen grab from my last calibration tests using a BMPCC (couldn't upload full res, it's compressed)

 

 

[Tito Ferradans]

Oh, the 72mm and 77mm adapters weren't enough to cover the front. I used an 86mm one, which has already been sold. I glued a 95-86mm step ring in front, so I could use the filters properly :P

 

Some pictures of how it looked like:

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The glass itself on the Series 9 filters is 83mm wide. :)