Lenses

[PannySVHS]

Great idea. @heart0less Would love to see a tracking shot or dolly pushin like shot with it. Deep staging as well. Now I´m getting greedy:) Loved the shots from this thread in the anamorphic forum. Aweseome stuff:

 

Btw, I would not have guessed that the test you posted above was with an Alexa Mini, but with a Fuji. All these affordable cameras put out an incredible image these days.

[heart0less]

17 minutes ago, PannySVHS said:

Loved the shots from this thread in the anamorphic forum. Aweseome stuff:

 

Btw, I would not have guessed that the test you posted above was with an Alexa Mini, but with a Fuji. All these affordable cameras put out an incredible image these days.

Hahahaha, you really seem to be all over it. XD

Though I have to admit, I'm in love with those stills, too.
Simply wonderful.

 

19 minutes ago, PannySVHS said:

Great idea. @heart0less Would love to see a tracking shot or dolly pushin like shot with it. Deep staging as well.

A dolly?
Come on, man - how will I find one in the middle of nowhere? I'll be lucky enough if my sister decides to help me.
And as much as I love and trust her, no 'tracking tripod shots' made with her clumsy hands for me.

[Geoff CB]

Tamron 45mm with Formatt Supermist Black 1/8 Filter on Sony F3. 

[Amro Othman]

On 6/5/2020 at 6:00 PM, heart0less said:

Dear lens enthusiasts,

I plan on doing a showoff of my adapted projection lenses with a little comparison to 'normal' consumer glass.
Initial plan was to put the camera on a tripod, put a tiny something around 70 cm in front of it, then have a human subject (most likely me) sit around ~ 2m in front of the camera and, finally, some deep background with just a bit bokeh in it.
Rack focus between those three.

Time and place of shoot: golden hour, somewhere outside, non-controlled environment.

No color charts (I don't have any), no corner-to-corner sharpness tests.

Maybe I'll manage to put an anamorphic adapter in there, too.

A visualization of what I have in mind (apart from the color chart):
Examples taken from this test.

Thoughts?

 

Wow! So much depth. I can feel the spaces in between the objects

 

[kye]

On 6/5/2020 at 10:00 PM, heart0less said:

Dear lens enthusiasts,

I plan on doing a showoff of my adapted projection lenses with a little comparison to 'normal' consumer glass.
Initial plan was to put the camera on a tripod, put a tiny something around 70 cm in front of it, then have a human subject (most likely me) sit around ~ 2m in front of the camera and, finally, some deep background with just a bit bokeh in it.
Rack focus between those three.

Time and place of shoot: golden hour, somewhere outside, non-controlled environment.

No color charts (I don't have any), no corner-to-corner sharpness tests.

Maybe I'll manage to put an anamorphic adapter in there, too.

A visualization of what I have in mind (apart from the color chart):
Examples taken from this test.

Thoughts?

Cool idea.

If you can put some xmas lights in the background it will help show the qualities of the bokeh, in terms of shape and also if they have soft/harsh edges or if they have the 'bubble bokeh' that many love but I find very distracting.  If it's too bright for xmas lights then maybe a couple of laps with naked bulbs might do the trick?

Getting a good way to nail focus when you are in the shot is a challenge - I suggest something like a stand with a target on it that you can swap in to focus and out again when you're shooting.

In the absence of a colour chart, getting a range of colours in there would be useful - if you have some ornamentation or some bright clothes or even just buy a packet of balloons and blow up one of each.  Anything so that colour shifts and saturation can be seen.

[Amro Othman]

On 6/6/2020 at 12:07 AM, Geoff CB said:

Tamron 45mm with Formatt Supermist Black 1/8 Filter on Sony F3. 

 

 

Looks very nice. Love the rendering

[heart0less]

5 hours ago, Amro Othman said:

Wow! So much depth. I can feel the spaces in between the objects

Yeah, those Atlas lenses look very solid.
One of my favorite anamorphics, to be honest.
 

5 hours ago, kye said:

If you can put some xmas lights in the background it will help show the qualities of the bokeh

It's a great idea, but I'm afraid Christmas lights would be way too dim outside during a sunny day.
Instead, I could try attaching some tiny marbles of aluminum foil to a string and use this as a 'bokeh prop'.
 

5 hours ago, kye said:

Getting a good way to nail focus when you are in the shot is a challenge - I suggest something like a stand with a target on it that you can swap in to focus and out again when you're shooting.

I'll try my best to convince someone to act as a model. It'd save me tons of unneeded frustrations.
 

5 hours ago, kye said:

or even just buy a packet of balloons and blow up one of each

kye, that's actually a brilliant thing to do!
Not only would it liven up the background a little, but also add some color patches.

Thanks!

[kye]

@heart0less

I guess the other piece of advice is to either do it mid-morning or mid-afternoon on either a day with no clouds or a day with flat/consistent cloud cover.  That way variations in the light direction and intensity are likely to be minimised.  

Of course, having a model and being prepared with everything setup before-hand will probably also contribute heavily to having consistent lighting conditions from beginning to end.

[leslie]

  On 6/6/2020 at 12:00 AM, heart0less said:

Dear lens enthusiasts,

I plan on doing a showoff of my adapted projection lenses with a little comparison to 'normal' consumer glass.
Initial plan was to put the camera on a tripod, put a tiny something around 70 cm in front of it, then have a human subject (most likely me) sit around ~ 2m in front of the camera and, finally, some deep background with just a bit bokeh in it.
Rack focus between those three.

Time and place of shoot: golden hour, somewhere outside, non-controlled environment.

No color charts (I don't have any), no corner-to-corner sharpness tests.

Maybe I'll manage to put an anamorphic adapter in there, too.

A visualization of what I have in mind (apart from the color chart):
Examples taken from this test.

 

i'm thinking out aloud, if a few people could do something similar with their lenses, that would be quite a treasure trove of information.

[heart0less]

@leslie, that's a good idea for a challenge of sorts. 

( :

[leslie]

no challenge, just winners all around.  But if you want to be creative and mix it up abit, knock yourself out

[Geoff CB]

Couple more with the Nikon 24-70 2.8G and Sony F3 Combo

[JordanWright]

I'm starting to build my my Contax Zeiss MM set.

I started with the 35mm F2.8 and have since added the 28mm F2.8. They actually match very closely despite being quite far apart in serial numbers 35mm (79xxxx) 28mm (69xxxx). To my eye, there's no difference in sharpness. The 28mm was slightly brighter at 2.8. I had to adjust exposure offset wheel -0.2 in resolve, a very minor change. This might be because the lens is older and has a bit more dust in the optics bringing the lift up a bit? They handle colour very similar, I didn't need to make any adjustments to temp or tint. They would be very easy to cut together. When I matched the frame size they were almost indistinguishable in an AB test. 

I was planning on getting lenses with similar serial numbers but I found the 28mm at crazy good price. I'm not so bothered about that anymore after seeing how closely they match. I will say the 28mm's aperture ring isn't quite as satisfying as the 35mm. The focus rings are both very smooth and similar though.

I temporarily had the 50mm F1.4 MM (82xxxx) but had to send it back because it had significant separation and fog in the lens. It really messed up the lens when there was a light pointing down it. Even though the copy had severe optical issues, it was razer sharp at F2.8 and very good at 1.4. I didn't measure it in depth against the 35mm but the colour and contrast seemed to match very closely at 2.8. I will be looking for another copy. 

When I can build enough funds, i'll also be adding the 85mm F2.8 to the kit. The 25mm F2.8 also looks to be a very interesting lens but i'm not sure I can justify something so close to the 28mm

I've already got Tilta seamless Focus rings (£2 each!) and front and rear caps for 4 lenses. 3 Leitax EFmounts have been shipped and are on their way here now. Im not bothering with step up rings, im going to take advantage of cheap 55mm filters.

If you can get a good deal or two a set of these can be quite cheap to put together. The 28 & 35 have cost about £250 each (including Leitax adapters) and I predict the 50mm and 85mm to cost about £300-330 each to fully kit out.

Fingers crossed I don't mess up this mount conversion when they arrive. 

 

[Tim Sewell]

On 5/22/2020 at 10:38 PM, JordanWright said:

Just ordered 2 Leitax Adapters (spare one for the 85mm 2.8 that i'll inevitably buy) & The screwdriver Leitax recommend. Ive been told by Leitax it could be up to 10 days until dispatch & up to 2 weeks postage time... fingers crossed its a bit quicker than that! Hopefully I don't strip the screws. Would be very interested if anyone has any experience changing the mounts themselves, Simmod lenses recommend heating up the screws with a soldering iron before unscrewing to melt the glue... time to source one of those I guess haha!

This may help - in the second half of the video he demonstrates changing the mount (and de-clicking): youtube.com/watch?v=EUjUxKvXgpw

 

[JordanWright]

2 hours ago, Tim Sewell said:

This may help - in the second half of the video he demonstrates changing the mount (and de-clicking): youtube.com/watch?v=EUjUxKvXgpw

 

Thank You, I've got a live stream saved from Duclos doing the same conversion, it looks simple enough but there's plenty of opportunity for mistakes.

[HockeyFan12]

Vintage

 

 

[kye]

39 minutes ago, HockeyFan12 said:

Vintage

What the hell happened to this lens??  Is there fog inside, or is this a strange early optical design?

It reminds me of the 37mm lens modification in this video:

IIRC that modification was where one of the lens elements was reversed, I think he showed the process in another video.

[heart0less]

13 hours ago, HockeyFan12 said:

Vintage

It made me smile, thank you!

Great sound design - did you play the notes yourself?

[HockeyFan12]

9 hours ago, heart0less said:

It made me smile, thank you!

Great sound design - did you play the notes yourself?

Thanks, I wish I had. Just random clips from free sound. The arpeggio reminded me of Twin Peaks and the buzz of Larry Jordan's Our Lady of the Sphere.

22 hours ago, kye said:

What the hell happened to this lens??  Is there fog inside, or is this a strange early optical design?

It reminds me of the 37mm lens modification in this video:

IIRC that modification was where one of the lens elements was reversed, I think he showed the process in another video.

I was just messing around with stuff I had ordered from KEH.

[HockeyFan12]

Iscorama, early Rollei Zeiss 50mm f1.8.

Very good combination. If you like a vintage look, German Rollei Zeiss are the most underrated FF lenses on the market.

Same coatings as pre-T* standard speeds, slightly improved designs. Very sharp with slightly old school painterly bokeh: