Andy Zou Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Had a free day with a slider and the new SLR Magic Anamorphot 2X! I'm new to anamorphic so any soft focus issues are debatably my fault or the lenses!GH4 ana mode, Zeiss Distagon 35mm f/2 + Metabones MFT Speedbooster. Some vignetting, especially when diopters+ND were added Flarey stuff towards night-time at the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrooklynDan Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 The fact that it works with a 35mm on a speed booster is heartening. That means that it probably work on 35mm on a Super 35 sensor, and maybe even wider if cropping from 16:9. Getting a wide field of view was always a huge problem with anamorphic adapters.The flares and bokeh look great. With the single focus adapter added and the anamorphot locked off at infinity, it's gonna be even creamier and more stretched out. I can't wait to see the results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Zou Posted June 10, 2015 Author Share Posted June 10, 2015 The fact that it works with a 35mm on a speed booster is heartening. That means that it probably work on 35mm on a Super 35 sensor, and maybe even wider if cropping from 16:9. Getting a wide field of view was always a huge problem with anamorphic adapters.The flares and bokeh look great. With the single focus adapter added and the anamorphot locked off at infinity, it's gonna be even creamier and more stretched out. I can't wait to see the results.The caveat that I mentioned is the vignetting. At 35mm you can't add any diopters or filters without making the vignette noticeable; some of the shots in the video are cropped ~5-10% because I found it distracting! Slightly upsetting because I bought such a nice lens because I wanted *one* solid taking lens to use for now. I wish there was a Zeiss 40mm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McC Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 The caveat that I mentioned is the vignetting. At 35mm you can't add any diopters or filters without making the vignette noticeable; some of the shots in the video are cropped ~5-10% because I found it distracting! Slightly upsetting because I bought such a nice lens because I wanted *one* solid taking lens to use for now. I wish there was a Zeiss 40mm! But it doesn't vignette without the speedbooster, right? f/2 is pretty wide of an aperture for anamorphic to begin with... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonesx24 Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 The fact that it works with a 35mm on a speed booster is heartening. That means that it probably work on 35mm on a Super 35 sensor, and maybe even wider if cropping from 16:9. Getting a wide field of view was always a huge problem with anamorphic adapters.The flares and bokeh look great. With the single focus adapter added and the anamorphot locked off at infinity, it's gonna be even creamier and more stretched out. I can't wait to see the results.I don't understand why people want wide fields of view with anamorphic adapters, unless you're looking to bury a shot in flares. Just shoot spherical and crop, and use your anamorphic for your medium to long shots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrooklynDan Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 I don't understand why people want wide fields of view with anamorphic adapters, unless you're looking to bury a shot in flares. Just shoot spherical and crop, and use your anamorphic for your medium to long shots.Because, traditionally, making a movie requires several different focal lengths ranging from wide to long. Shooting without a wide angle option can be both creatively stifling, as well as impractical if you find yourself in a confined space.Secondly, at least to me, something magical happens when you put on a wide-angle anamorphic lens, particularly around the 35-40mm range. Look at Wes Anderson's use of the 40mm Panavision C-series. Or the wide-angle 'Scope work in the films of John Carpenter or Brian DePalma. It's a look that you can't replicate with a spherical lens. A wide-angle spherical lens has a completely different geometry. On a spherical lens, lines recede into the distance and the edges are stretched out. On an anamorphic lens, the foreground bulges forward and the background wraps around as if it's being projected on a globe. This shot from The Royal Tenenbaums is a great example. Even though it's a wide angle lens (40mm), and the subjects are arranged in depth from front to back, they appear stacked as if it's on a telephoto lens. It's like multiple portraiture. It's an effect that can only be had in anamorphic. Tim McC and nahua 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonesx24 Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Interesting effect. I guess that really can only really be appreciated with great shot blocking and framing. I was mostly referring to the countless demo videos I've seen shooting anamorphic outdoors 18mm at f/8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Zou Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 But it doesn't vignette without the speedbooster, right? f/2 is pretty wide of an aperture for anamorphic to begin with...Sure, it wouldn't vignette without the speedbooster. I only have the speedbooster for adapting EF lens to MFT, though. And if I was going to go with a non-speedboosted lens at that point I would just go with a native MFT lens because the smaller size enables the anamorphic to be closer to the aperture pupil of the lens, as well as smaller lenses. 35mm EF speedboosted is ~ 21 MFT. If I went with a MFT 25mm I'd probably be pretty golden.I don't understand why people want wide fields of view with anamorphic adapters, unless you're looking to bury a shot in flares. Just shoot spherical and crop, and use your anamorphic for your medium to long shots.The distortion can be kind of fun, yeah! Don't know if you liked the Sia video with Shia Lebeouf but I found the distortion on the edges at least lent it a more surreal/dreamy quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Zou Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 But it doesn't vignette without the speedbooster, right? f/2 is pretty wide of an aperture for anamorphic to begin with...yeah, pretty wide and clearly pretty soft most of the time but I just wanted to really see it out. Supposedly the right lens pairing can occasionally break expectations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I don't understand why people want wide fields of view with anamorphic adapters, unless you're looking to bury a shot in flares. Just shoot spherical and crop, and use your anamorphic for your medium to long shots.Why? As an amateur, landscape is the major shooting object. No wide angle, no blue sky, no 3D view...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richg101 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Why? As an amateur, landscape is the major shooting object. No wide angle, no blue sky, no 3D view......For landscape, low end anamorphics are the worst choice. Even the best wide anamorphics will never match a basic wide angle spherical lens. Gone are the days when anamorphic selection is to obtain greater resolution. shooting on 16:9 mode with a high end wide lens and cropping will result in an overall better image for when dof characteristics are unimportant. Anamorphic landscape shots where all is in focus gains no resolution or aesthetic advantage Barrel distortion is also an undesirable quality for landscape shots. Rudolf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richg101 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 This test shows some of the signature SLR Magic lens characteristics I have grown to dislike. 1. Reminiscent of the Century 16:9 adaptors: The Image quality in general looks degraded. The image lacks any tack sharpness on the in focus areas, even at f4. This couldnt be further away from what I'd expect from a frame size only slightly bigger than s16mm, acquiring 4k. I can live with a lack of sharpness if there is a lot of defocus blur - since the ratio would make the slightly soft infocus areas appear sharper. The unpleasant blue/orange fringing on contrasty transitions (even at f4) is really hitting hard on the look and also making the image feel like it's had some type of 1980's filter applied. I hate being harsh on people's investments, but it prompts me to suggest others shooting on gh4 4k mode to consider retrying the century 16:9 adaptors (Which are very cheap now), and since the sensor area from the gh4 is so small I'm almost certain the century will fulfil the needs of those investing 3 times the price on these new slr magic items.https://vimeo.com/47971206this was the century 16:9 with a 28mm lens on the old nex5n. considering how wide i was going and how behind the nex5n is comapred to the gh4, as well as a sensor almost twice the area, the results are pretty good. i imagine a super fast m4/3 voigtlander, the century and a gh4 would deliver awesome things. nahua 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nahua Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 I'm starting to agree with you Rich. SLR Magic just doesn't get the characteristics of anamorphic. But we are lucky now with so many choices for 1.5x and 2x anamorphics. If they had come out with their 2x maybe last year, it would be different. I'm planning to get rid of all my SLR Magic lenses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudolf Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Rich - as always - valuable and very good input! I agree and would like to add that sometimes people have wrong expactations or reasons for the use of anamorphics. If you would like to create an 'intimate" film or a horror film anamorphics are usually a bad choice.BTW you did very well with your Century! I had the Optex which is similar and that was disapoint at all - but I was very unsexperienced with digital camaras at that time... I am still Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudolf Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 I like the choice of music - adds a good atmosphere. As always music is a key. The blurry image corresponds with the soundscape. I would have cropped more of the vignetting image. Maybe the SLR Magic could be used with an autofocus lens? However I've never shot with autofocus but that could sometimes be helpful. I am just thinking of it as I own a Pana 35-100 and the autofocus is not that bad. Anyway I think you will have some fun with the SLR anamorphot. And that is the most important thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Zou Posted June 13, 2015 Author Share Posted June 13, 2015 This test shows some of the signature SLR Magic lens characteristics I have grown to dislike. 1. Reminiscent of the Century 16:9 adaptors: The Image quality in general looks degraded. The image lacks any tack sharpness on the in focus areas, even at f4. This couldnt be further away from what I'd expect from a frame size only slightly bigger than s16mm, acquiring 4k. I can live with a lack of sharpness if there is a lot of defocus blur - since the ratio would make the slightly soft infocus areas appear sharper. The unpleasant blue/orange fringing on contrasty transitions (even at f4) is really hitting hard on the look and also making the image feel like it's had some type of 1980's filter applied. I hate being harsh on people's investments, but it prompts me to suggest others shooting on gh4 4k mode to consider retrying the century 16:9 adaptors (Which are very cheap now), and since the sensor area from the gh4 is so small I'm almost certain the century will fulfil the needs of those investing 3 times the price on these new slr magic items.https://vimeo.com/47971206this was the century 16:9 with a 28mm lens on the old nex5n. considering how wide i was going and how behind the nex5n is comapred to the gh4, as well as a sensor almost twice the area, the results are pretty good. i imagine a super fast m4/3 voigtlander, the century and a gh4 would deliver awesome things.Hopefully it is my own focusing issues, or I may just need to shoot at 5.6 or higher. I also didn't do any post-sharpening, so the larger resolution may translate very poorly to 720. I also didn't shoot it with camera-sharpening off, and that may have had an effect especially on contrasty areas. I would have gone with the 16:9 adapters but I guess I had the resources and the stubbornness to chase the 2X dream. I actually had an Isco from vid-atlantic for a hot second, but I returned it because the focus/locking mechanism felt very gritty (they offered to exchange but I changed my mind). Also dealing with adapters front and back that relied on thumbscrews wasn't something I liked at all...the ergonomic perks of a screw on adapter with front filter threads and an alignment collar appealed to me.I think it'd be good if someone more versed than I did their best with the lens, because it really was an impromptu shoot where I had my camera and a slider ready for a shoot the next morning.I'm starting to agree with you Rich. SLR Magic just doesn't get the characteristics of anamorphic.Not sure what you mean here unless you're talking about more sentimental qualities that differentiate from brand to model to manufacturer such as amount of flare, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richg101 Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 I think it'd be good if someone more versed than I did their best with the lens, because it really was an impromptu shoot where I had my camera and a slider ready for a shoot the next morning. I don;t think it's error on your part. A a generalisation almost all of the footage I've seen from the 1.33x and now this new 2x shares the same optical 'look' to the contrast transitions.The contax zeiss lenses all have a blue/purple fringing wide open on extreme contraty transitions. but I can live with it because they are so damn fast and so damn cheap. by f2.8 its gone and you get that refined zeiss goodness. With the 1.33x and the new 2x slr magics I always see a visually unpleasant fringing of blue and orange - its like its being created by a forced achromatic or apochromatic correcting which is over corrected and pushing each colour further than it needs to go in order to align when it reaches the sensor. - it looks exactly what the century adaptors create when used with fast lenses on big sensors. If it were just one colour i dont think it would be as hard hitting to my eye. For example, LOMO squarefronts have this attribute, but the colours are not at completely opposite ends of the colour spectrum and thus it's less unpleasant and more a 'look' of the lomos. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jed I. Clampett Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 The only thing that makes me hesitate is How fiddly is the dual focus in practice? I use Nikkor manual primes and operate as a one man cinematographer. I am so taken with this idea of the slrmagic Anamorphic 2x, but if the camera has to be on a tripod and it takes 5 min to get focus, I want to know before I get out the plastic, so would love to find out how easy it is to use? Did you use the diopter? and your experience in use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nahua Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 @Jed worst dual focus ever. Don't waste your time with SLR Magic. Better to get a cheap Sankor or other 2x anamorphic. Or just get a Cinelux and Focus Module and you'll have a single focus solution. Perfect for run-and-gun one man operation. Rudolf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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