SLR Magic Rangefinder footage - kiss goodbye to focus breathing / Kowa anamorphic goes single focus

[Andrew Reid]

I have been out shooting with the SLR Magic Rangefinder.

Key features:

• It completely takes over focus from any prime lens
• Solves lens breathing (reduces to such low level it isn't noticeable)
• Adds cinema standard 240 degrees focus ring with FF gearing and hard stops
• Reduces minimum focus distance of all anamorphic lenses to 1m (even long-throw projector lenses)

For those who shoot anamorphic especially this will be music to your ears. These shooters will also be familiar with diopters, which are used to correct aberrations and achieve very close focus. Effectively the SLR Magic Rangefinder is a variable diopter and thus a rather brilliant concept as it is capable of taking over focus from the taking lens entirely.

Read the full article

[Hans Punk]

Nice one!

Totally agree about stopping down Anamorphic to get anything properly sharp with a manageable DOF.

Because it is effectively a variable diopter, the defocus effects are going to be plenty when stopped down to f4 - f5.6. It's fun to open up wide to get the dreamy look, but when you actually need to shoot anything remotely narrative in nature and follow and actor or action, that razor thin focus plain quickly becomes ridiculous.

I think all the footage I've seen so far is from GH4...pretty please could someone post full frame footage, preferably 4:3 1600x1200 5D3 ML Raw? 

Just would like to see what may be lurking on the extreme edges, and if all major artifacts are indeed cleared up at f4 - f5.6.

 

Nice to see a logical & versatile design that can also be easily used for spherical lenses. That makes it well worth the money from what I can see so far.

[Julian]

Great review Andrew. I want one!

@Andrew - SLR Magic: Will it be available somewhere in Europe for the promotional price?

[Xavier Plagaro Mussard]

The great news is that someone (SLR Magic) thought about doing something NEW in the optics world!!! Great review, we all want one now!!! ;-D

[dafreaking]

Wouldn't this work on parfocal zooms as well as zooms with hard stops at infinity?

[Markus Houy]

A variable diopter is a very old lens design.  Modern lenses are designed differently and do not need such an optical design due to cost and avoidance of additional glass elements.  This is a logical and correct solution to the dual focus nature of the simple anamorphic system.  I want two.

The rangefinder does flare easily.  This requires a box.  With the focus gear up front how would focusing be accomplished mechanically ?  I suspect a follow focus device is required.  Andrew, have you tried it with a matte box ?  What issues do you see ?

[sudopera]

Andrew, from what I seen in your video, that combo with Kowa really removes that digital/video edge of the GH4 and it seems to me that the highlights rolloff looks a little bit smoother. It really looks like a winner combo.

The only thing I'm not sure of is how it would work with mattebox, because focus ring is right at the front of the whole setup.

[zerocool22]

The kowa 8z does not work on a nokton 42,5 0.95 without vignetting right? Or does it? What cheap good performer anamorphot could I use with that lens?

 

Thanks!

[Musty]

The only thing I'm not sure of is how it would work with mattebox, because focus ring is right at the front of the whole setup.

That is my concern too. I'd love the try the Rangefinder on my Samyang primes, but I shoot with a mattebox when the internal ND's on my FS7 are not strong enough. The Rangefinder's focus gear will be unusable with a mattebox, however I think if you screw on an 82mm plastic lens hood to the Rangefinder like the one below, it'll give you plenty clearance to use a follow focus and mattebox. The only issue will be using wide lenses as you willl probably get vignetting.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Phot-R-82mm-PRO-Screw-On-Mount-Tele-Telephoto-Metal-Lens-Hood-Canon-Nikon-Sony-/271812381956?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f4947cd04

[sudopera]

That is my concern too. I'd love the try the Rangefinder on my Samyang primes, but I shoot with a mattebox when the internal ND's on my FS7 are not strong enough. The Rangefinder's focus gear will be unusable with a mattebox, however I think if you screw on an 82mm plastic lens hood to the Rangefinder like the one below, it'll give you plenty clearance to use a follow focus and mattebox. The only issue will be using wide lenses as you willl probably get vignetting.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Phot-R-82mm-PRO-Screw-On-Mount-Tele-Telephoto-Metal-Lens-Hood-Canon-Nikon-Sony-/271812381956?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f4947cd04

That were exactly my thoughts .

I think mattebox is important for this setup if you want to control flare, not that I don't like the flare in Andrew's video, it's quite positively strange and interesting.

[Fritz Pierre]

This one would get you away from the matte box and solve the problem of vignetting...

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Screw-in-Mount-82mm-Metal-Wide-Angle-Lens-Hood-for-Canon-Nikon-Pentax-Sony-82-mm-/330722764703?hash=item4d009ce79f

 

Very impressive piece of kit...the 240 degree focus throw is definitely an exciting addition to still lenses!!

[tosvus]

Would it work with this setup? I like the picture from it, but so far found it too cumbersome to use much:

• Moller 32/2x Anamorphic lens
• Redstan Clamp 
• Russian lens helios 44

Thanks!

[Miraud]

watching your films are like experiencing déjà vu over and over and over again. Seriously man?

appropriate title could be "stock footage Berlin vol. 23"

[PannySVHS]

watching your films are like experiencing déjà vu over and over and over again. Seriously man?

appropriate title could be "stock footage Berlin vol. 23"

Oh, wow! When I saw this piece I felt like it was such a unique way of showing Berlin- such a positive outlook on beautiful places showing opportunities of doing things

and enjoying them. You know(at Miraud), Berlin can be such an exhausting place, full of people seeking their once in a lifetime opportunity of getting their

piece of the boheme lifestyle piece of cake. I think Andrew´s video shows a very down to earth outlook onto the grounded beauty of things in Berlin. It´s a perspective

hard to keep one´s focus on with all the hype and hystery and sale out all over the place. Thanks for this encouraging poetic piece of truthfulness. A lowkey, beautiful

digital film revue of the beauty to hold on to in Berlin- the capital of the Capital (Das Kapital:), once the city of the people.

By the way, the GH4 looks more and more appetizing- heck I love my G6- GH4 would be even more 8bit filming heaven!:)

cheers.

[Zak Forsman]

I would avoid wide open apertures with the Rangefinder unless you want a "dreamy look" because it tends to add a touch of blooming. Get it down to an f/2.8 or more and it really shines!

[Arturo Chu]

it seem weird no one has tested it with a dslr magic anamorphot 1.3, would love to see how they work together!

back in cinegear Andrew from dslr magic said that they were developing an actual anamorphic lens, does anyone knows whats the status of this lens?

[BrooklynDan]

watching your films are like experiencing déjà vu over and over and over again. Seriously man?

appropriate title could be "stock footage Berlin vol. 23"

Monet (the most famous of the Impressionists whose distinctive style is often evoked when trying to describe the peculiar qualities of anamorphic lenses) painted his garden over 200 times. It was the chief occupation of the last thirty years of his life. And each painting is different, in ways both subtle and epic. The artist is the environment and the environment is the artist.

it seem weird no one has tested it with a dslr magic anamorphot 1.3, would love to see how they work together!

back in cinegear Andrew from dslr magic said that they were developing an actual anamorphic lens, does anyone knows whats the status of this lens?

It's supposedly coming next year. Gonna be the first in a set. Priced at well under $10,000 per lens. We're talking Lomo squarefront territory here. Apparently will cover full frame. The prototype looks like the rangefinder and the Anamorphot 2x welded into a single housing along with a simple prime lens. Really hope that they change the mechanics. A proper cinema lens needs to have a stationary front. Or at least one that has a lip for a mattebox, and not the focus gear all the way at the very front.

[HellVideoRazor]

That is looking good! And the price without witness marks seems very right!

+1 on the matte box, which will add to to the bulk and will make it hard using the gear. Maybe those blue blobs could be flagged out.

Amazing for run and gun when there is light! Will SLR do a smaller version for 58mm lenses in the future?

Others are usable down to a Speedboosted f1.2 on gh4. But those are not as light and small...

[Miraud]

I know Monet, this is not Monet. And I have lived in Berlin, and it's an okay city but you don't become an artist because you move there. It's full of angry poor young people complaining about newcomers stealing their jobs.

It's confusing me when you're putting pretentious prose and soft generic music in a test video for a lens and calling it filmmaking.

There's no balls here, just filming people without them knowing usually from a distance. 

(Insert ironic smiley here to deflate any hurt feelings)

[Andrew Reid]

Oh, wow! When I saw this piece I felt like it was such a unique way of showing Berlin- such a positive outlook on beautiful places showing opportunities of doing things

and enjoying them. You know(at Miraud), Berlin can be such an exhausting place, full of people seeking their once in a lifetime opportunity of getting their

piece of the boheme lifestyle piece of cake. I think Andrew´s video shows a very down to earth outlook onto the grounded beauty of things in Berlin. It´s a perspective

hard to keep one´s focus on with all the hype and hystery and sale out all over the place. Thanks for this encouraging poetic piece of truthfulness. A lowkey, beautiful

digital film revue of the beauty to hold on to in Berlin- the capital of the Capital (Das Kapital:), once the city of the people.

By the way, the GH4 looks more and more appetizing- heck I love my G6- GH4 would be even more 8bit filming heaven!:)

cheers.

Thank you sir!

Berlin is a tricky place to live in at times but it's worth it.

You think living here is exhausting, try living here and having two jobs, one running EOSHD and one being a filmmaker