For decades, anamorphic lenses have carried a mystique about them. There is a certain feeling of something special with anamorphic lenses and their inherent ability to compress an image vertically to make the most of your film, while still being able to produce a cinematic wide image, the unique bokeh they provide, and of course the lens-flarriffic imagery first put to heavy use by Steven Spielberg (and most recently adored by J.J. Abrams). Sadly, Cooke Anamorphics or ARRI Master Prime Anamorphic lenses are reserved for big budget productions, who can afford a long term rental. However, today there’s a more affordable option for entry-level cinematographers.
SLR Magic make some fine super-fast manual lenses for photography and digital cinematography. Their Hyper Primes can open up to the insane f/0.95 making your 1st AC’s job much harder, but getting you out of cranking up the ISO on the GH4 up to 800+ which can introduce quite a bit of noise. Apart from their compact and fast lenses, which feature a mechanical aperture ring, unlike most other modern lenses from bigger manufacturers, they also make a 1.33x Anamorphic adapter called the Anamorphot.
Last year they announced a 2.0x version was coming in early 2015. Today we have gather some stretched tests of the new Anamorphot 2.0x adapter from SLR Magic by Khairil M Bahar and Seb Farges. Enjoy some anamorphic flares and elongated bokeh below. Watch responsibly.
The Streets of KL – SLR Magic 2x Anamorphot Lens Test from Khairil M Bahar on Vimeo.
Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera
SLR Magic 2x Anamorphot
Canon FD 24mm f2.8
Variable ND filter
Sony Vegas 12
Film Convert 2
One week with SLR Magic Anamorphot 2x
on Voigtlander Ultron 28mm f1.9
on Canon FD 50mm f1.4 + Metabones Speed Booster
on Canon FD 35mm f2As you can see the Canon FD work better than the Voigtlander
All the close up were taken without diopter except when it’s writtenGH4 UHD 4:3
Cinelike V 0 -5 -5 -2 +2
Lumetri CC and levels adjustmentsEverything was shot @f4 / f5.6 except some close shot @1.9 in the first part
SLR Magic achromatic diopters +0.33, +1.3, +1.8
and Narumi achromatic +3 diopterThanks to Andrew Chan, Tchie-Kung Hui, Arnaud Arraté
Céline, Maaike, Pascale, Lisa and NinaMusic :
Who Ha “Laura Palmer’s Theme”
Agoria “Heart Beating (featuring Kid A)”
This SLR Magic anamorphic adapter also offers unique effects such as horizontal flare and streaks from light sources and ellipsoidal bokeh, for cinematographers wanting a characteristic filmic look. Depth of field is also affected, as in practice when using an anamorphic lens a longer focal length is required in order to achieve the same angle of view. Therefore anamorphic lenses produce a shallower, more cinematic depth of field than a the same lens without the adapter.
For 16:9 cameras, the already available 1.33x version of the adapter has a 77mm front filter thread and a native 62mm rear thread with a 58mm, 52mm, 49mm adapter rings provided. As such it is only suitable for lenses which have a front element size of 50mm or less.
No official release date or pricing on the 2.0x Anamoprhot, which will be perfect for the 4:3 photo mode on the GH4. My guess is it will be around the same price of $850 for the adapter only, and about a grand for the kit with diopters, but that’s to be confirmed. For 16:9 shooters out there the 1.33x Anamorphot version will do the job.
[via 43rumors]
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