Anamorphic lens/Aspect Ratio GURU needed

[kdcnewyork]

Does anyone know of a dealer that carries a (more or less) full line of Kowa Anamorphic lenses?

Or- does anyone know of a specific model number lens that will give me a 16x9/1:77 aspect ratio?? I am trying to mach the same aspect ratio as super16.

Or better yet, is there an aspect ratio GURU that can contact me?

-KDC

[Guest]

You're looking for a 1.33x anamorphic adapter. That will give you an almost exactly 16:9 image area. I don't believe Kowa or any other manufacturer made them, it wasn't until the advent of the video era (and, well, the invention of 16:9 therefrom) that 16:9 became in demand. So, you can use a video anamorphic adapter, such as from Century Precision Optics or Optex, to get 16:9 on Super 8. The adapters are not cheap, expect to pay $500-$800 for one.

[jukkasil]

"Does anyone know of a dealer that carries a (more or less) full line of Kowa Anamorphic lenses? "

Try from ebay, just use "anamorphic" as a word for search at http://www.ebay.com


"Or- does anyone know of a specific model number lens that will give me a 16x9/1:77 aspect ratio?? I am trying to mach the same aspect ratio as super16. "

You'd need 1.5 x anamorphic lens, which give you 2:1 aspect ratio (a bit wider than 1.78:1).

Another way is to modify the film gate of your camera (try it at the first with cheap camera), you'll get 1.6:1 aspect ratio, here is my mpg-file of footage I shot with modified Lomo Aurora 219 super 8 camera:

http://www.sorb-i-tol.com/super8widescreen.mpg

Much easier is to buy 2x AM lens (16 and 35 mm projector lens) for example from ebay. With it you'll get ultra wide aspect ratio, 2.66:1.

Here is my page of my first test of that kind of lens using my mini dv videocamera:

http://www.sorb-i-tol.com/mycinemascopetest.html

And here is my super 8 AM-lens setup I made for my Leicina during last Saturday:

http://www.sorb-i-tol.com/leicinascope.html

More info about it:

http://www.sorb-i-tol.com/leicinascope4.jpg


I also bought another lens yesterday from ebay, Moller anamorphot (35 mm projector lens), which is big one, but it would be very good for camera with very big own lens (front lens diameter 70-72 mm), like Bauer 715 etc.

[mattias]

You'd need 1.5 x anamorphic lens, which give you 2:1 aspect ratio

if you crop this to 16:9 you lose exactly as much information as when cropping 4:3 to 16:9, and if you're aiming for the super-16 format, which isn't quite as wide, you actually get more usable area without the anamorphic. i'm not kidding. do the math. ;-)

what you do need is a 1.33x lens such as the ones sold for video cameras, which will give you 16:9, or a 1.25x lens if they exist, which will give you the super-16 aspect. the video anamorphics are typically too expensive for super-8 though, but i don't know what your budget is. since they're available brand new from the large chains you might consider using the oldest indie trick in the book, which is buying one and returning it after use... :-)

/matt

[jukkasil]

I got your point Mattias, no problem!

What I meant, is that you'll get one 1.5x projector lens from ebay at price 40-80 Euro (especially from ebay.de), these video AM lenses cost you much more. It's the cheapest solution almost 1.78 aspect ratio.

I agree you with that resolution thing, but what if you don't crop and scale the frame (during editing) at all?

That's just one idea.

Just keep the footage unscaled (vertically stretched), edit it and when show it to the public, put same AM lens to front of your video projector.

I haven't tested it yet, but I will do it very soon after I receive my first anamorphic footage shot with Leicina Super Rt.

[mattias]

I agree you with that resolution thing, but what if you don't crop and scale the frame (during editing) at all?

absolutely. i was just commenting on the fact that he explicitly asked for the super-16 format.

/matt

[jukkasil]

OK!

Hey, if some of you are interested, here is one link for Moller (or Muller) 2x anamorphic lens bid at ebay.de:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 1393362733