Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Are there any Nikon anamorphic adapters?

Stephen Pruitt

Stephen Pruitt

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 14, 2007
Messages
3,309
Reaction score
40
Points
48
Website
www.thetreemotionpicture.com
Hi all. . .

Our REDs are all Nikon at the moment, and might stay that way for some time. The question becomes, are there any 2x anamorphic adapters for use with Nikon lenses when Epic and Scarlet make their entrance into the game?

Stephen
 
You know, Stephen, I just posted about this a couple of days ago with no replies. There is a $300 Nikon lens on eBay right now that is called an "Iscorama" Nikon lens. Apparently this company called Isco made some Nikon lenses with anamorphic adapters on them for whatever reason. Well, I tried searching for information on them or some test results and I came up with only a few compressed image samples that didn't show anything and one music video made with a D90 on Vimeo that supposedly used one of these lenses, again with no results because it's hard to tell which lens is which because the guy used other lenses too. I would plunk down $300 or so to try it but I'd hate to buy it and find out that I could have just put that money towards a 35mm 1.4 AIS lens and attach my Panasonic Anamorphic adapter to it and get the same results, you know?

Yet that's just it, I can't find any information about how these Isco lenses perform.

In the meantime, I did try my Panasonic Anamorphic adapter on my D90 today and I tried a flashlight test and the lens flares were incredibly good compared to how they looked when using the adapter on my Canon HV20. I guess the adapter just needs a 35mm-sized (even though the D90 is DX size) sensor to really shine.

I've also tried the adapter on a RED One at the RED store but I didn't have any flashlights to test with. It looked sharp at 4K but other than that, I couldn't tell you how it looked properly squished and all that. Focus is still a little funky, of course, but if my D90 results are any indication, the anamorphic lens flares alone would be worth it.
 
Thanks for your post, Jack. . . can you send me a link to your Panny adapter?

BTW, I did not like the 35mm f1.4 lens. . . sold mine. . . it was really soft.

I'm currently thinking of breaking down and buying the 28mm f1.4. . . yech. . . too much money. . . but I want a wide-angle low-light option.

Thanks much.

Stephen
 
Well, it's just the Panasonic Anamorphic adapter made for the DVX100. A lot of people keep trying to tell me that it's useless and not worth the trouble, but what alternative is there other than to spend $17,500 for a set of Anamorphic LOMO lenses? I feel that it's worth experimenting with and I'm wanting to do a project completely with the Panasonic Anamorphic adapter on a 16:9 camera, it's just that I haven't been able to get the ideal look for it until my findings on the D90 and, probably, as well as the RED One.

Actually, from what I've seen, using the Panasonic Anamorphic adapter gives sort of a smoothing effect on everything and, surprisingly, a film example of what this looks like is "Amadeus". It's not entirely sharp and everything has a sort of softness to it that isn't all that off putting and it looks much more balanced after adding a touch of in-post sharpening. Light sources are smeared, as anamorphics will do, and, in the case of my HV20 as I haven't played around that much with my D90 footage yet, it helps dissipate video noise.
 
correct me if im wrong, but another issue with using the panny adapter (other than the perceived resolution hit) is that it's not a 2x squeeze. This creates creates a weird ratio on a 16x9 sensor that's not of any standard and can really screw up your post workflow. It would still be really cool to try though.

Jack_Felis said:
...and, in the case of my HV20 as I haven't played around that much with my D90 footage yet, it helps dissipate video noise.
Click to expand...

This doesn't make sense. The noise happens IN the camera, you're not photographing it. The lens shouldn't have anything to do with it.
 
Well, it does. Maybe it's the squeeze in post, but in any case it does seem to have an effect on noise.

If I remember correctly, it's more akin to a 1.33x squeeze than a 2x. So when used on a 16:9 camera, it makes sense for those trying to film native 2.40:1. Besides, weird aspect ratios aren't unusual in the history of film, even if it's a little off from 2.40:1, it can be stretched and pulled until it's a proper aspect ratio without negative results. You see, the squeeze is slight, I've even shown dailies in class from the raw HDV video with nobody noticing any sort of squeezing going on. Yet when I do unsqueeze it, it makes a big impact.

Adding in higher resolutions like the RED, you could easily unsqueeze and zoom in for proper 16:9 and preserve the unique anamorphic image traits if you so desire. When we start getting into 5K+ levels, this technique will really be something to see.

Post shouldn't be too much of a problem. Maybe for visual effects, as was the case with "Lord of The Rings" trilogy opting for Super 35 instead of regular 35mm with anamorphics. But for everything else, this could work. You just have to unsqueeze it properly. Some say to use a -36 aspect ratio setting in Final Cut Pro, yet I've tried aligning the footage with the 2.40:1 widescreen matte and I find a -32 setting is more accurate. If you're sending the footage back and forth from application to application, all you've got to do is keep it squeezed on export, but for color correcting I find that it's better to unsqueeze first and color correct that way so you can see the image as it will be shown. Then once you've got the look you want, just replace the footage with the squeezed original and there you go. It's an extra step but it preserves quality. Then you have the option of exporting an unsqueezed 16:9 file for DVD and having a squeezed master for projection.
 
Jack, I thought you had a camera? you had the aluminum R and everything. Why aren't you testing this out and posting footage? I really want to see it.
 
I did have an "R" but I returned it because I chose grad school over a RED. Chapman University is pretty well situated, I can go and stop in at RED HQ anytime. Looking back on it, it's better that I didn't get my RED when I did because there was too much going on at the time to warrant the expense.
 
Zack Birlew said:
You know, Stephen, I just posted about this a couple of days ago with no replies. There is a $300 Nikon lens on eBay right now that is called an "Iscorama" Nikon lens. Apparently this company called Isco made some Nikon lenses with anamorphic adapters on them for whatever reason. Well, I tried searching for information on them or some test results and I came up with only a few compressed image samples that didn't show anything and one music video made with a D90 on Vimeo that supposedly used one of these lenses, again with no results because it's hard to tell which lens is which because the guy used other lenses too. I would plunk down $300 or so to try it but I'd hate to buy it and find out that I could have just put that money towards a 35mm 1.4 AIS lens and attach my Panasonic Anamorphic adapter to it and get the same results, you know?
Click to expand...

I have the Isco lens you're speaking about for Nikon and you would never ever want to use it in a motion picture situation. The lens is put together in such a way that when the focus is turned - it shakes the anamorphic element on it slightly creating a warping effect. It's not particularly good to see. It's a 1.5x anamorphic lens, so it doesn't fit into any real established post workflow either. And even though it is a f2.8, I don't like to use it at that f-stop as it's pretty soft, and I find myself shooting at either f5.6 or f8. It's an unique lens for still photography that I like having, but I wouldn't buy it again for the purpose of shooting moving images.

There was another thread a while back about someone or several people using their 18-50 Red lens with the Panasonic adapter, which if i remember correctly didn't turn out too great. (if sharpness was your goal, it wasn't a good idea to use it.)
 
Garrett M. Smith said:
There was another thread a while back about someone or several people using their 18-50 Red lens with the Panasonic adapter, which if i remember correctly didn't turn out too great. (if sharpness was your goal, it wasn't a good idea to use it.)
Click to expand...

That was Zach, wasn't it?
 
Yup, that was me. I couldn't get anybody else to test it on their own cameras, so I had to go all the way to RED HQ and test it on one of the test cameras in the RED Store. Yes, it did add some slight softening, but that didn't matter as much at 4K as it does at 720P or 1080P, it was still very sharp by comparison. The only downside was that you had to stop down the lens a couple of stops or so to get that full sharpness, as you would have to do with a lower resolution camera anyway for ideal results. Still, as I keep saying, it's worth testing.

Garret, thank goodness you posted that because I was getting really agitated looking at the auction and seeing the Isco lens still at $300. Too bad it's compromised for film work. That's really weird of them to have it shake like that while focusing. That sounds like it would be almost as annoying as having a rotating lens barrel while using an anamorphic adapter, as is the case with my 75-150mm 3.5 E-Series Nikon, good glass but the rotating barrel kills it for the anamorphic adapter as you constantly have to redial the adapter to the correct position.

Overall, I think if you really want to use an anamorphic adapter on Nikon lenses, you've either got to use a zoom that doesn't rotate the barrel while focusing or you've simply got to use primes, the easier choice in my opinion.

Now, I've also been thinking about getting a Century 58mm-threaded Anamorphic adapter for testing on lenses with 52mm filter threads and a 52mm-58mm stepping ring. That lens may be better optically than the Panasonic and it'll be more compact than the series of stepping rings I'm having to use with the Panasonic adapter. Just have to find one to try it out.
 
The Isco isn't a terrible lens, but it would be nice if it had better build quality. At least it doesn't rotate the front element at all. It can take some really nice photos though, and as far as still photography goes, one of the best options out there for taking anamorphic photos.

I forgot to post examples before:




I've never used the Century adapter before, but you might want to be careful because it may vignette severely on some lenses. (I had some anamorphic attachment lenses for projectors around that size, and unless I zoomed in a lot, I'd see the inside of the attachment.)
 
Ok, I'm trying to get a panasonic anamorphic adapter to try this.

questions: what ratio will I end up with if shooting 16x9, 2:1, 4k ANA? Is there anyway to monitor this properly?

thanks :)
 
You might give Ken Rich a call.
He used to have a great selection of anamorphic lenses and adapters.
 
can't afford them. A panny anamorphic adapter used is only maybe $300.
 
Maybe Jim will make an anamorphic adapter for 35mm lenses. I would sure buy one.

LongValley? Element? Birger? Viewfactor? Alesniak? CinemaTechnic? - There might be a market here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top