Atlas A vs. B Set

[Andrew Reese]

Shooting a music video in Maui coming up in late May. Client wants to use Atlas Orion lenses on my Gemini and my Komodo as a B-cam. I have shot on anamorphic on Gemini prior (Kowa, Lomo, Cooke, etc.) but have no experience with Atlas. The footage I have seen online is pretty nice, but I am now trying to decide between the A-set or B-set. There will be some gimbal work and car-mount shots using Komodo and Gemini will be set up for easy rig, shoulder rig and sticks for the majority of the A-cam shots.

I am leaning towards renting the B-set but am concerned considering anamorphic focal lengths are about "half" the FOV what they are listed at, so the 32mm is really like a 15mm and how that translates into edge distortion, matte-box functionality, breathing and mumps I don't know.

I am liking the 80mm of the B-set more than the 100mm of the A-set for sheer reduction in size alone but will need either the 32mm (B-set) or 40mm (A-set) for capturing landscape vistas and for capturing wider scenes with gimbal / car mount work.

Can anyone offer up their experiences with both sets, particularly how the 32mm compares to the 40mm and how the rest of the focal lengths compare (50 vs 65 & 80 vs 100).

Im assuming there will be some slight loss of FOV with Gemini (s35+) and more crop with Komodo's smaller (s35) sensor so will the 32mm be a good fit for Komodo sensor to achieve very wide scenes? I don't want the 32mm to be too distorted like instances I have run into with the 40mm kowa where distortion and "warping" is just too much for the look of shots we are trying to achieve.

 

[Dan Kanes]

Hi Andrew,

thanks for your question - I’m really excited to see what other people say about the two sets - which are really just a way of splitting up the original six lens offering of the Orion Series family of lenses.

if you are renting from someone who owns all six, they should be able to provide you with whatever combination of 2,3,4,5 or 6 lenses that you would want !

one piece of good news : none of the Atlas Orion lenses have mumps, due to their optical design.

my best advice would be to try to test prior to the shoot and get a feel for the personality of each lens and how it would help tell your visual story.

if you’re using EF mount (or even with the PL mount) I can strongly advise the use of a Denz FDC mount collimation tool to make sure your camera bodies (and the adapter on the Komodo) have the correct back focus.

on the Gemini body it’s super Easy to adjust back focus using a simple torx wrench in combination with the Denz FDC. For the Komodo with PL adapter, you may need to use the Denz to obtain a proper shim adjustment to the mount adapter.

proper prep will ensure optimal image quality and satisfaction ok your shoot.

if you’re in the LA area, I would love to invite you to our HQ in Glendale/Burbank and give you a hands on demo experience. Otherwise, we can setup a virtual demo over zoom meet with a direct SDI feed from the camera and all the atlas lenses along with a remote guided experience with our team.

this tool will give you a great format comparison between the sensor size of your Gemini Vs. Komodo (this is showing sensor size difference.

https://phfx.com/tools/formatCompar...modelB=Komodo+6K&formatB=6K+6:5&focalLengths=

Gemini 2x anamorphic 2.40:1

https://phfx.com/tools/shotPrep/sp....no&sf=2&cpw=&cph=&cpf=&car=&ln=&focalLengths=

Komodo 2x anamorphic 2.40:1

https://phfx.com/tools/shotPrep/sp....no&sf=2&cpw=&cph=&cpf=&car=&ln=&focalLengths=

finally - some additional notes for you:

32mm - nice, wide, geometric barrel distortion (classic anamorphic trope). Really great close focus.

40mm - nice, wide, less geometric barrel distortion. Excellent close focus.

50 - less barrel distortion, nice lens, great on faces and objects. Can get pretty close.

65 - great standard focal length for anamorphic, nice loose portrait.

80mm - definitely a portrait lens. Nice! Many people’s
favorite.

100 - decent reach for a 2x anamorphic - heaviest of the set (little over 6lbs). Incredible close focus for 100mm anamorphic (~3ft)

atlas 1.6x extender : great accessory even if you don’t need to expand to full frame. Makes your 80 ~127mm, makes your 100mm ~160mm. Loses 1.3 stops of light (free ND ?)

excited to hear the experiences of others using these.

here are two music videos I shot personally using both A and B set:

https://youtu.be/gHN-EhL8x3g

https://youtu.be/8o_SbJi9i_k

(see if you can spot the non-Atlas shots in “PullUp” - not as nice for sure)

 

[Andrew Reese]

Dan,

Thanks for the great detailed response! Unfortunately, I am on the east coast but would have loved the opportunity to have checked out your HQ in Glendale/Burbank.

As for testing the lenses, I may not have that opportunity in this particular case, just because my nearest rental house is at a considerably distance and I am busy with project work prior to my departure and most likely won't have the time to get down there. Our project budget is also beginning to peak, so I probably won't win a battle with the client to request additional budget for me to rent the lenses just for a test to determine which focal lengths I want to use. They also do not have budget to support renting the entire set for the duration of our shoot (as I would have preferred) as the client is budgeting for lots of other expenses simultaneously.

It is great to know that mumps are a non-issue with Atlas Orion's considering their optical design. However, I have a feeling the 32mm may be a bit on the "too-wide" end with some limitations in terms of barrel distortion. Just from looking at pictures, it looks like the 32mm has a slight hood built into the housing like a lot of wide angle lenses do but it still has a chamfered edge that appears to be for accepting a matte-box. On Atlas's website they do state that the 32mm accepts a clip-on style matte-box but I am concerned that you could possibly see vignetting from the matte-box itself like on most super wide angle lenses. I shouldn't need to ND wide angle shots that I will be shooting at high T-stops but you never know and its something I need to be aware of before I find myself in a situation I can't remedy.

I have watched a lot of footage shot with the Orion 32mm and even the newly released 25mm and I never felt like there was absurd amounts of distortion or warping in either of those images, like I felt I had encountered with my experience with the Kowa 40mm. The 25mm example video by Atlas shoots very close to subjects faces with lots of movement and distortion appears to be limited and very pleasing on subjects despite being such an insanely wide FOV. Either they picked the perfect frames from that shoot for representation, or it is indeed impressively rectilinear.

I am definitely favoring the 80mm for its reduction in size and especially now that you said it's many's favorite portrait lens of the set. If the 50mm is great for people and objects and framing scenes with interactions, that will definitely fit the bill for a lot of my shots. The 50/80 combo seems like the ticket for my A-cam shots, but I may want to ask if they can swap the 32mm for the 40mm?

That being said I really would like to get as wide as possible, just without losing anything in terms of a distraction from distortion. The type of vistas I will be shooting and the close/confined nature of hood mount and hostess tray car shots might favor the wider FOV on Komodo's smaller sensor.

 

[Dan Kanes]

Hi Andrew,

My best advice if you are sure you want the 50 and 80 is to try to make a sweet rental house deal for a 32-40-50-80 set.

Best,

Dan