Dragon + Lomo Anamorphic Squarefront = Amazeballs!

[Mike Quill]

Hey All,

Recently shot and edited a piece for the apparel brand '47, who was the main sponsor of the Boston Calling Music Festival this year. Lot's of great bands played the festival including Pixies, Tenacious D, Run the Jewels, and Beck to name a few.

One man banded this shoot on my Epic Dragon and Lomo Anamorphic Square Fronts (35-50-80). I absolutely love this camera/lens combination; incredible flares, softness, highlight latitude and the camera handled the tremendous amount of mixed color temperatures beautifully.

Shot in 6k anamorphic, edited natively in Premiere on a new MacBook Pro with ease!

Feel free to give me feedback and ask questions.

Mike

 

[Nick Gardner]

Man I love those lenses ;-)

Nick

 

[Michael Ou]

Very cool Mike!!!

 

[Jason Diamond]

Great work as always Mike! Love those Squares

 

[Nick Morrison]

Awesome job! Love the cut. Those flares are....well...SICK.

 

[Jonathan Stevenson]

How did you feel the lenses performed in such a run-and-gun type environment? Most folks I've talked to have told me that lomo anamorphics aren't the types of lenses you can just run out and shoot with because they are so much harder to operate. But, judging by your footage, that might not have been a problem?

I do mainly docu-type work and have always wanted to incorporate anamorphics, but most folks have basically said that there's a reason you don't see anamorphic documentaries very often...

 

[BRANDON JAMESON]

How did you feel the lenses performed in such a run-and-gun type environment? Most folks I've talked to have told me that lomo anamorphics aren't the types of lenses you can just run out and shoot with because they are so much harder to operate. But, judging by your footage, that might not have been a problem?

I do mainly docu-type work and have always wanted to incorporate anamorphics, but most folks have basically said that there's a reason you don't see anamorphic documentaries very often...

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?131832-Any-way-to-modernize-Lomo-Square-Front-lenses

 

[Brandon Esten]

Yes, those square prime lenses make some badass footage!

Here's 1:30 of a 75mm round on a 5D for comparison of the flares if you're interested... L'Boulevard in Morocco last year.
(The footage is as good as you could expect from a DSLR, which is not very...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYDH49kMvZw

 

[Mike Quill]

Thanks for the nice feedback fellas!

Jonathan: To be honest they're not much different from running and gunning with spherical lenses, and I was pulling off the barrel. I suppose they're a little more difficult to judge critical focus, but I usually try to punch into my shot to make sure it's sharp.

The only stressful part is swapping out NDs on the matte box. It would be a lot easier to use a variable ND, but of course that's not possible with the Square Fronts.

The only other 'gotcha' moment is if the lens skews, causing your vertical lines to tilt to one side. This isn't always apparent until you get home and start watching your footage.

How did you feel the lenses performed in such a run-and-gun type environment? Most folks I've talked to have told me that lomo anamorphics aren't the types of lenses you can just run out and shoot with because they are so much harder to operate. But, judging by your footage, that might not have been a problem?

I do mainly docu-type work and have always wanted to incorporate anamorphics, but most folks have basically said that there's a reason you don't see anamorphic documentaries very often...

 

[Marc Dunham]

Ugh, I shoot a lot of music festivals and would love to play with some Lomo's on one. Nice stuff

 

[Mike Quill]

New piece I just co-produced/directed/shot/edited on my Dragon + Lomo Anamorphic Square Fronts.

 

[Ryan Glover]

Looking great Michael!

I finally get to use my squares on the Dragon this weekend. Really looking forward to seeing the FOV increase over my RedOneMx.

 

[Nick Gardner]

And I thought Duck Pins were a Baltimore thing ;-) Nice looking spot.

Nick

 

[Mike Quill]

A few screen grabs from a recent project I shot on my Epic Dragon (w/ Standard OLPF) and Lomo Anamorphic Square Fronts (mainly the 35mm.)

 

[Daniel Pearson]

A few screen grabs from a recent project I shot on my Epic Dragon (w/ Standard OLPF) and Lomo Anamorphic Square Fronts (mainly the 35mm.)

Beautiful frames Michael and an intriguing looking project - what is it? Can't place if it is doc or narrative, amazing location.

 

[Mike Quill]

Thanks Daniel! It's a short doc I made while visiting my friends' farm. Already thinking about the narrative I want to make here though!

Beautiful frames Michael and an intriguing looking project - what is it? Can't place if it is doc or narrative, amazing location.

 

[Mike P.]

Yeah, they look pretty rad! And please post when finished!