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  • 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 :)

Helios 44-2 58mm Matching Wide Lens?

Ordered a set of Optikov's today and are really looking forward to use them :)
I'm probably gonna get the 28mm when it's done, and use my 20mm f2.5 as a extra wide suplement and the Tair 135mm in the longer end - if needed..
 
Olivia units are all spoke for and no pricing is out yet. I do know they won't be cheap, anamorphic glass of quality comes at a hefty price. As they are not even finished on the mechanical side pricing has not been set. But i do know the first units are getting close.
 
Nut sure, but as I understand its built from a quite rare front anamorphic adapter so possibly not even for sale but rent only.
 
Red would be wise to provide the highest quality 1.5x ANA mode in camera.
From the little trickles of info he has let out, these things look big and heavy, however if they are as high quality yet vintage as they sound like they will be, they might be amazing.

My set of old russians have turned up and I am excited to put them through their paces. I am loving the double iris design where you have clicked iris and also smooth 'de-clicked' option built in. Focus throw is long like cine lenses, images are sharp and well matched and although they look and feel like military grade machines (heavy!) its a nice feeling having solid lenses compared to many stills options which are great but feel a bit shit.
 
Tommaso Alvisi said:
mmm I think the anamorphic front is a new build, inspired by an old one...no??
Click to expand...

As he explained it to me he use old glas from something like the Isorama or such don't remember which one, but I would definitely remembered if he told me that they would be done out of new glass. And normally its quite fiddle to pull off, make one good anamorphic is possibly not that difficulty. But to make a full range from 25mm to 150mm or so is a totally different thing.
 
Its new glass guys, think of it as a large Iscorama. The front diopter is Rather large and square. I've attached a picture of the Olivia on prototype 19mm rail mounts, a schematic of the optics, picture of the elements and a picture of the housing next to a regular 58mm DSO lens.
 

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Richie Allen said:
Its new glass guys, think of it as a large Iscorama. The front diopter is Rather large and square. I've attached a picture of the Olivia on prototype 19mm rail mounts, a schematic of the optics, picture of the elements and a picture of the housing next to a regular 58mm DSO lens.
Click to expand...

Aha, then im mistaken then. I thought I was told it was made from a iscorama but must have remembered it wrong. So the elements are purpusly manufactured or is it old projector glas or such?
 
My guess is based closely on an iscorama, but all the elements are manufactured new. Each has a different source, lenses 1,2 & 4 are made by Ohara, (Japanese), 3 by Schott (German) and elements 5&6 are CDGM which is the big square front diopter and Chinese. The important elements are Japanese and the thickest and important is Schott from Germany.
Its not to hard to figure out from the attached pictures and also see the size of the front diopter.
Richard also released this
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lj9tr64uchvb1uq/OLIVIA SCOPE FAQ june 2016.pdf?dl=0
cheers
 

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Its a beast! Would it be safe to say its an attachment similar to an Iscorama? You still need a 'taking lens' behind it. I wonder if he will optimise this for his Trump etc as you would think the taking lens would need to be in the perfect distance from the rear element of the Olivia to get the best results. Then is it a screw on? Does that front square element also rotate to get the alignment correct, which you could maybe do by shining a torch into it and lining up a nice horizontal flare.

It will be interesting to see if all the cost and effort is worth it. I sure would love to do some beta testing for him!

On another note...

Today I was recce'ing for a music clip im shooting and took my old russians along for the ride. Found my shot and did a side by side test with my FF58 from DSO. That particular lens was normal aperture with blah blah blah and red tint. Flares like a mother! Full sun on the front and its a pink out but a slight dabble and its all kinds of sexy. My 20mm, 37mm, 85mm and 135mm were setup in the same position (give or take) same white balance settings and roughly the same aperture (give or take 1/3stop and they all matched very well with eachother and even the FF58. I think it was maybe the 37mm that flared with a slight hint of pink too! Pretty happy to call that a set!
The 20mm was great! close focus was amazing and the OOF area was gorgeous. I am excited to have a nice wide prime again as I had been shooting with my Mamiyas and although there is a 24 in my kit, its 'fisheye' and has a bit of curvature even on S35 sensor. Next widest is 35mm which is hardly a wide angle. The mamiyas didnt look too bad along with the russians although maybe slightly contrastier and they dont flare as easily.
 
Nick Gardner said:
I really like these russian still lenses when i want something cool and vintage. I sold all my vintage spherical glass so I have been working on this as a side project. Pl mounts 80mm fronts and gears. Got the 37mm mir and the 85mm jupiter roughed in, next is the helios 58mm. I basically just wanted to do it to see if I could. So far it's been fun ;-)
Click to expand...

Looks good! Would you consider doing something similar with a MIR 20mm f2.5 too?
- or does anyone know if someone is allready rehousing this 20mm lens? (+ maybe Tair-11a 135mm f2.8...?)
 
The 20mm focuses backwards so without building a whole new focusing system, that one doesn't turn me on. The tair-135 is a great lens and I could see doing that one down the road. Still looking into wide options.

Nick
 
Lee Kelly
because its rail mounted it will alway be perfectly aligned, no torch needed to adjust rotation. I was told it will work great with trumps we but could be used with any lens with the correct step ring. Basically set the Olivia to infinity focus, then the taking spherical lens to achieve infinity in the image. From there you just use olivia to focus. No duel focusing. One thing Richard pointed out to me is a lot to the character of the system will depend on the taking spherical lens.

Mathias Erichsen
Richard Gale optiks mainly rehouses the 58mm helios 44. Although he has dome some custom Contax rehousing. A few years back he looked at rehousing a 37mm Russian vintage lens, but was never happy with the outcome. So he went down the path of making the attachments to make the 38,88 and soon to be 28 (later this year). I know as i paid upfront a few years back for a 37mm when i saw the prototype, with the knowledge it was only a prototype. Only then to watch the 38mm wide attachment development and received one of the first. so i guess i've been on this path awhile.
He is also looking at a further wide angle. we at least thinking about it. below is what he told me.
"Likely final attachment after the 28mm will be a rail mounted auxiliary 0.6x WA - like a giant 38mm attachment with slightly stronger widening and a much larger rear element
it'll work with all sorts of lenses providing added wide fov to fast 25mm-35mm primes"

cheers
 
I'm not sure what his problem with the 37mm is. I love that lens. None of these lenses are what you would call "Good" they are funky, which I think is good ;-)

Nick
 
i don't think it was an optical issue , more availability/price and mechanical. helios 44 lenses are the most widely available lens in the world
 
Lee Kelly said:
Hey Nick,

What is wrong with a lens that focuses the 'wrong' way? Nikon does that. That little 20mm is rad!
Click to expand...


Aha you did not know... thats possibly the bigest reason not to buy Nikon glas. :)


Regarding mounting anamorphic elements infront of lenses... I been down that road, tried quite hard to make it work but ended up buying a set of HAWK´s instead as using an element with one lens is difficult to get a decent alignment etc, then using it with more than one lens is for pure hobbyist only as its rather difficult to make such array of elements, it´s not without reason all the different focal lengths of anamorphic primes comes in different sizes or are all rather big and got issues with different looks between focal lengths etc. it´s all because they use different elements for the different focal lengths. So even though I hope that oliva thing kicks ass, I expect it will not and I think the manufacturing time might have a lot to do with all this.

Here is a picture of one of my attempts a K35 with a front / rod mounted anamorphic lens array. It did work but well only for that focal length and the smallest change of alignment and picture goes way soft. The Hawks I had for about two years and they went back to Vantage for service and collation / alignment 3 times... at a cost of 4k USD each time. Those are considered to be some of the best built anamorphic around, and stil the issues where plenty. So with that in mind I would not have too high hope on this.


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[/url]PastedGraphic-15 by Björn Benckert, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
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