JOY: Orion Ana's on Helium 8K

[Daniel Stilling]

Hey Daniel,
Would you mind posting the frame grab (see attachment) but in color?
Thanks!

I totally would, but unfortunately I don't have access to the raw footage.
About the flares, in my opinion, I like non clinical look lenses. So, the more streaks and artifacts, the better, so I enjoy everything those lenses gave me.
Also, it's worth Notting that in this case, I was able to place lighting fixtures right in the shot, blaring fótons right down the barrel, and that is not a very common occurrence, so it might have exacerbated the flares, which to me was perfect as I liked everything about those flares.

 

[Dan Kanes]

The lenses have Oval Bokeh, even when wide open - but you will notice, like any anamorphic lens - the bokeh is dependent on the background position in the frame, how far a given point (or other) source is from the lens, and where it is in the field - same with flares.

As for the Oval Flares - depends on the light source position, intensity, distance in field. Every aspect of the image is dependent on conditions and how you want to use it, and have knowledge of the way it behaves in a certain situation - there are always happy accidents, and accidental on purpose results.

We gave Daniel some pretty early prototypes, so every aspect of the lens comes down to tuning, but generally these are not terribly unlike what you will see in production lenses.

Flare like anything else aesthetic in cinematography is highly subjective. Same can be said for Bokeh.

I would say, if you're on the fence - best bet is to come visit us at a Tradeshow like the upcoming Cinegear in Los Angeles, where we will be at booth S214 inside the air conditioned sound stage near Arri, BlackMagic Design, Sony and others and try the lenses in person - you WON'T be disappointed.

There is no other lens like what we are making on the market anywhere - new or old - we have started doing something I would consider very unique in the world.

We will also have a lens or two with the Red Booth during the show, which I believe is in a different sound stage!

See you at Cinegear!

 

[Thai Christen]

I totally would, but unfortunately I don't have access to the raw footage.

You DP'ed the project and don't have a RAW copy? That is odd. I always keep 1 RAW copy after each shoot. It already happened that a client came back to me later and asked for RAW material because they lost it.

About the flares, in my opinion, I like non clinical look lenses. So, the more streaks and artifacts, the better, so I enjoy everything those lenses gave me.
Also, it's worth Notting that in this case, I was able to place lighting fixtures right in the shot, blaring fótons right down the barrel, and that is not a very common occurrence, so it might have exacerbated the flares, which to me was perfect as I liked everything about those flares.

So when you shot, did you put a BW Lut on it or was it done later in post? The reason why I ask is because I am wondering which colors the blob flares have. Do you remember, were they greenish or blueish?
I am in the same boat like you and totally agree that artefacts give character to a lens. But only to a certain amount. In the example llustrated above, for my personal taste, it is just too much and distracting. The oval horizontal blob on the right I find rather ugly than pleasing. Maybe it is just me.
It is ok in BW, but how would it look in color? I believe to have seen similar artefacts in Single Focus Anamorphic Lens design à la SLR Magic and Co. Maybe I am wrong.

 

[Thai Christen]

The lenses have Oval Bokeh, even when wide open - but you will notice, like any anamorphic lens - the bokeh is dependent on the background position in the frame, how far a given point (or other) source is from the lens, and where it is in the field - same with flares.

As for the Oval Flares - depends on the light source position, intensity, distance in field. Every aspect of the image is dependent on conditions and how you want to use it, and have knowledge of the way it behaves in a certain situation - there are always happy accidents, and accidental on purpose results.

We gave Daniel some pretty early prototypes, so every aspect of the lens comes down to tuning, but generally these are not terribly unlike what you will see in production lenses.

Flare like anything else aesthetic in cinematography is highly subjective. Same can be said for Bokeh.

I would say, if you're on the fence - best bet is to come visit us at a Tradeshow like the upcoming Cinegear in Los Angeles, where we will be at booth S214 inside the air conditioned sound stage near Arri, BlackMagic Design, Sony and others and try the lenses in person - you WON'T be disappointed.

There is no other lens like what we are making on the market anywhere - new or old - we have started doing something I would consider very unique in the world.

We will also have a lens or two with the Red Booth during the show, which I believe is in a different sound stage!

See you at Cinegear!

Dan, you and your team have my fullest respect. From the first time I saw prototype and footage of the Atlas Orion, I had my high hopes. At this price point and quality you will stir up the Anamorphic world.
HOWEVER, after I saw this music video, which was wonderfully executed by Daniel Stilling, I have my reservation.
We all agree that artefacts give a lens its character. But the oval blob flares I see many times in the video, I find rather distracting. It mostly happens when you shoot direct into bright light at a certain angle. I already asked for footage like this a long time ago and got no answer - until now
Unless I am proved wrong, I have seen similar artefacts from Single Focus Anamorphic Lens design. SLR Magic and Co. to speak of.

Nevertheless, a rental house here in Switzerland I work with have a full set of Orions and I was already asked to shoot aerials with the Orions for an upcoming short feature film. So I will report more once I have them in my hands.

 

[Dan Kanes]

Yes, Thai, please give us your full review after you use them, otherwise please don’t bring in speculation relating our lenses to any other brand or misinformation it sounds like you’re misconstruing.

Are you talking about the rental house Octamas ?

They are really great people over there at Octamas and we have sent them a preproduction set to do their short film with.

Fly safe!

By the way, since you’re in the country with what I would consider the world’s foremost robotics institution (ETH Zurich) do you know anyone over there ? I have friends there.

 

[Daniel Stilling]

You DP'ed the project and don't have a RAW copy? That is odd. I always keep 1 RAW copy after each shoot. It already happened that a client came back to me later and asked for RAW material because they lost it.

Hey man, I don't mean to be condescending at all, but when you do projects with a certain level of secrecy (as you know per my PM to you earlier and I appreciate your help) you don't get to keep the footage. When I shot parts of "The Martian" it was mandated from above that the mags get erased before leaving the DIT. The label is a tad paranoid, so they didn't want to anyone other than post production to have the footage.

Now, about the flares, I have to say that I'm a tad surprised by such strong reaction on something that to me is minor and actually not displeasing and really of such short duration in the moving pictures. You can always freeze a frame and pick it apart, but the sum of everything else that is happening in the frame is what matters.

We did shoot this monitoring it in B&W as the whole concept was already in place before we ever started shooting.

These lenses are amazing. Modern smooth mechanics, fast speed, great size for an ana. These characteristics, plus an amazing Helium camera, great production design, talented singers, great focus puller, attentive planning and pre production and so on, got this video to the number one music video spot in iTunes for a few days. I don't think the flares made any difference to that result.

 

[Thai Christen]

Yes, Thai, please give us your full review after you use them, otherwise please don’t bring in speculation relating our lenses to any other brand or misinformation it sounds like you’re misconstruing.

Are you talking about the rental house Octamas ?

They are really great people over there at Octamas and we have sent them a preproduction set to do their short film with.

Fly safe!

By the way, since you’re in the country with what I would consider the world’s foremost robotics institution (ETH Zurich) do you know anyone over there ? I have friends there.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring any speculation regarding Orions. I just think I have seen similar artefacts in Slr Magic and Co because I have tested them all. Wasn‘t happy because of the same flare behavior.

But sure, once I have tested them, I will give you my review and final thoughts.

Alexander Christ from Octamas and I help each other out. So yes, I know them quite well. Lovely and kind people.
And hell yeah, looking forward to put the Orions on my drone!

Good you mentioned about ETH. I did some aerials as part of a corporate film for the ETH last year. However, I don‘t know anyone specifics in the robotics sector because it all went through an agency.

 

[Thai Christen]

Hey man, I don't mean to be condescending at all, but when you do projects with a certain level of secrecy (as you know per my PM to you earlier and I appreciate your help) you don't get to keep the footage. When I shot parts of "The Martian" it was mandated from above that the mags get erased before leaving the DIT. The label is a tad paranoid, so they didn't want to anyone other than post production to have the footage.

Now, about the flares, I have to say that I'm a tad surprised by such strong reaction on something that to me is minor and actually not displeasing and really of such short duration in the moving pictures. You can always freeze a frame and pick it apart, but the sum of everything else that is happening in the frame is what matters.

We did shoot this monitoring it in B&W as the whole concept was already in place before we ever started shooting.

These lenses are amazing. Modern smooth mechanics, fast speed, great size for an ana. These characteristics, plus an amazing Helium camera, great production design, talented singers, great focus puller, attentive planning and pre production and so on, got this video to the number one music video spot in iTunes for a few days. I don't think the flares made any difference to that result.

Easy Daniel. I didn‘t want to offend you either. No problem. I definitely understand the matter of secrecy.
Flares, I just think we leave the discussion as it is. If you like what you see, good for you.
As for me, not sure yet. I need to test them myself before giving my final judgement.