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Letus Anamorphic Adapter

Terry VerHaar

Terry VerHaar

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With all the excitement about the new Letus Helix stabilizer, I stumbled across their Anamorphic adapter and wonder if anyone has any experience with it. Experiences? Strong opinions?
 
Its 1.33x

retarded apparently.

Which means RED will not provide an in camera de-squeeze.
 
1.33 turns 16:9 into 2.39:1, no? Isn't that good?

Not sure I understand the "retarded" statement.

EDIT: I see they also have a 1.8 in development: turn 4:3 into 2.4:1.
 
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A long time ago on one of the many anamorphic threads Jarred stated in no uncertain terms that anything other than 2x ana is "retarded"

In theory, resolution wise, (which RED seems to value I think), 1.33x has advantages.

Disadvantages, well google is your friend there , I don't really feel like going through everything and summarising.

On red's end I think it would probably be more difficult to have a de-squeeze algorithm for 1.33 than 2, but what do I know, I thought flip/flop would be easy.
 
Steve - that is one of the pieces I saw which made me curious. Thanks for posting. Looks like the "pro" version, regardless of size, will be +$800-1000.

Ivan - thanks for clarifying. I am not one to argue with Jarred, but I don't completely get his implicit math. We are typically aiming to end up with 2.4:1, aren't we? If we have a 2x at 4:3 (which RED is not) we end up at 2.66 anyway. RED cameras are all around 1.9 for the full sensor and it is easy enough to shoot 16:9. So, a 1.33 @ 16:9 gets us where we want to be. Not even sure the value of 1.8 for RED shooting. That said, the de-squeeze thing could be an issue, I guess.

As for disadvantages, I couldn't come up with anything unusual on Google. Obviously there are issues with the quality of the glass (softening), and possibly more so at the edges. Any time one uses an "adaptor" there are potential quality issues in general but the Letus product is claimed to be very sharp (obviously a subjective claim at this point) and is slightly more cost effective than a set of good anamorphic lenses. lol
 
Steve Das said:
Yes...1.80x AnamorphX Pro will be $1,000 more than the basic 1.33x AnamorphX....And here it is...along with GoPro and I-Phone anamorphic adaptors.

Click to expand...
To be frank, I think Anamorphic will be the shot, no matter whose the adapter or the full lens it is (like Zeiss Master Anamorphic). After you have it on, you can't shoot without it.
 
The main thing that people need to consider with these things is monitoring.

If the camera does not perform an accurate de-sqeeze then you are in a world of pain.

a 1.8x, while good for rez will introduce yet another standard that will need to be de-squeezed. Not a big deal in post when you have the time to get it right. On set, a PITA.

If RED ever introduce their promised resolution/aspect user select then if that also came with user adjustable squeeze/stretch these things will not be an issue. Until then if you shoot ana on RED and dont want to be looking at a whacky image all day 2x is the only game in town.
 
It's cool that they are doing this. But "pro anamorphic adapter" is to me 3 words that does not fit in the same sentence. Everyone that ha anamorphics knows how often they need to go in for service, be calibrated / colimated etc. and also I find it very difficult to see that one adapter fits to a wide range of lenses. Especially wide lenses. Also the focusing which is about twice as difficult on ANA then sphericals will not be easier with an adapter. So to me naming it "pro" is not really fair. Simply put, I do not think people we be renting this together with a set of ultra primes and be all happy about it.

Another thing, I thought there was a 1.333 squeeze in the menus now, no?
 
Björn Benckert said:
Another thing, I thought there was a 1.333 squeeze in the menus now, no?
Click to expand...

Well if true I suppose I can hold out hope for prorez proxies!

You are right Björn, ana is not something to take lightly. If you want quick and nasty then sure, no problem. If you want to shoot drama and have a consistency that means you can shoot a reasonable day page-count wise then you need a really well looked after and matched set.
 
Will this have the same problems previous adapters have had? Aka two separate focus systems to focus an image?

I feel like a better use of everyone's time would be to engineer an oval aperture that can scale. I would be willing to use a blue streak filter if I could just have oval bokeh--which should be as easy as replacing the aperture with a new shape no?

Anamorphic for the sake of enhanced resolution isn't something that interests me.
 
My understanding is that the adaptor will only need to be adjusted in ranges; once you set it, you can focus and refocus the lens in a fairly wide range of depth. For an extreme change, you'll have to adjust the adaptor. I also think there is some patented tech on the combination of curves in the lens system.
 
Ivan McCullough said:
A long time ago on one of the many anamorphic threads Jarred stated in no uncertain terms that anything other than 2x ana is "retarded"
Click to expand...

Much of the debate over 1.3X versus 2X anamorphic comes down to nearly everybody who desires the anamorphic look actually wants the 2X effect. That's the long and the short of it.

1.3X was made for a couple reasons. Namely 16x9 sensors to allow for scope shooting. Also, 4:3 sensors/image planes would create a 16x9 image.

Dragon has 6:5 2X which creates a proper 2.40:1 now, which is ideal (and rather sexy). 5:4 and 4:3 are also in there.


Björn Benckert said:
Another thing, I thought there was a 1.333 squeeze in the menus now, no?
Click to expand...

Correct. 1.3X is in the firmware now and works as intended.


Anamorphics are the next target for a few lens manufacturers. We'll be seeing at least two new sets in the future. Price and performance is up in the air, but I know of one company targeting essentially what Lomo Round Fronts are going for today for purchase price. If those turn out well that would be lovely.
 
Phil Holland said:
Much of the debate over 1.3X versus 2X anamorphic comes down to nearly everybody who desires the anamorphic look actually wants the 2X effect. That's the long and the short of it.
Click to expand...

Agreed, what that effect is and how to describe its difference to anything other than 2x is where it gets longwinded.


Phil Holland said:
Dragon has 6:5 2X which creates a proper 2.40:1 now, which is ideal (and rather sexy). 5:4 and 4:3 are also in there.
Click to expand...

Nice, looking forward to playing with that on some Lomo's and Kowa's

Phil Holland said:
Correct. 1.3X is in the firmware now and works as intended.
Click to expand...

Good thing to have

Phil Holland said:
Anamorphics are the next target for a few lens manufacturers. We'll be seeing at least two new sets in the future. Price and performance is up in the air, but I know of one company targeting essentially what Lomo Round Fronts are going for today for purchase price. If those turn out well that would be lovely.
Click to expand...

True, and might bring down the cost of some of the vintage sets which have gone mental in the last few years. Ana is the new superspeeds it seems.
 
Terry VerHaar said:
Thanks, Matt. Very informative. I guess my search didn't find it because I searched "anamorphic." I think the RU search capability is kind of sucky. lol
Click to expand...

Just as a tip, you can use google to search specific sites, for instance:

Google search--> "anamorphic" site:reduser.net

This will limit the google search to reduser.net. It's invaluable for searching this forum IMHO.

Didn't mean to hijack the thread, back to your original programming...
 
Brent w Graham said:
Just as a tip, you can use google to search specific sites, for instance:

Google search--> "anamorphic" site:reduser.net

This will limit the google search to reduser.net. It's invaluable for searching this forum IMHO.

Didn't mean to hijack the thread, back to your original programming...
Click to expand...

Wow. That is invaluable. Thanks!
 
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