Lomo PL Mounting Issue (Tilted!? Please Help, Shooting in 12 Hours)

[Jason Honeycutt]

I'm embarrassed to even ask this outloud but, for the life of me, I can't figure this out. I rarely use PLs but when I have, they've been fine... used some Zeiss standard speeds, a wide angle one, etc... but is my first time using Lomo Square Fronts and they're mounting 'tilted'. I don't know what I'm doing wrong or if maybe I need to loosen and slip the plate on the lens to compensate but both lenses are doing the same thing so I'm wondering if I'm having a brain fart and not mounting these correctly. I'm just putting the gap of the lens on the 'pin' of the mount, then tightening the collar. They don't 'turn' counter-clockwise like DSLR lenses, right? Just hold it, turn the collar...? I just don't know what's going on here and I'm in panic mode, showing up to set in less than 12 hours.

Thanks ahead of time for any help... again, super amateur-hour question but I've never used Lomos before.

 

[Mike P.]

It looks like the PL mount on those Lomos has four screws with channels for making just the kind of adjustment you're trying to make... Can you ask the person you rented the lenses from?

It does seem odd that they'd both be off the exact amount though.

 

[BRANDON JAMESON]

I've had this occur before.

Carefully loosen the screws and rotate the mount so the lens is properly aligned for your camera.

Perhaps the reason that both lenses have the exact same "off angle" is because of the last user's "customization" of the mounts for camera they were paired with last.

 

[Jason Honeycutt]

It looks like the PL mount on those Lomos has four screws with channels for making just the kind of adjustment you're trying to make... Can you ask the person you rented the lenses from?

It does seem odd that they'd both be off the exact amount though.

That's what I was about to do, to slip it enough... was just a little leery, with them being rentals... but yeah, gonna do this now. Thanks!

 

[Jason Honeycutt]

I've had this occur before.

Carefully loosen the screws and rotate the mount so the lens is properly aligned for your camera.

Perhaps the reason that both lenses have the exact same "off angle" is because of the last user's "customization" of the mounts for camera they were paired with last.

You know? That makes total sense, if the other person's pin was off and it was adjusted, since this is a set. Thanks for some logic... running on no sleep and my brain isn't exactly functioning 100% at the moment

 

[Robert Hart]

EDIT. I REPLIED BEFORE IMAGES WERE AVAILABLE ON OP. OTHER REPONSES HAVE ARRIVED WHICH PROVIDE A SOLUTION. I shall leave the following for academic interest and a possible example of the verbose folly of armchair experts. Skip to the note marked ################ - Firstly, please read and give PRIORITY to the comments of others versus this response. - I assume by "tilt" you describe the image as being un-naturally stretched diagonally rather purely in the vertical. My other interpretation is you describe the lens drooping in the mount and the image going out of focus on the lower edge of frame as viewed on the LCD screen.
　

I think you need to pick up a phone and ring somebody like Matthew Duclos or the Optitek guy ( forgot his name, apologies to the principal of that company ).
　

There may be an alignment adjustment in the lens itself, maybe the front "square" group unlocks and rotates but it may not be that simple. - What camera are you using? Red One with Red's own PL-Mount, Red One with non-genuine third-party mount, , Red One with P+S-IMS modification, Red Epic/Scarlet, again genuine or non-genuine mount. There are many possible permutations.
　

With an Epic/Scarlet and a non-genuine unapproved four-screw mount there may be possibility of a ninety degree rotational misalignment which would not be apparant with any PL-Mount lens as the natural four choices of most PL-Mount lenses are either none, if only one lug has a locating pin relief cut into it or four of ninety degree rotational intervals if all lugs have a locating pine relief cut into them.
　

Non-genuine Red PL-Mounts may not have been machined correctly. This may not matter for spherical lenses and go quite un-noticed until an anamorphic lens is offered up. Then, if the lugs are not in correct angular relationship with the camera frame, then an anamorphic lens will exhibit a skewed stretch as you are experiencing.
　

If your mount is genuine and correct, the lenses may have been previously set up for a camera with a unique fault in the way the PL-Mount was fitted of the PL-Mount itself being incorrectly machined.
　

You may be able to cheat by positioning the lens in the mount so that the pin is located in one of the wide gaps between the four lugs on the PL-Mount. WARNING. THIS IS EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS DUE TO THE RISK OF THE LENS FALING OUT OF THE MOUNT.
　

Depending on the thickness and position of the pin, you may not be able to seat the lens fully in the mount, in which case forget about it. This also depends upon and how much arc of movement is available in the rotation of the clamp ring as to whether the lugs on the ring can turn far enough for you to offer the lens up to the mount incorrectly and avoid the locating pin.
　

Assuming luck smiles twice, this may allow you two zones, clockwise and anti-clockwise of approximately ten degrees of rotational adjustment within the mount itself. This practice if it can be done at all is EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS DUE TO THE RISK OF THE LENS FALING OUT OF THE MOUNT. The clamp ring may only achieve overlap to locking pressure on a very small section of the lugs and the lens may loosen and fall out with the rotational force of focus adjustments.
　

I would only do this if I also had a solid set of rods and a clamp to immobise the lens to them as a second support. A simple safety lanyard might seem to be a good idea but the likelyhood of such a heavy lens dropping then swinging back against something solid and ruining the rear element is just too great.
　

An alternative desperation measure might be to remove the locating pin to permit rotation of the lens in the mount. The same warning - EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS DUE TO THE RISK OF THE LENS FALING OUT OF THE MOUNT - applies.
　

I do not know how the Red PL-Mounts, genuine or non-genuine are constructed. In the case of the IMS-PL Mount, the locating pin is a small stud with a Phillips head profile stamped into the end.
　

Others may use a hex key for screwing the pin into assembly.
　

Others may simply comprise a stud pressed into a hole as a permanent interference fit, impossible to remove except by permanent and damaging means.
　

It is likely to be difficult if not impossible to shift a screwed stud as permanent threadlocker is likely to have been used during assembly.
　

If you can clarify the following, it may be helpful to to other people better than I to arrive at a solution for you :-
　

What camera did the LOMO PL Mount lens come off previously?
　

What camera are you using?
　

Is the mount a genuine Red mount, approved third-party or non-approved third party mount?
　

How is the PL Mount fitting attached to the rear of the Lomo lens body? It is by six or eight screws on axial centres of equal spacing into the rear of the lens body, it may be possible to remove the screws and rotate the PL piece on the back to another position to achieve correct orientation.
　

###################################################################################################################################### When re-orientating the anamorphics, to achieve correct adjustment without instruments in the field, find a true vertical line like a corner of a building. Do not choose utility poles. They are notorious for being wrong. Make sure your camera is dead level relative to this vertical object by first using a spherical lens and viewing the vertical object through it with the vertical object in dead centre of the image frame. Level the tripod head with the levelling bubble but do NOT rely upon the tripod bubble alone. There are sometimes slight angular differences between the tripod mount face and the camera itself which make this reference unreliable. Use the image through the spherical lens and the vertical target to establish your vertical reference with final tiny tripod head levelling trims. Now install your anamorphic lens. Pan to place this object dead-centre in your frame and rotate the lens until the vertically stretched image is not skewed relative to your vertical target. Between each dismount of the anamorphic lens, check your vertical reference with the spherical lens. Use the largest clearest sharpest monitor you have available to do this. Do not use left or right frame edge as a convenient vertical reference. Because of different elevations affecting perspective, verticals in edge of image will be misleading.
　

You can also use a true horizon like the ocean across the horizontal dead centre. It will be much easier. However, do not rely on other "apparent" horizontal references in an urban landscape. Because of different elevations affecting perspective, they likely will be misleading, however slightly, not apparent on your small monitor but glaringly apparent on a big screen. Unless your monitor is a true underscanned display showing the entire sensor image within a black border produced on the screen, do not rely on upper or lower frame edge of the monitor casework as a horizontal reference. The display screen itself may be slightly skewed within the casework. ############################################################################################################################

PLEASE SEEK OTHER ADVICE THAN MINE, PREFERABLY FROM THE GENUINE PROFESSIONAL CAMERA OPERATORS AND OPTICAL CRAFTSMEN WHO VISIT THIS FORUM.