Panavision Anamorphics on the 5D2

[David Mullen ASC]

Widescreen format history is one of my hobbies...

As for T-stops, Tom, think of them as more accurate f-stops. In other words, if your meter says "f/4" then you set the lens to T/4.

The idea behind T-stops was just that there is some slight light loss through the lens so one lens at f/4, for example, wouldn't give you the same exposure as another lens at f/4. So they measure the actual light that the lens transmits, hence the "T", and move the f-stop mark to a more accurate position on the ring so that the amount of light is actually that f-stop. But they can't call it an f-stop anymore because that figure is an actual physical measurement based on aperture size and focal length.

But since on most lenses, the difference between an f-stop and T-stop is only a quarter-stop or so (an f/2.8 zoom might be a T/3.1), you can think of them as the same thing more or less, or when in doubt using a lens marked in f-stops, open up a little...

 

[Tom Lowe]

Thanks, David. So if my f/4 exposure is as bright as I want to go (I definitely don't want to go any brighter or it will begin to blow out), then I should stop down a tiny amount on the Primo past T4? Like T4.3 or something?

 

[David Mullen ASC]

The T-stop is a more accurate f-stop mark, so if you want to shoot at f/4... then shoot at T/4, get it? If you don't want to shoot at f/4, then shoot at the T-stop you want.

It's only an issue with lenses marked in f-stops, not T-stops, because then if you want to shoot at f/4, your lens marked at f/4 might not be giving you an f/4, it might be underexposing by a quarter-stop or something. Not normally a big deal of course, but if you had multiple cameras running on the same subject, you'd normally want them to match in exposure, so it's easier with lenses marked in T-stops because then you know that if you want f/4, you set every lens to T/4 and they should match. Whereas if every lens only had f-stop marks and you set them all to f/4, some may be exposing less than others.

Just think of T-stops as the f-stop and don't confuse yourself. If you want to open up or close down a little, that's up to you. Besides, isn't your DSLR reading the exposure through the lens anyway?

The difference between the f-stop and T-stop is so minor, it's not the difference between blowing out or not. Besides, as I said, if you want to shoot at f/4 because that's what your meter tells you, then T/4 would be the best match to what your meter tells you because T/4 is an f/4, exposure-wise. f/4, on the other hand, might not be an f/4...

The simplest thing would be to put the still camera lens you are used to on your Canon and then the Primo and shoot the same subject at the same stop and see the difference. If the Primo is consistently a quarter-stop brighter in exposure, then you take that into account when switching between the lenses to match each other better. So you may be stopping down the Primo slightly to match or opening up the still camera lens slightly.

Though all of this is assuming that the T-stop marks on the Primo are accurate. I found when shooting with the old 11:1 Primo anamorphic zoom that it was consistently exposing less than the Primo anamorphic primes, despite both being marked in T-stops. It may be to exposure ramping, the T-stops on the zoom were perhaps set for the wide-angle position whereas I tended to only use the zoom for tighter shots.

 

[Tom Lowe]

Thanks, David. I wasn't using a light meter to find the correct exposure, I was just bracketing shots on the 5D2 with a still lens until I found the right exposure, then I double-checked the shots on my monitor when I got home. The exposure is basically ISO 100 f/4 for 1 second.

I wouldn't even know how to use a proper light meter to figure out exposure for a city skyline from a rooftop.

Anyway, it sounds like T4 on the Primo is likely to be just a tad bit faster than f/4 on Canon EF lenses. Shooting RAW, you have at least a full stop of latitude to reduce or increase exposure in Adobe Camera RAW, so like you said, the difference is not enough to blow out the shot. Maybe I will try the exposure comparison test at Panavision when I'm prepping.

 

[Tom Lowe]

We're shooting the 5D2 Panavision anamorphic tonight! Woohoo.

Here's a shot of my little motion timelapse rig shooting yesterday, and a still I shot at one of our timelapse locations:

I'm really enjoying this TVC shooting. I am definitely thinking about trying to get into commercial directing. Not only is it a lot of fun, but I hear the pay is quite good for directors. :thumbsup:

 

[Andrew Walker]

We're shooting the 5D2 Panavision anamorphic tonight! Woohoo.

Here's a shot of my little motion timelapse rig shooting yesterday, and a still I shot at one of our timelapse locations:

I'm really enjoying this TVC shooting. I am definitely thinking about trying to get into commercial directing. Not only is it a lot of fun, but I hear the pay is quite good for directors. :thumbsup:

Nice shot Tom. I might be going down there in a little bit to get some shots. If I went down there last night while I was out I'm sure I would have seen you. Here's one of mine from last night.

 

[Tom Lowe]

Drew, I actually set up my whole dolly and everything on the 6th St overpass, and the cops drove right past us several times. Didn't even stop to ask for our permit. We were kicking back right on the overpass with lawn chairs. :thumbsup:

A couple shots of the 5D2 with 50mm anamorphic Primo last night on top of the AT&T building. The location and security people turned out to be more kickback than we expected, so now I'm wishing you had come up, Drew! My bad. Next time.

 

[Stefan Christou]

This thread is insane. So many amazing images it's unreal.

 

[Sanjin Jukic]

Tom,

very impressive look of that Panavision Primo L anamorphic to Canon 5DMK2 DSLR rig.

It´s a real example of "advanced video touristic cinematography" :smile5:

Looking forward to see that final result...

 

[Andrew Walker]

Drew, I actually set up my whole dolly and everything on the 6th St overpass, and the cops drove right past us several times. Didn't even stop to ask for our permit. We were kicking back right on the overpass with lawn chairs. :thumbsup:

A couple shots of the 5D2 with 50mm anamorphic Primo last night on top of the AT&T building. The location and security people turned about to be more kickback than we expected, so now I'm wishing you had come up, Drew! My bad. Next time.

Ah man, I was down there shooting TL on the 110/6th Street bridge for a couple hours. Hopefully next time we can work together.

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

That's got to be insane at full resolution. I am tying to hold back from spamming your thread here so I'll just ask once: As soon as you can share anything, you better!

 

[Tim Lüdin]

Hey Tom

This set up looks so crazy.
What about the pics. Do they come out good?
Is it worth the hassle?

Cheers
Tim

 

[Petr Dvorak]

Great pics Thanx Tom!

 

[Pietro Impagliazzo]

Waiting on an anamorphic photo man!

 

[Tom Lowe]

Waiting on an anamorphic photo man!

Hehe. Keep in mind that this is really rough. I think I kind of framed this one wrong. I should have tilted up a bit more, because the vignetting at the top is forcing me to crop off the top of the US Bank building.

I have another shot that might show off the anamorphic flaring more.

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

Beautiful. Can't wait to see it in motion.

That isn't sharpened right? I bet you already considered the air quality issues. Every time I fly back into the city my stomach twists and turns as I stare at the ominous layer of pollution covering downtown.

 

[Andrew Walker]

Hehe. Keep in mind that this is really rough. I think I kind of framed this one wrong. I should have tilted up a bit more, because the vignetting at the top is forcing me to crop off the top of the US Bank building.

I have another shot that might show off the anamorphic flaring more.

Damn you Tom and your cool locations. Must have been nice up there. Did you happen to see the helicopters doing runs. They also looked like they were supporting .50s.

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

WTF?! Haha... looks like from a scene from "Air Wolf". Red and yellow lights are not military (correct?) so I wonder what those 50 cal looking things were. Maybe they were out looking for the suspicious dude atop a building aiming a 50mm at down town LA.

Come on Tom... M0AR!!!

 

[Tom Lowe]

Ha ha!... yeah we saw those helicopters. They flew right past us like 5 times at the AT&T building's roof. The choppers were full of commandos hanging out with guns. They would land on the roof of the US Bank building, then commandos would jump out. They did this several times, the pilots pulling some very risky maneuvers. All of us on the roof -- including a bunch of Europeans on the crew -- were watching in amazement. Vincent Laforet was with me, testing some new lenses for Canon, and he manged to get some amazing shots with the 5D2 in HD video mode with his 500mm F/4 of those helos buzzing the dusk sky. I don't know what Vince is going to do with those shots, but he got super lucky being in the right place at the right time, with the right lens. :thumbsup:

Some of the guys on our crew thought the helos might be involved with shots for Iron Man II. I have no idea though.

 

[Andrew Walker]

Ha ha!... yeah we saw those helicopters. They flew right past us like 5 times at the AT&T building's roof. The choppers were full of commandos hanging out with guns. They would land on the roof of the US Bank building, then commandos would jump out. They did this several times, the pilots pulling some very risky maneuvers. All of us on the roof -- including a bunch of Europeans on the crew -- were watching in amazement. Vincent Laforet was with me, testing some new lenses for Canon, and he manged to get some amazing shots with the 5D2 in HD video mode with his 500mm F/4 of those helos buzzing the dusk sky. I don't know what Vince is going to do with those shots, but he got super lucky being in the right place at the right time, with the right lens. :thumbsup:

Some of the guys on our crew thought the helos might be involved with shots for Iron Man II. I have no idea though.

Yeah it seemed like a film shoot to me. I don't think they (LEO/MIL) would have been running drills for that long. Only a film shoot goes that long.:Yawn: