Jim Rogers
Well-known member
Quick test of the super-rare/TINY "Baby Kowa" Anamorphic adapter on Canon FD 50mm 1.8
The SUPER rare Kowa Prominar Anamorphic-8 2x...the "Baby Kowa".
This was just done spur of the moment, no lighting etc...just popped onto camera (GH5), brought out to back porch and took some clips.
Interesting to see what this little thing is capable of in completely natural light, run and gun situations.
Designed for super8 cameras; the smallest 2x scope out there...not to mention one of the rarest. Good luck finding one.
And believe it or not? This thing is superior to the much-drooled-over "baby-hypergonar". Significantly so.
I own two of the baby kowas, and one baby hypergonar, all in truly excellent shape.
Taking lens is a Canon nFD 50mm f1.8, mounted on a 0.71x Zhongyi speedbooster. Aperture varied between around 5.6 to 8 (on the lens, pre-speedboost).
The focus setup is a Rapido Technologies FVD8.
GH5 Camera settings: Natural profile, ISO 200, 4:3 "4k Anamorphic" mode (3328x2496, from full sensor).
Desqueezed in resolve, cropped sides to 2.35, rendered in DCI 4k 'scope (4096x1716).
Slight contrast and exposure adjustments, slight sharpening added. Otherwise straight out of camera.
Yup...the baby Kowa is able to cover 50mm at around APS-C/S35, with no real vignetting/portholing on corners/sides. The sides have been cropped to achieve 2.35, but the cropped portions were fully visible. Of course...such coverage requires careful choice of taking lens, with a small front element that is very far forward so kowa rear lens can be very close.
The flares are soft, understated, and beautiful...pinkish purple.
Hope you enjoyed! There will be more, I have a small but growing collection of interesting, VERY rare glass (not just "fun" stuff like this kowa), and will be starting a rental house offering some of it.
The SUPER rare Kowa Prominar Anamorphic-8 2x...the "Baby Kowa".
This was just done spur of the moment, no lighting etc...just popped onto camera (GH5), brought out to back porch and took some clips.
Interesting to see what this little thing is capable of in completely natural light, run and gun situations.
Designed for super8 cameras; the smallest 2x scope out there...not to mention one of the rarest. Good luck finding one.
And believe it or not? This thing is superior to the much-drooled-over "baby-hypergonar". Significantly so.
I own two of the baby kowas, and one baby hypergonar, all in truly excellent shape.
Taking lens is a Canon nFD 50mm f1.8, mounted on a 0.71x Zhongyi speedbooster. Aperture varied between around 5.6 to 8 (on the lens, pre-speedboost).
The focus setup is a Rapido Technologies FVD8.
GH5 Camera settings: Natural profile, ISO 200, 4:3 "4k Anamorphic" mode (3328x2496, from full sensor).
Desqueezed in resolve, cropped sides to 2.35, rendered in DCI 4k 'scope (4096x1716).
Slight contrast and exposure adjustments, slight sharpening added. Otherwise straight out of camera.
Yup...the baby Kowa is able to cover 50mm at around APS-C/S35, with no real vignetting/portholing on corners/sides. The sides have been cropped to achieve 2.35, but the cropped portions were fully visible. Of course...such coverage requires careful choice of taking lens, with a small front element that is very far forward so kowa rear lens can be very close.
The flares are soft, understated, and beautiful...pinkish purple.
Hope you enjoyed! There will be more, I have a small but growing collection of interesting, VERY rare glass (not just "fun" stuff like this kowa), and will be starting a rental house offering some of it.
