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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Single focus Anamorphic

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Mark S Sanders

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Interesting stuff, but honestly those demo-vids aren't convincing me, neither the one on ebay nor the one made with that FM/Schneider/Zeiss-configuration on a 5DM3.
 
The Ebay one (from having a quick look at the link) works by increasing/decreasing the distance of the front focal unit... in a push/pull fashion - so you couldn't attach a follow focus, as it doesn't (seem) to rotate in the traditional way.
 
But the FM single focus lens seems promising, did anybody test it?
 
I bought the FM lens and I gotta say it's pretty awesome. There is a little play at infinity and there are a few quirks, but not deal breakers. It's cool to be able to take different anamorphic elements and use them with the FM to get different looks. Here is something I shot with it on Dragon. Just tests for rack focusing and bokeh tests.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKzOwjw7rRc
 
John Brennick said:
I bought the FM lens and I gotta say it's pretty awesome. There is a little play at infinity and there are a few quirks, but not deal breakers. It's cool to be able to take different anamorphic elements and use them with the FM to get different looks. Here is something I shot with it on Dragon. Just tests for rack focusing and bokeh tests.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKzOwjw7rRc
Click to expand...
Indeed, i didn't expect much from this solution but i am surprised.
Interesting selection of lenses too. Going wide with anamorphic adaptors seems to be tricky on other solutions, so thats a plus.

BTW, how much do you like the Meyer Optik?
 
Maik Müller said:
Indeed, i didn't expect much from this solution but i am surprised.
Interesting selection of lenses too. Going wide with anamorphic adaptors seems to be tricky on other solutions, so thats a plus.

BTW, how much do you like the Meyer Optik?
Click to expand...

Ya, I like the setup a lot. It's a little big, but its ok. You kind of expect that with anamorphics. The Meyer Optik is one of my favorite lenses personally. The 2.8 is a little slow but I like the flaring and the bokeh is pretty incredible.
 
John Brennick said:
Ya, I like the setup a lot. It's a little big, but its ok. You kind of expect that with anamorphics. The Meyer Optik is one of my favorite lenses personally. The 2.8 is a little slow but I like the flaring and the bokeh is pretty incredible.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the insight... I have to get my fingers on those Meyer lenses one day. :)

Have you guys seen the SLRmagic Rangefinder? Looks promising, probably works the same way as those FM-lenses but adds some versatility.
 
I'm interested in more of your experience with the FM focus module..
for that I'm bringing this thread to life again.
 
Thanks for the thread.

It made me curious, so I did some research and have been looking at the 'FM Lens Focus Module', with the 'Sankor', 'Schneider' and 'Isco' 2x anamorphic 35mm projection lenses (just one of each type).

I haven't done any thorough testing, even by my own lesser standards, and have yet to settle on a final set of lens configurations, but what I've seen so far makes me think there is something there that I can find useful.

Just a word of warning though about the FM Lens Focus Module, or three words actually - image ^%$#ing shift. The unit is really well made/solidly built, with nice quality glass, and basically works as described, but the optics breathe and you can get noticeable image shifting happening when racking focus. You really need to have the combined unit on rails with a lens support and have it firmly attached to your taking lens as well to avoid visible movement between the three (focus, anamorphic & taking) lenses.

Should also mention the vignetting that can occur when using the FM Focus Module, and even within some of the anamorphic projection lenses alone. To avoid vignetting within the projection lens it's best to place it as close to the taking lens as possible, but sometimes this means the projection lens doesn't then reach all the way to the front of the FM Focus module, which results in the focus module itself causing vignetting. In some cases this can mean having to use a longer than 50mm focal length taking lens to avoid darkening of the corners in the recorded image.

As far as the anamorphic projection lenses themselves, I was impressed by the overall build and quality of the glass. You can still buy some of them brand new for a few thousand dollars each (compared to a few hundred dollars for second-hand older ones on e-Bay), and imo you can see, in the actual quality of the lenses, part of the reason why they're that expensive.

It'll be interesting to see what 'SLR Magic' manage to achieve image-quality-wise with their 'Rangefinder' single-focus lens module, compared to the 'FM Lens' unit. In some ways though they're not really competing directly against one another. The FM Lens is designed mainly to work with projection lenses (the Schneider's in particular), which usually don't have a front filter thread for example, by having the projection lens inserted inside the focus module. While the SLR Magic Rangefinder is meant to be threaded or clamped to the front of an anamorphic (or standard/flat) lens. That's a pretty big difference when you consider the limits and advantages of both approaches.

Anyway...

Here's a random pic showing a FM Focus Module/Schneider Kreuznach ES Cinelux/Leica 90mm Elmarit-M combination (cropped and letterboxed in post for a 1.85 aspect ratio), shot on a Scarlet Dragon in 5K 6:5 2xANA mode (tungsten light, lit by a fluoro light).



Want to mention too that I wasn't interested in trying to achieve any sort classic vintage anamorphic look with the projection & taking lens combinations I've looked at so far. The modern 35mm projection lenses are multi-coated and designed for clarity and evenly spread illumination above all else as far as I can tell, which is what I was looking for and is what I've seen in the examples I've looked at.

I'm guessing the FM Focus module in particular is neutral enough to make achieving the look you want dependent on your choice of anamorphic and taking lenses, but I'm still not thinking of these adapter/lens combinations as being a direct substitute for the 'real' thing, classic or modern, if you know what I mean. They are their own thing.
 
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