Anamorphic lens

[RobertoNiki]

I have a Bolex H8 Reflex that was transformed in Double Super 8 with the Angenieux F 8-64 mm f/1,9. Do you know a suitable and easy to find anamorphic lens to shoot in a cinemascope format.

Also for my projector Bealieu 708

Thank you for information

Roberto

[cameratech]

The biggest problem is finding an anamorphic that won't vignette at anything other than the telephoto end. They are generally projection lenses, with fairly long focal lengths. Within the S8mm format even the best suited anamorphics like the Kowa 16H (or 8Z) will vignette under about 15mm, or worse when used with long or large zooms. The best combination is usually with primes, that have a smaller front element. If the anamorphic has a small rear element, or a long barrel, you'll get even more vignetting. The 16H is good because it has a large rear element and a short barrel.

The other issue is mounting the anamorphic in front of the taking lens. You usually need a support bracket to hold it in place. Bolex did make brackets that screwed into the other turret ports for their anamorphic system but they're hard to come by (as are the Moeller anamorphics themselves). They were designed to be used with primes, not a big zoom.

Martin Baumgarten wrote a good piece on anamorphics for 8mm:
http://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/stu ... rphic.html

Unfortunately the price of even crappy anamorphics has sky-rocketed since the digital crowd discovered old cine glass.

[carllooper]

Within the S8mm format even the best suited anamorphics like the Kowa 16H (or 8Z) will vignette under about 15mm, or worse when used with long or large zooms.

Yes, I've got a 2X anamorphic designed for Super8 projectors (an Isco-Gottingen Iscomorphot S8/2X). On a Bolex 16mm camera, it vignettes sharply on a Kern 10mm prime (about a quarter of the frame on both sides is black) but is otherwise fine with a 25mm prime (no apparent vignetting), which is consistent with what Dom is saying. Using an old TV camera zoom lens (up to 75mm) on the Bolex I couldn't find any focal length at which it didn't vignette.

On a Super8 camera (Leicina Special) with Angenieux zoom, the anamorphic vignettes at all focal lengths. With a 10mm prime on the same camera, the anamorphic also vignettes (sharply), but obviously the black takes up less screen space than it does with a 10mm on a 16mm frame.

I was going to get a 15mm prime for the Leicina Super8 last year, to do an anamorphic film, but decided to shoot UltraPan8 instead (with 10mm prime and 5.5mm wideangle adapter).

To partially test the S8/2X anamorphic (or otherwise exploit it in the digital domain) I attached it to the front of a digital camera (with a zoom lens), and zoomed in to find if there was a point beyond which it no longer appeared to vignette, which I did find. In the result there was some minor fall off in brightness (ie. it was vignetting after all), and some chromatic distortion towards the edges of frame, but both of which were digitally correctable.

Carl

[Scotness]

If you look out on eBay you might see some of those Panasonic or Century Optics 16:9 anamorphic lenses that were made for the DVX-100

Scot

[Scotness]

Here's what I mean but he's completely kidding himself on the price!

But the good thing about these lenses is they compress a 4:3 frame correctly to make it 16:9 (which the common 2x lenses won't) and it also has a nice wide rear lense opening (72mm thread)



Scot

[granfer]

RobertoNi

You refer to "cinemascope format" If you really mean that and not "Widescreen" then you need either a 2:1 ratio (giving 2.66:1 on a 4:3 frame, the ORIGINAL CinemaScope format), or a 1.75:1 ratio (giving 2.35:1 on a 4:3 frame, the current CinemaScope format).
For the former, a KOWA 16 series lens is the most popular on the H16 Bolex. There are several variants; choose one with a wide rear element. The 16Z is commonly used.
For the latter ratio, try and find a "Magnarama" (1.75:1). I use one... and it's brilliant.