I did some tests now with the camcorder simulating the field of view and the focus behavior of a 50mm prime lens. i could get it to focus through the anamorphic adapter using a two single lens design. this reminds that previous design i talked about, one cilindrical achromat double doing the squeeze and one positive esferical achromat double to allow the focus. multicoating will be a must due to more lenses results in lots of unwanted reflections. a single lens adapter can work without muticoating but two or more lenses design cannot.

For me to develop this adapter will be so expensive and time comsuming and i cant go on with the idea. this is a job for @slrmagic and other bigger manufacturers.

I got a new idea, maybe a good solution for improve the IQ in the anamorphic adapter. Instead of design just one adapter for all prime lenses from 14 to 50mm with focus through, probably it will be better to develop three adapters, one for 14/17mm, one for 20/25mm and one for 45/50mm. i got this idea because to get focus in the adapter when changing focal lenght can be an issue. but if the adapter is calibrated to the 50mm focal lenght it can be used with shorter focal length because longer focal lenghts tends to have a more far minimum focus distance. Maybe slrmagic can select two or three lenses like 20mm 1.7 and 45mm 1.8 and design two or three adapters specific for each of them, this will avoid slrmagic to develop the prime lenses and will allow people to use lenses they already own or can by for an affordable price.

I will do my tests with the GH2 with the 14 lenses i am waiting to be ready to test. if i found the GH2 can use the single lens anamorphic adapter i will go on, but if i found the GH2 cannot be used with a single lens anamorphic adapter i will stop developing and i will go on just with the anamorphic adapter for small camcorders.

I've been reading this forum for awhile, and this specific thread for a few days. I've created a login just now to comment...

The idea of some kind of combination unit that provides a 1.33X expansion but with the "look" of a 1.5X-to-2X in terms of artifacts (bokeh, flare) is very appealing to me.

My own personal preference for my own work is to be able to achieve a standard widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 while utilizing as much of the image sensor (preferably every pixel!) as possible. This would mean a 1.33X expansion for currently-available modes on the GH2.

I realize that simply by using standard lenses and cropping/expanding appropriately in post, I can achieve the same aspect ratio, and depending on the optical quality of an anamorphic adapter, the end result of cropping/expanding without special lenses/adapters may actually be superior. However, I do believe that with a 1.33X anamorphic lens of sufficient quality, I can achieve a wide aspect and great resolution.

But I fully understand and respect those who are searching for the "look" of anamorphic, and therefore require a 1.5X or larger expansion, and that issues of not using all of the image sensor (because of cropping/expansion in post) are less important than the artistic considerations.

But if we can have a single lens product that does it all, or at least simulates the effect with a degree of quality which is superior to used/aftermarket/adapters found on eBay, such a product would serve everyone well.

I would realistically pay in the ballpark of $1200 for an anamorphic lens like that, preferably in the 25mm (50mm full frame equivalent) or a bit wider. Someone else mentioned 17mm.

Others have also suggested offering multiple lenses with different lengths but otherwise identical looks, such as 25mm, 50mm, etc. There was the suggestion of producing a modular system with matched lenses, so that the anamorphic portion only needed to be purchased once. I have no idea if this can be realistically accomplished, but if a complete base package (with one lens) started at $1200, I could see eventually spending $600/each on companion lenses in the additional sizes.

That being said, for me personally my priority is a good, sharp, complete anamorphic lens with a 1.33X expansion in the 17mm-25mm ballpark. Anamorphic artifacts are secondary (especially lens flare which tends to be overdone.)

I am currently an owner of the SLRMagic 12mm, so I have put my money out there to try lenses from smaller vendors before. I have mixed feelings about that lens (a topic for another day) but it's always in my camera bag and gets used where appropriate every few weeks.

Thanks for soliciting comments... this has all been very interesting reading and quite educational. (There was a lot about anamorphics I didn't realize before reading all this.)

@slrmagic - http://www.surveymonkey.com/ Maybe this could help.

I added 4 new lens design to the anamorphic experiment. now it is 14 different designs. there are 12 for the squeeze factor and 3 for the oval bokeh and horizontal flare. Maybe the multicoating will erase the horizontal flare as someone said, so need to test it to see if it is better to do multicoating or not. lens flares and reflections is an issue to be avoided but in anamorphic aesthetic it is an artistic and cinematic look so multicoating needs test. after finding the best lens design it will be the time to test multicoating.

I decided to go on faster in the anamorphic adapter for small camcorders due to it have more chances to work on the cheap route. if i found a great desing for it among the lenses in progress so i can release the product.

The body design is ready and my plastic partner is machining bodies for some different threads, 30 / 34 / 37 / 40.5 / 43 / 46 / 49 / 52 / 58 / 62mm

I think i can finish the tests at the end of september (for the camcorder anamorphic adapter). I am following optical glass fisical properties, the results from my previous experimentations and my intuition. Of course there are chances for it not to work, because lenses sometimes shows strange light unexpected behaviors, but this is the way developing job is. Theory, design, experimentation, redesign, experimentation... until find the perfect solution.

The 14 lens designs in progress also includes lenses for tests in GH2. If i find one who works i will design the body for the GH2 anamorphic adapter after that, it will take some little more time to become a product. But as i said before, chances are small.

I cannot spend much more money doing designs and experimentations, so after this first batch i can do just a second try with a few more lenses design, and if it do not work i will stop.

footage will come if something works for camcorder and also for GH2. camcorders in tests are canon HV20 and sony HC5.

@johnbrawley

My 2x anamorphic footage is still wider than 16:9 footage with the same lens sans anamorphic, even with the crop. I'm increasing my horizontal field of view when using an anamorphic, that's what they do. If the vertical FOV stays the same and the aspect ratio gets wider, it follows logically that the horizontal FOV has increased.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not hard-set on 2x. 1.5x can look very nearly just as good (partially because you get more of the edges, which as you pointed out have more anamorphic mojo than center image.)

In all honesty, I'm most intrigued by the 1.33x/"2x" lens idea, which I'm not sure I firmly grasp. If a re-explanation is too much, maybe you could enlighten me over PM, but here is how I am envisioning it working, front to back:

1. The front is a full-on 2x anamorphic, with all the optical effects that accompany the 2x squeeze factor.

2. In the middle is all your "normal" spherical lens parts (aperture, focus and various element groups). These combined with the anamorphic give us the "2x look". Only after this look is established by passing a 2X squeezed image trough the "normal" lenses, aperture etc. does it get . . .

3. . . . partially desqueezed at the back end so that the final squeeze presented to the camera is a reduced 1.33x squeeze, optimal for 16:9 modes on most cameras. But it maintains the 2X qualities because the light has gone first through the 2x and the spherical before finally being reduced to 1.33x squeeze.

Is my description accurate? I'm thinking that the spatial warp and "waterfall" OOF effect are a combined product of the anamorphic squeeze and the aperture. Whatever the squeeze is when the image passes through the aperture is what determines what intensity of effect we will see in the final image, regardless of wether or not it is then desqueezed by another element(s) further back in the lens design???

I have a hypergonar hifi2 which I love but I think the 2x 3.55 is a little too wide. I'd love to see a nice 1.5x 2.66 25mm lens with an easy to get filter size. Biggest factors for me would be no vignetting on a m43 camera even when filter is mounted and of course sharpness oh and (no coating that would get rid of the flares). Please don't do that.

@slrmagic

1.33x is the most convenient squeeze but 2x looks the best. If you can make a 1.33x with the optical qualities of a 2x, well then that sounds like the best of both worlds.

I vote for lenses, not an adapter.

One would think with the CAD abilities and nanotechnology we would have optics sorted by now.

Anamorphic lenses are pretty difficult to design and build, even for decent quality, nothing to underestimate.

@Ralph_B

Another plus of 1.3X anamorphic is you can use ANY 16x9 monitor with a manual 16x9 option in the menu. You automatically solve the monitoring issue by forcing 16x9 conversion.

jb

I disagree that 1.3X anamorphics don't have any of the anamorphic traits. Whilst more subtle, they are most certainly there.

It seems though it's an adaptor and not actual lenses, so I think that count's me out.

I do wish someone would do some reasonable 1.3x anamorphic lenses and not adaptors.

Here are some 1.3x HAWK lenses from an Alexa.

jb

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/qe3Jc.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/sxG9m.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/L0VsA.jpg[/IMG]

@thepalalias thanks for the answer, i am almost shure i can do the 1.33x for small camcorders. What i dont know at this moment is what i can do for the gh2 and other dslr, it is time to wait the new design lenses to get ready to test and post here what is possible and what i cant do in the cheap route.

I won't be amazed if someone release an affortable anamorphic lens anytime soon. I can almost feel it man.

quote... If you are deciding to make a good anamorphic lens, do not use the ag-la7200 as your IQ guide. I strongly suggest getting the iscorama.

well with schneider looking like they are designing a new lens and schneider own isco and the iscorama patents. and sigma's prototype. and mr apefos and his efforts. this is looking like interesting times the issue will soon be which part of the market they all go for?