Chinese New Years! SLR Magic Anamorphot 2x

[nahua]

Happy Chinese New Years! Video from the Miss Chinatown Court visiting Waikiki during the celebration! Shot with the new SLR Magic 2x Anamorphot w/ Panasonic GH4 4K.
http://youtu.be/JNANO__XwKQ

 

[shanebrutal]

The SLR magic 2x certainly has a nice look. Particularity with people in the frame I think. Any idea when this will be released?

[nahua]

I know SLR Magic is almost ready to release it.  Awesome build and quality as always.  And same blue flares like their 1.33x Anamorphot

[nahua]

Here's another Chinese New Years video with the Miss Chinatown Court.  Again, GH4 4K + SLR Magic 2x Anamorphot:

http://youtu.be/h-HPhC89DSM

[richg101]

I think SLR Magic may have dropped the ball for the second time..

It's as if they look at results from beautiful anamorphics like the iscorama and then design something that delivers the exact opposite.  Their 1.33x lens didn;t have any anamorphic aesthetic, and it looks like it may have not been because of the minimal squeeze ratio, but their process of designing the lens.  This, like the 1.33x lens seems to miss the point of anamorphic completely.  No character, yet all of the hassle and rather poor edge capability too - for the 4k crop mode (which is more than a 2x crop of full frame) I see rather unpleasant aberrations at the edges and a significant degradation on the performance of the panasonic lens.  Going from 720p up to 4k there is no additional resolution from what I see.  This will get worse on s35, and probably real nasty on full frame.

 

Your FM video has the anamorphic look:-

 

 

Why does the SLR magic not have the same 'magic' I see from the video above?  Both were shot on 4k crop mode, both by the same person.  Both are 2x

 

[raf702]

@richg101 I noticed the same as well. I've seen many FM lens videos and all have been very pleasing. And with the handlful of SLR 2x videos I've seen so far, It's seems to lack a bit of that anamorphic character. Maybe I haven't seen enough SLR 2x in the right hands yet. 

[nahua]

Rich you're right.  I shot both and here's my thoughts:

SLR Magic 2x just like other 2x adapters need the right lens.  I have had a hard time pairing the right lens.  Older lenses like Russian lenses or the Tokina lens don't pair well.  The SLR Magic 2x is best used with modern lenses.  That's unfortunate because it becomes more clinical and less like the "anamorphic look" that we all strive for.  The other problem is the dual focus, and I've talked at length with Andrew Chan about this.  It doesn't have a distance scale so the focus is different for each taking lens.  The focus plane is also sharper and smaller, so you can't shoot it wide open aperture.  Taking lenses must be 1-2 stops from wide open, which is F2.8-F4 or even F5.6.  Old lenses usually F8.

This is in sharp contrast to the FM Module with the Cinelux, and I believe it has more to do with the Cinelux rather than the FM.  The Cinelux is sharp, and it works very well with old lenses.  Also you can shoot wide open, meaning F1.4 is sharp.  This also gives great character especially to closeup shots of faces.  Add to that the FM is single focus and you have a clear winner.  The downsides to the FM is that it is HEAVY, HUGE size, MUST be rigged, no way can you run-and-gun with it.

I'm still on the fence as I haven't been able to shoot a lot with the SLR Magic 2x.  I've just shot what I could, and even then I admit it's not what I want to shoot.  I hope to use it more and get better results.  But there are serious compromises and I have addressed it with SLR Magic.