Anamorphic for new comers !

[ricardo_sousa11]

Hi all,

 

As some of you may know, I recently bought an NX1 (havent tried it yet, still waiting for adapters), and im investing most of my money in gear...Lens wise, im pretty much set, with a few Samyang and Sigma Art lenses, though they are great lenses, I want to go a step further into the cinema look. That obviously means going into anamorphic lens/adapters. So, what do you guys recommend, any specific lens or adapter ? I've been checking around ebay and theres prices ranging from 100-800€, so I really am lost on what I should get/investigate.

 

Any help would be very appreciated

[Bold]

Hi Ricardo and welcome!  I am also a relative newcomer and have found a huge amount of info on this site, and people here are great at sharing their experiences.  You can take a look at the Anamorphic Lens-o-pedia, which is an aggregation of details about various adapters.  Also consider the Anamorphic Shooter's Guide. Tito Ferradans has put together some fantastic info here too.

All have adapters have advantages and disadvantages.  Anamorphic lenses with more in the 'plus' column and less in the 'minus' column are usually more elusive & expensive.  A full frame camera like the NX1 will reduce your practical options, and determining the anamorphic size/weight that fits your style of shooting (narrative, documentary, etc), will help narrow your choices further.  Once you have reduced your list to a few possibilities, follow that up with research on each,  Obviously EOSHD is a great resource, and you can find other tidbits of info scattered around the web.  Make sure to watch lots of videos and test footage of your choices to see if the image quality will meet your needs.  If you go for a vintage/discontinued product, you'll need to have some patience and diligence to locate it in the condition & the price range you're looking for.

For me personally, wanting to do narrative, I decided I wanted something that is single-focus and relatively lightweight.  I have a Century Precision Optics widescreen adapter which can be acquired relatively easily, but is not great at wide apertures and is soft at the edges.  However it is easy to swap out taking lenses, allows partial zoom-through, the taking lens does the focusing, and is light enough to carry around handheld if needed (though rails is always a good idea to reduce stress on camera & lens joints).  I also have a Bell & Howell projection lens, but it requires modification for greater ease of use.  I haven't done the mod yet, and there is always risk of damaging the anamorphic unit.  So like I said, every choice has pros and cons.

I don't know if any choice is perfect, but most folks here seem to have found workarounds for limitations,  Sometimes that means changing the way you shoot, sometimes that means selling the gear and putting the money towards a different option, sometimes that means doing crazy and ingenious modifications.  But first: research, research, research, and a good anamorphic choice will emerge.  Hope this helps!

 

Best

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