QuickHitRecord

Nice footage.   I also use the Skier O-Ring rig. It's perfect for this kind of work, and will work on just about any camera.

Here's my test (skip to about the 2 minute mark):   https://vimeo.com/60401188   I found it to be usable at f5.6 and smaller.

My god, what is that?!

I've featured a Sea Knight helicopter in one of my pieces. It was in a training film for the Marine Corps, and even that was a struggle. The military has to document and justify every flight plan so unless you are doing something for them, or you have enough political influence, or you are a member of the press doing a ride-along, I think that it's unlikely that you're going to get that kind of cooperation from them. They have more important things to do.   I'm not sure where you are based, but if you have the money for it, there is a company outside of LA (or perhaps as far away as the Mojave Desert; I can't remember) that has some land in the desert and a bunch of military vehicles that you can rent for use in your films. But I'm not sure if they have helicopters, and even if they do, it won't be cheap.   Third option would be to setup your camera with a telephoto lens near a base and try to get those shots on the sly. I wouldn't recommend being close to the actual base perimeter, but you can figure out the general flight paths that they are using and position yourself accordingly.   And of course, there is always stock footage.

  This video caught my attention. The last time that I worked with the ML raw module (about two months ago, I think), the recorded focus assist version only allowed for a 5x crop and a 10x crop, but this video makes several references to a 3x crop, which would be much more useful. Has this been changed?    EDIT: Looking around a bit more, it appears that it is actually a 3x crop rather than a 5x crop. Not sure what the greater crop amounts to though...

I really haven't had much of a chance to play with this lens, unfortunately. But if our Government remains closed next week, I may have a few days off and perhaps I will get around to it.   It really does seem to be the full package, at least for my purposes. I think that mine looks pretty great at f/2.8. In my opinion, it has more character than many of the more popular and sought-after anamorphics out there.   (And by answering this, I am losing my '666 posts' status that I have been hanging on to for a while. Rock and roll.)

That was beautiful!

Lomo spherical lenses are great, if you can find a good one. But they aren't cheap, and adapters are very expensive too.   If it were me, I would go on eBay and look for a cheap fixed 135mm lens in good condition. Pay close attention to the filter thread size, because that is also an indicator of the size of the front element. The smaller it is (49mm, 52mm and 55mm should be good), the better chance that you won't be run into problems with vignetting.

Well, it's a trade off. You'll be getting 1080P resolution out of either camera.   For anamorphic shooting, the greater the crop factor (1.5/1.6x APS-C, 1.86-2.0x Micro Four Thirds, etc.), the lower focal length you can get away with, and the smaller the taking lenses that you can use (for instance, the Helios-44 is much more compact than any 105mm lens that I know of).   That being said, full frame will give you better low-light performance and more shallow depth of field, but you will need a longer (and larger) taking lens to go behind your anamorphic, and your rig will be bigger and heavier.   Hope that helps!

Yes, this is a result of the full frame sensor and the wider field of view. You are seeing the sides of the inside of the Hypergonar in this image. But if you do your 2x stretch and then crop to a 1.5x (2.55:1) image, you may be able to get rid of the vignetting.   If you really want to shoot without vignetting and keep a 2x stretch, you will need a much longer lens... maybe as much as 105mm or 135mm.

This is really cool stuff. I wonder if it is possible to use this technology to watch and record actors and 3D motion capture virtual actors interact with one another in real time. I seem to remember reading that James Cameron did something like that for Avatar.

Make sure that the image stabilization is turned OFF on your lens.   But I suspect more that it's a side effect of shooting at 24 frames per second. If an object takes less than about seven seconds to pass from one side of the screen to the other, then you are likely to experience motion judder when viewing on a 60hz monitor. It is one of the limitations of that frame rate.   If you really need smooth motion, you may find that 30 and 60 frames (especially 60 frames) per second are better for your purposes.

I'm not sure why you'd want both the GH2 and the G6. They are similar but unless there has been a firmware update, the G6 does not allow monitoring via HDMI.   Unlike either of these cameras, the GH3 has a problem with moire.   I have heard rumblings that the GH5 is right around the corner, so it may be best to wait.

These are definitely some of the better flares that I have seen from a flare filter. Still, there's something special about real anamorphic flares...

  I think that a score of 0 is ideal though, right?

Personally, I prefer the Nikkor 50mm AI-S to the Helios-44 for pairing with anamorphic lenses, but it's purely subjective.

Everything was focused carefully. If you own a sharper copy of this lens than the one that I had, consider yourself fortunate.

At the same time, this presents an interesting optical setup that is still somewhat uncharted. If it is a signature anamorphic "look" that you are after, not too many people are going through the trouble of doing this.

  Why is it a poor example? I think that it reinforces what you said about the lens being usable at f5.6 and smaller.

After setting it up and calibrating it, I feel that the AC7 is the ultimate anamorphic monitor. You can switch the anamorphic mode I mentioned above on and off with ease, and the image that you get is so large that it is really easy to check critical focus, especially by assigning Focus Assist Max to one of the buttons. This monitor breathes life back into my GH2, which does not allow the camera's magnified focus assist to be used when an HDMI cable is plugged in. I could never tell what was truly in focus. But now it's become my primary anamorphic camera again.   I only wish that it had waveform monitoring, but the false color feature is pretty easy to use.   I saved some money (and weight) by buying the HDMI-only LCD version, but I can always send it back to SmallHD in the future for the SDI upgrade. 

I just got a response to my comment from Convergent Design:     I went ahead and ordered the SmallHD AC7. It has a built in 2x-stretch-and-cropped-to-1.5x" anamorphic mode that I have had my eye on for a while.  

I'd also like to know what this is, if anyone can answer Caleb's question.

This should get you started:   http://youtu.be/6l7KTDHla5k   And then you should consider buying this: http://www.eoshd.com/anamorphic-guide

This is a very useful post. Thanks for posting!

Okay, I think that I have it working. Pulling up the ML menu seems to freeze the image. Sometimes it becomes unfrozen right away, and sometimes it takes a little while.   One thing I have learned by experimenting with the 5x zoom/crop feature (hoping that it would allow me to use a shorter taking lens) is that it's really not that great for anamorphic with a focusing anamorphic like I had hoped. Every microbe of dust was visible as I changed focus. Usually I am focusing past most of that. Oh well. It is still a useful feature.