1) Yes. I believe you will get the best results by first stretching the image with something like 170% to 200% horisontally, and if you output to a lower resolution, then just resampling down the footage for the exported version. I work daily with Photoshop, and that would certainly be the method I would choose for stills, so I'm pretty certain that same procedure would be the best option for film footage.
I'm unsure if all anamorphics behave like this lens or not - but this one seems to be squeezing the image a little bit more at the edges than at the center. I've seen that on a few of my shots at least. It might also be related to what lens I have been using the anamorphic lens with, haven't really done enough testing to confirm that though.
2) On the D200 setup photo, I had a 105mm f/2.5 AI-S Nikkor attached to the anamorphic. The Isco Ultrastar works nicely with lenses that have about 52mm front diameter filter thread. I got five such lenses which fits the anamorphic:
Nikkor AI 200mm f/4 (works with fullframe + crop sensor),
Nikkor AI-S 105mm f/2.5 (full frame + crop),
Nikkor AI-S 85mm f/2 (full frame + crop),
and at 50mm, Nikon 50mm E Series f/1.8 as well as Nikkor 50mm AF-D f/1.4 - which both only work with a 1.5x crop sensor or smaller.
So, the widest I can get with full frame sensor in use without vignetting is with the 85mm f/2. A 2x anamorphic lens gives you twice as wide angle horisontally though, so for width I can squeeze in as much as 42.5 mm (85 divided by 2) lens could reach. The horisontally widest option to shoot with in 1.5x crop sensor mode is then 50mm * 1.5x crop divided by 2 = 37.5mm. Which means, you can get fairly wide shots with this Ultrastar.
I know Andrew Reid of EOSHD tells to avoid most anamorphic projection lenses in his anamorphic guide. Personally, I'd say that this lens does not fall into that category, and I guess Andrew might change his mind if he tries out one of these, especially since he seem to love the really wide 3.55:1 aspect ratio :)
The major downsides with the Ultrastar is no refocusing while filming and the size of it makes it extend quite far out. If you shoot with a crop sensor, I'd really recommend getting the Nikkor E Series 50mm, which is a pancake lens. Makes your rig far smaller: [url="http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/images1/50mm-series-e/KEN_5166-460.jpg"]http://www.kenrockwe...EN_5166-460.jpg[/url]
3) Thanks. I got quite a few years of background on still photography. Trying to pick up as much as I can on filming now, and there's a lot to learn :)
[quote name='septemberdawn' timestamp='1343101983' post='14392']
1) I've merely been opening my test images in Photoshop: Image>Image Size, unchecking the 'constrain proportions' checkbox and changing the horizontal width from pixels to percent and selecting 200%. The ISCO images have more vertical height than those delivered by the Kowa 16-H when following the above proceedure. I'm unsure if this is the correct method...I'm new to anamorphics.
2) What lens is the ISCO attached to in your D200 setup, a 55/2.5 Micro Nikkor ?
3) I enjoyed looking through your samples (a good variety)
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