Tito Ferradans

Bold, I'm not sure everyone will agree - or even you - but selling one of yours for $100 just to undercut him doesn't make you a profiteering a$$hole. There is a HUGE difference between both cases, even if the lens is exactly the same: he is just sucking out the knowledge and making a profit. You gave the community back so much along these  threads that "fair price" is a very vague concept.
In my opinion, ours is such a niche market that the price can be adjusted according to supply and demand. Do you think $3k for an Isco is a fair price? I don't, but people are paying it anyway. All anamorphics are overpriced because there's too much interest in them and people are willing to pay. It's impossible to stop them and try to drive the prices down. It won't be you alone, selling a great mod for a low price that will change that. It's very likely that if you put the price too low somebody would grab it just to resell for profit. I won't lie: I've done it before because I needed the money and because an Isco for $1750 is very hard to pass.
So... what do you think of this?

It's obvious this guy's been reading this thread, his latest offering now incorporates a helicoid.  I've considered selling one of my B&H's when I'm done and put on eBay for $100 less just to undercut him.  Although that would still make me a profiteering a$$hole.
However I would like to recoup some of my cost in materials and R&D.  What do you think is a fair asking price for a modded B&H? 

+1 for shooting a grid, then correcting from that result. It is probable that you have to adjust correction for different taking lenses. Nuke would be most proficient for correction like this, but After Effects would work too - using the optic compensation tool (inbuilt into AE) and/or some custom warp tweaks.

Would you consider selling the diopters separately?

Would you consider selling the diopters separately?

ANAMORPHIC ON A BUDGET - VAN DIEMEN CINE-ISCORAMA CONVERSION.
http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=8186
ANAMORPHIC ON A BUDGET - RECTILUX EXTREME LOW LIGHT TEST.
http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=8292
ANAMORPHIC ON A BUDGET - RAPIDO CLAMPS.
http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=8311
Some unusual and new gear reviews. SLR Magic's reviews are coming soon.

Optics is mostly simple, with some occasional complexity thrown in to make it interesting.  In fact, I've almost completely forgotten all the fancy math I learned after high school, since by and large all the math you need to know to be a successful lens designer is geometry, trigonometry, and a bit of algebra.
In your case, assuming that the anamorphic portion is working at infinity (i.e., parallel light in and parallel light out) the aperture of the optical system is determined by the diameter of the iris diaphragm in the taking lens *unless* there is some other limiting aperture in the system.  Imagine that you take a pin and poke a tiny hole in a large piece of aluminum foil.  Next, open the f/1.2 taking lens wide open and place the aluminum foil in front of your Rectilux so that the pinhole is centered on the optical axis.  Clearly, in this case the f/# of your lens system is determined by the diameter of the pinhole and not by the diameter of the taking lens' iris diaphragm.  So we would say that the pinhole is the limiting aperture in your lens system.
In your case the clear aperture of the back of the anamorphic section is 43mm in diameter (assuming it is round and not rectangular).  This means that the collimated on-axis beam of light exiting your anamorphic section cannot exceed 43mm in diameter, and may be less if any of the other optical surfaces in the Rectilux or your anamorphic group are limiting apertures.  The entrance pupil diameter of your 85mm f/1.2 taking lens (most likely 1/3 stop faster than f/1.4, or f/1.2599 in reality) is 85/1.2599 = 67.5mm.  Since 67.5mm is bigger than 43mm you are underfilling the entrance pupil of the taking lens.  As a consequence, you could stop down the taking lens until its entrance pupil is reduced to 43mm, and have no impact on the actual f/# of the system.  In your case, the actual maximum f/# would be f/(85/43) = f/1.98 ~ f/2, and not f/1.2.  Again, this assumes that the limiting aperture of the system is the rear aperture of the anamorph, and not some other surface in the Rectilux or the anamorph.  If either of the latter is true then your true f/# would be slower than f/2.

I have one if anyone's interested, excellent condition.
Focus through anamorphic and crazy flares
Photos can be used for Lens-yclopedia by the way

I'm not set yet since I haven't tested the others yet, but the Rectilux didn't let me down on anything I tried so far.
Talking to John about the f-stop value, as long as the lens is wide open, the math is simply dividing the focal length by the anamorphic's rear element diameter, so the 50mm is still at f/1.2 (50/43 = 1.16), and the 85 is actually (85/43 = 1.97) around f/2. Once you start closing the iris, the math is different and I didn't get to that yet.
I don't think that affects the sharpness of the resulting image, though, but definitely affects vignetting. I had some issues with the Isco Pre36 paired with Contax Zeiss 85/1.4, which has a huge front element. These issues aren't noticeable when I pair it to the Jupiter 9, which is f/2 and has a much much smaller front element (65mm vs 45mm). There's also a way to determine the fastest f-stop of any given focal length based on the front element diameter - which is why these super fast lenses tend to have much larger front elements.

thanks Frank! hahaahha
Thanks Julian! This piece of glass is amazing. Now I guess I gotta do the same with the Iscoramas, hehehe!

Love it Tito!
Always been curious to see some extreme aperture anamorphic shots with the Kowa B&H. I expected it'd work well and it sure does. Looks perfect.

dis is crazee
eff one point feckin 2
you be de top banana
 
i saw yr blog 
is lots of top quality infos , amazin
 

So I took my Halloween night to shoot some f/1.2 Rectilux footage with Canon's 50 and 85mm. I really liked how it turned out, even though I fucked up alignment in some several shots. Also pictures of the rig there. (:
http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=8292

dis wud b an xtrem test wit de rectilux n canons wide open @1.2

So I took my Halloween night to shoot some f/1.2 Rectilux footage with Canon's 50 and 85mm. I really liked how it turned out, even though I fucked up alignment in some several shots. Also pictures of the rig there. (:
http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=8292

Kowa B&H, but close enough!

So I took my Halloween night to shoot some f/1.2 Rectilux footage with Canon's 50 and 85mm. I really liked how it turned out, even though I fucked up alignment in some several shots. Also pictures of the rig there. (:
http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=8292

added both SLR Magic Anamorphots. It has been a while! haha.
Bold, these charts are awesome, man, so easy to fill in the data and images. Great work indeed!

True! I'm recycling the pics of the previous listing, when I've bought the adapter!

I'm with Bioskop! Just go for a decent lens, it's already hard enough dealing with usual anamorphic quirks, there's no reason to add some more to the mix.

Save yourself the time/hassle & get a good 35mm or even a 28mm.
Mir-24M or N (M=M42, N=Nikon Mount) - I've had v.good results with the bigger focus through Isco lens (Widescreen 2000mc) & this lens.
Or go Nikon or something similar.

Tokina AT-X Pro 28-70mm f2.6/2.8 (Angenieux design version - google it to be sure of getting the right version).
Its parfocal & the front doesn't rotate - stunning lens, its the only zoom lens that i use or will ever use.

I asked the same thing a while back and got a couple suggestions in this thread.  There is also this thread, though the list doesn't specify whether or not the front elements rotate.
They're not native, but you might consider an old French zoom like Angenieux or Berthiot.  Not the sharpest, but sharp enough, and they're fast, parfocal, and the fronts don't rotate.  They can also be expensive — but if you're diligent you can find one in good shape at a good price.  I picked up an Angenieux 12-120mm f2.2 in immaculate condition for $150, if you can believe it.
If you find a lens that fits your needs, please post back here.  I'd be interested in what you find!

We're now fancy at www.lens-yclopedia.com . Still the same thing until a good soul shows up with some web skills to adapt the information into an even prettier shape of a website.

We're now fancy at www.lens-yclopedia.com . Still the same thing until a good soul shows up with some web skills to adapt the information into an even prettier shape of a website.