racer5

"Apple has broken ground on its new $1 billion, 3-million-square-foot campus. The campus will initially house 5,000 employees, with the capacity to grow to 15,000, and is expected to open in 2022."

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/11/apple-expands-in-austin/

While it's true they chose an existing plant for the photo op, ground was broken on a major new facility close by on the day Trump visited. 

Hi Timoetheus, Jim recommended just loosening it up over time. It's certainly usable after much use, just too much friction for follow focus at the ends.

CineJoe, yes it has smoothed out a bit with use - but still very rough at both ends of the range.

I've heard of people taking apart and greasing their HCDNAs and was curious if anyone has done that with the FVD16. 

The glass is great I just want the throw to feel like a buttery cine lens!

Hi, I have an FVD16A - I'm happy with the optical quality but it's too stiff for my follow focus. Anyone have experience loosening one up? I don't know how. Thanks.

I'm pro free speech - and that means pro-offensive-speech. 100 percent. 

We're in Fahrenheit 451 territory as a culture.

Geoff's not saying  that gear doesn't matter, he's saying gear has gone backwards - and "the numbers" being pushed don't correlate to nice images.

Bayer sensors interpolate chroma and will never yield colors as accurate and gorgeous as the examples he cites. And if the sensor behind that filter is 4k and up it only looks increasingly crunchy and ugly, nothing like natural optical clarity.

He's not advocating against the best tools (in the right hands of course), he's saying the specs being pushed are actually a strike against aesthetics. And he's right.

On 5/16/2018 at 2:22 PM, Kieran said:

I've seen most of his previous films and I expect I will watch this at some point but I also expect I will be repulsed and disgusted by some scenes.  I hope the duckling mutilation was faked. 

http://www.indiewire.com/2018/05/peta-defends-lars-von-trier-the-house-that-jack-built-duck-mutilation-1201965931/

I agree with almost all of your points about the trailer, Andrew. I'd go one step further past the reservations on Gosling and say the whole cast feels sterile and hip. Robin Wright, Jared Leto as the bad guy, the hot wife from War Dogs. Will these people be in something of lasting value? I'm not sure, maybe. The script is at least supposed to be great.

My one disagreement is the wish for Deakin's to have shot on anamorphic. Since the original film came out, this format has become highly fetishized to the point that it now calls attention to itself. No one was counting cool flares in '84, but they are now. I appreciate that Deakins decided to put the emphasis on what's in frame, as opposed to getting precious with how it's rendered.  That said, Chnristina Ava makes a great point about naturalism and the grade here being way too much. 

20 hours ago, Jim Chang said:

I am working on a re-housing solution for the Helios lens, which hidden the protruding front inside a adapter housing, this housing connects the V2 clamp's rear thread to the stationary part of the Helios. Thanks, 

That sounds great. I'd be curious how you work the aperture ring into the housing. Please share pics once available, thanks.

Jim I love your clamps and this looks really interesting. My main reservation is that taking lenses of choice are often small, old, stiff little numbers (like the Helios), which are not suited for FF gears - and pushing/pulling heavy anamorphic fronts back and forth.

That said, this is a great development and very much look forward to seeing more.

1 hour ago, Axel said:

Inherent Vice, that was a crazy film and one of the exceptions

Very much agree on Inherent Vice - I love it. It's not a film for "now" unfortunately, the zeitgeist is in opposition to something so wonderfully free and meandering. Gorgeous movie to look at too.

2 hours ago, Ian Edward Weir said:

I have both the Kowa 35 1.5x with HardcoreDNA and Bolex-Moller 16/32/1.5x with HardcoreDNA. They are very close. Kowa is slightly sharper but Bolex has something magical about the image. I can get a sharp usable image at f1.2 on Kowa. Iscorama is f2.8 right? 

+1 on the Kowa. I've got this as well and it's a shockingly good piece of glass. No idea why these don't fetch a premium. The Rapido clamps turn it into an easy to mount, elegantly align-able solution. 

The difference is in grading.

2 hours ago, PepperJay said:

 I didn't understand where the focus through range suddenly went from the fixed 5m to 2m-Infinity. Like, wow, that's a hell of a mod!

Pepper, below is part of a thread I had with Mario in Germany about his mod. In short: the mod favors close focus at the expense of infinity. A good tradeoff I'd say (I'll gladly crop spherical for infinity shots). Hope it helps answer your questions:

you have to know that ALL focusthrough lenses are limited, some more than others. This Mini Isco's are the best focusthrough so far but they are also limited. The alignment is perfect and easy, the sharpness in ideal areas is very high, like Isco 2000 and Iscomorphot 8/x2 but much better usable "before and behind" this ideal area. But, infinity sharpness isnt as sharp as other lenses, you have to stop down for better infinity sharpness with longer focallegth. I had to make some decisions before modification, how these Iscos should work. More sharpness fron minimum to approx 10-15m or more sharpness from approx 6-8m to inifinity. Also i had to choose the ideal focallength (original it was desgined for 100mm F2.8 and 5m fixed focus). I chosen the first option, more sharpness from minimum to near infinity, cause this would cover the most shooting/studio situations, for better infinity sharpness you have to stop down to F4-5.6, real inifinity you need outdoors, so F5.6 shouldnt the problem i thought, for night shots you have to choose a shorter focallentgh like 35mm to shoot with bigger apertures sharp infinity. I also choose 35mm as the new ideal focallength, because ths means that the focalareas around 35mm will be also fine, this means 28mm for M4/3, 35mm S35 and 50mm ff. With the ideal focallength you have a sharp close focus from approx 1.5-2m @F2.8-4m, some good glasses also F2 under 2m, approx 2,5-3,5m @F1.4-2. With longer focals more, 85mm approx 2,5m, 135mm approx 3-3.5m.

With shorter focallengths you have really good inifinty results but 85mm is a bit too long. The power of the positive and negative values of the optics are very powerfull, so these Isco lenses are also very sharp with longer telelenses (because it were originally designed for 100mm), whats impossible with other focusthrough lenses (Optex x1.33 for example is bad from 85mm and totally blurred from 100mm) BUT the inifnity sharpness from 85mm isnt the best under F5.6.

Ha, ok. You're clearly well read in fringe matters. My brain is now as bent as a Moller.

No promotional activities here, sir. I'm not the seller and Obama was not born in Kenya. No need for conspiracy theories. I've corresponded with the seller and found him helpful. Bio called me names I called him some back. Like the OP I'm considering purchasing this lens - that's all.

The Iscos in question are modified and claim to have better close-focus abilities than a stock 2000 and the 1.33x options out there, this is what attracted me to the listing. The Bolex looks nice but I'm not interested in solutions with fiddly alignment.

Tweak, all fair points - and yes, moving on.

One last thing for those still interested in the topic at hand (the 1060's available for purchase on ebay from Germany):

I can confirm that the seller will chop off the protruding back if requested, with threads of your choice added. This will help vignetting issues and leave the the rear element in close proximity to the taking lens. He's replied to every question with lengthy detailed messages, a very helpful guy.

14 hours ago, tweak said:

Wants help, tells people to "STFU" when given realistic advice... I think anamorphic is going mainstream. 

If you re-read the thread, "STFU" was in response to being called "a dick" and "a scumbag." All the profanity and namecalling here is coming from your thin-skinned pal, Bio - who got hot under the collar when he was caught in a simple contradiction. First saying:

"The lens the OP is talking about is not worth over £1K & only a fool would buy one for that price"

"So, yes you can find them for £500"

Then when asked to back that up:

"Yep, but that's because there aren't many x1.5 anamorphics, if any (especially single focus) for your price of £500." 

Not particularly helpful in my estimation, and yes I'll call him out as I please.

I'm not the ebay seller, although I have started corresponding with him about some machine work on the lens if I do decide to purchase it. Very nice chap to deal with - and yes he's following this thread.

8 hours ago, Bioskop.Inc said:

Don't feel anything about you or what you've said.

You're a sad little person, who probably needs to go back to his Doctor & get get some stronger medication.

Oh dear, still upset I see. A thin skin is a terrible quality in a man. Women in particular find it quite unattractive - but then again showing them the lens collection in your mum's basement probably hasn't been winning you points in that department either..

1 hour ago, gatopardo said:

This is crazy : 

 

Almost global shutter

Very impressive. It looks to be as fast as the NX1's HD (near global) scan speed - but in high bit depth 4k.

6 hours ago, Liszon said:

Don't worry racer I am not looking for an argument here

You know it is a waiting game, most of the cases you can get anything straight away for a premium price but if you manage to sit tight for a few months you will actually find a much better deal.

Just like those Iscoramas floating on Ebay for months with a crazy price tag, if you are in a desperate need to shoot anamorphic then surely go ahead, but wait another month and there will be an offer for at least a grand cheaper.

Ebay keeps giving me the "Sorry, we couldn't complete your request" error every time I want to open my watch history so I can't show you those two auctions but believe me, they were under £500, and the seller kept relisting them. One week they disappeared and soon two strangely identical lenses showed up in that German seller's portfolio for twice as much.

The "waiting game" point is a solid one Liszon. There are certainly magical deals one can come across in any after-market category if they have the luxury of hunkering down and playing the auction game for long periods of time. If I need a solution "today" though, market prices are not as generous as that. Good points in general though.

1 hour ago, Bioskop.Inc said:

Not going anywhere dickhead....

There you go you baby boy, someone else saw them & yes, I'm with Liszon - the OPs seller bought them & jacked the price up to stupid levels.

So, as stated, you'd be a fool to over pay for them - it was a warning to perspective buyers.

Anamorphics on ebay is a waiting game & if you missed things than that's just tough!

If you're so desperate, why not rent? If you're willing to pay £1K for a focus through lens, which you'll hate cause it is a PITA to use, then renting would be a good option.

Your attitude really stinks, like an immature kid - if you'd actually come to the table & said that you were really desperate to find a x1.5 Anamorphic, then I'd have probably sold you my Widescreen 2000 for a resonable price. But you didn't, did you? You insulted me & acted like a little spoilt cocky child who wants everything now!

Go on buy that lens for a grand & fuck off while you're doing it......

Haha, you've must have been coddled growing up, sensitive boy. Here you are getting all hot and bothered, using big bad words on a....CAMERA LENS HOBBY FORUM. You should really explore why you feel offended and affronted so easily. Deep breaths Bio, it's going to be ok...

1 hour ago, Liszon said:

There were a pair of them on ebay a month ago, around £400-500. I have a feeling those "Mini Iscoramas" are the exact same ones actually, slightly modified by the new seller.

I've been looking for a 1.5x solution for some months and haven't personally seen anything other than Baby's show up for that price. If you saw them, great. Someone got a deal. Bio's claim was that anyone paying more than £500 is a fool, but was unable to back that up with anything more than links to 2x solutions. As of TODAY, this minute, if I need a 1.5x solution for a project - I'm not aware of anything less expensive online than the OP's listing (and no I'm not the seller, just someone looking for the same thing as OP). I'd love to be proven wrong with a link to something I can buy that costs less, but I don't think it exists at the moment.

56 minutes ago, Bioskop.Inc said:

1) The last ebay auction for a Iscorama 1060 went for about £300 or just under.

2) It's not a single focus anamorphic.

3) Loads of great & better options out there for x2 anamorphics, which are below £500.

4) You're being a dick!

5) Go & get ripped off by that guy, he's waiting for an idiot like you - so i'm sure you'll both get along just fine.

People come here for help, so if you can save someone the time & hassle of buying an over priced anamorphic, that is difficult to use, then that's a good thing.

Are you that seller that's ripping people off? Bet you are you scumbag....!

Yeah whatever. Show me a 1060 somewhere for under £500 or STFU.

6 hours ago, Bioskop.Inc said:

Yep, but that's because there aren't many x1.5 anamorphics, if any (especially single focus) for your price of £500.

 

Uff, this is the point I'm getting at. £500 was the number you threw out there, saying "only a fool would buy one" for more. :facepalm:

It's double focus? That's kind of dealbreaker for racks and follows.

2x squeeze? 

I'm curious what you like so much about this solution.

4 hours ago, Bioskop.Inc said:

To be honest there aren't that many cheap true single focus x1.5 that you'll be able to shoot wide open, or are really sharp - in fact most anamorphics are considered soft by "the sharp lens brigade".

The problem with the OPs lens is that it's a focus through, which you'll need diopters & to stop down to be able to focus with (& then you don't get a great focus range).

You could go for the single focus Iscomorphot x1.5 (the Baby Iscorama), which goes for around £500-700ish - it is dreamy soft wide open & gets nicer if you stop down to f4-5. It's not to everyone's taste though, so look at some videos taken with them.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zerrobjektiv-Anamorphotobjektiv-ISCOMORPHOT-8-1-5x-ISCO-GOTTINGEN-22mm-Gewinde-/152334393886?hash=item2377d6621e:g:D7wAAOSwHMJYNW22

If not then you could go for a cheaper x2 dual focus & get a Core DNA or the like.

The Elmoscope is nice & has Blue flares:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELMOSCOPE-Anamorphic-Lens-with-Lens-holder-Appears-to-be-New-/201715189897?hash=item2ef7298889:g:zeMAAOSwB09YJSJp

You can sometimes find cheap Kowa 8z, 16H or for Bell & Howell - all the same lens, just branded differently. Just bide your time for a bargin, because if you rush you're just going to get ripped off.

Worth keeping an eye open for a Bolex Anamorphic (x2 & dual focus), which is one of the nicest lenses out there.

Just noticed this Iscorama54, but it'll go for over £1K & maybe reach £2K as it's a non-mc version:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Isco-Objektiv-Gottingen-Iscorama-Anamorphot-GH-105249-/391633213603?hash=item5b2f2898a3:g:P4MAAOSwcUBYNzg8

Another thing to avoid are those big multi-coloured Isco lenses (blue, red, gold etc..), yes they are sharp, but a PITA to focus with & zero anamorphic qualities & MC'd - you may as well crop than go through the hassle of using one.

On a side note: The seller that bzpop linked has dropped his prices for that lens & I guess that he'll keep on dropping the price.

Thanks for the reply, Bio. I have to say though that what you've suggested is 2x solutions, or the Baby which is for small sensors. The 54 will probably sell for 3k once the auction ends.