Juan Le

^Agreed

When a camera is more than twice the price of another, it's in a completely separate category; it targets a different demographic and may serve a different purpose. 

Panasonic GH3 is pretty solid, however it will be more expensive if you want to get better lenses on it.

GH2 would be perfect since you will have enough money leftover for a speed booster which will vastly improve any old cheap vintage lenses. 

Philip Bloom did a fantastic review of the camera with some very gorgeous footage. You should check it out.

http://philipbloom.net/2014/06/30/gh4/

That was quite a treat! Really cool to see these guys sharing their opinion and seeing their personality comes alive through the discussion.

I also appreciate the casual interview format and the production quality behind this video!

Have you tried doing a back to back comparison with the two? You should post a video, I would love to see it!

Ok, but is it usable, fixable, cleanable? It's inside...

Should be usable as long as the surface in the center of the glass is clean. Anything around the edge of the glass usually affect the image the least, it's when issue arise in the middle of the glass will you start to notice anything different in the image. 

From looking at the lens and the input of eludes, it look like this Kowa has been serviced in the past. This meant that someone took apart the optics and put it back together through repair or a research disassembly and etc. As long as it's good glass there shouldn't be any problem really.

It look like Canon is trying to benefit from second mover advantage, after being THE industry leader in the past. I think it could benefit consumers if they can pull it off and offer the product at the price range that is competitive to what's out there now (sony, fuji, panasonic).

But yea like what Andrew said I'm more interested if canon will innovate or will they be playing catch up.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281499919521
I think this was the best deal recently.

Yup, I nabbed that one last minute. It's a great deal since I haven't seen a B&H/16H/8Z version for less than $450 in awhile, and it's supposedly in minty condition. I need to get started on my project so that's why I bit the bullet and just went for it.

Btw, those three models are the best of the Kowas because they do not vignette as much as the other versions. This is as reported by Andrew who have used different variations of the Kowas before. 

You can see the stats on all the models here

http://super8wiki.com/index.php/Anamorphic_Lenses

Arri's are far too big for anything I do (Amira included).

 

I dislike RED as a brand and I don't have any particular love of the image.

 

Sony colours are not to my taste at all (F35 looks lovely but the newer CMOS stuff I find soulless).

 

Blackmagic image I like, but low light is an issue, as is handling (and URSA file sizes are scary).

 

GH4 is great but just a bit too noisy. If it's the only camera you have, low light will be an issue.

 

Nikon - D750 and D810 look decent but I don't think 8bit DSLR's are ever going to be enough for me as a video camera.

What is your thought on the Speed Booster on the GH4? Low light hasn't been an issue for me ever since I got it.

Well I think the negativity stems from your dissatisfaction that contradicts everyone else's thought on the product and the price; some people would even gladly pay more for it, that is how fair the price seem to be for many. 

This product fill a niche, but it's not that obscure of a niche. The anamorphic community is a large one, this one at EOSHD is a significant part of that community, but it's not the only one. I don't think the anamorphic shop need to "cater" to us anymore than what they've already done, delivering a solid product for a reasonable price in relative to what's out there.

And as per business and business practice, what you've said is still very subjective. It's great that you think about your customers and would offer them a dynamic offer if you were them, but this isn't your product and you should respect that boundary. How would you feel if someone is telling you how to run your own business?

If you want to talk respect, I think it's a matter of respecting the market and the product, over whether or not you are in a position to be making a good deal on a potential purchase. Yannis, the way you expressed your desire to further lower the cost of these products was negatively perceived because you were coming from a perspective of entitlement and cynicism/pessimism. Is the seller not respecting us by only giving a 10% discount to a bulk order? That is entirely subjective, I do not think it's appropriate to pursue this objectively. 

People that respect the market for these kind of products aren't outraged because they understand the value of a product like this. They understand how much something like an Iscorama cost, and what the alternatives to it would cost. So when product like the FM is released, that doesn't cost $4k, 2k, 1k, those that understand and respect the market will adhere to any price range that deemed reasonable by the majority. The people in this thread that opted in for the sale obviously believe in the product, and know that for the feature they were getting that would be a really good deal. They believed it because demos were provided and nothing were hidden; no one would buy this product if they didn't see what it was capable of first, and we were given that.

I agree that more demo would be nice, and a review from somebody reputable would be excellent. But that's not possible yet and that is why I didn't opt in for the bulk purchase, even while fully understanding the value that this product can bring. I just need to see it in action by someone like Andrew before I could be committed to a product so new by a company that is equally as new. So I see where you are coming from Yannis, I just think you could have expressed it in better terms. I hope my criticism isn't too harsh.

I am excited to see you all get your hand on it and share your opinion of it so that I may be making a sure and fully informed purchase in the future. Let put all doubts aside and be excited and hopeful for this piece of technology; let be more optimistic! 

Cheers,

Awesome, thanks a lot Peter! Btw, I follow you on youtube often haha keep up the great reviews!

When you're shooting in log then, what I assume is just similar to shooting RAW but in video mode, but not quite as good as RAW due to the nature of video compare to taking a still image.

My best guess is that it's a damaged coating on the optic. Coating damage can happen in a number of different ways. A common way is by rough cleaning/rubbing on the lens that causes the coating to separate or rubbed off. Another I can think of is chemical damaging the coating on the optic through the misuse of cleaning solution and so on.

A pristine Kowa shouldn't have any "rainbow effect", none of the anamorphic adapters have that feature unless the optic was damaged or intentionally replaced/tinkered with in some way.

The Kowa is better than the Sankor in that it's sharper and wider.

The lens you mention I am familiar with, since I've been browsing Ebay recently. That lens is not in good condition, I can tell you that much. The spot is significant enough to affect image quality, and I'm not even sure if it's serviceable unless you can get your hand on some replacement glass. The cost to fix it alone is not worth it even if you got it for dirt cheap, you might as well just buy a Sankor and be happier with it than a Kowa with a damaged optic in my opinion.

If you can't find a decent Sankor for less than $200 you should look into these

http://www.motionsix.co.uk/products/#tab-1415324886037-2-6

From some of the demo videos I've seen it look quite promising. You can get them with color coated optics as an option if you want to add a certain color tone to your light flares and pictures. I plan on getting myself a pair to experiment with in the future.

http://dogschidtoptiks.co.uk/

 

Sidles off, hoping no-one saw me leaving that there....

While we're at it, has anyone used these before?

http://www.motionsix.co.uk

Pretty interesting looking products.

For DSLR newbies, what is V-LOG and why should I be excited? 

Very nice composition. Proof that all it take is experience and mastery, not the gear, to accomplish good photography and videography. 

I want to say that the Sankor adapter out performs most projector lenses. It can focus closer, it's smaller and lighter, it doesn't cost that much more compare to other adapters, and the image quality is good for the price you are paying. I don't have any experience using the projector lenses so I can't speak for them myself personally, but just based on what I've read they're more suitable for experienced people that want to experiment and have a rig setup already that can support large lens adapter and front-heavy setup.

You will need to get a hold of some sort of clamp though, or figure out how to machine one in your country. Most of these adapters have non-standard rear connector, so a clamp will be needed (either that or you're stuck with duck tape or physically glue/weld the anamorphic component to your taking lens somehow.

I've not been here too long but from what I see most people suggest the Sankor 16 c/d/f/etc. adapter. It's especially good for those starting out with anamorphic because it's small & light, cheap, and performs well in term of image quality.

There's also the larger projector lenses, and these you must use some sort of clamp to mount onto the taking lens on the camera. In addition, since these projector lenses are much bigger and heavier, that using railing or some sort of support system is suggested. The anamorphic projector lenses are big and bulky but they're much cheaper and widely sold.

Here's a good thread on the Rectimascop, one of the smaller projector lenses that's pretty good for the price. Here you can see what I'm talking about regarding projector-size adapter lenses.
>

Wow at that kickstarter! How could he achieve such high specs? For example the Platinum version has a full 1 inch sensor (bigger than s16) with a C mount, with global shutter and shoots 2.5K at 75fps, 550p at 720p. Very very high end stuff for 999£. How did he find such a sensor for example... I am skeptical but it looks like a lovely cheap Slowmotion camera.

According to the short bio on his kickstarter page:

"I have 30 years of experience developing both hardware and software for high speed graphics and imaging products. I have developed realtime 3D computer graphics equipment for flight and vehicle simulators and low cost graphics boards for the personal computing market."

More information on the link I posted, you may find it helpful for your inquiry I believe. 

Did you test how much slomo 1000fps mean, played back at, say, 24fps? There was an ad with a dog who shakes the head. This clip proves that this happens five time a second. With the 240 fps of the FS700, you'd have one shake lasting 2 seconds, which is probably enough. 

 

1000fps you'd need to see the individual water drops fly off with no motion blur. It practically stops motion for creature movements.

Basically, yes, according to the spec that was listed and in some of the demo videos. I want to see some demo videos with the platinum version of the camera though, with 500fps at 720p.

Hey thanks for the answer Andy!

So if I understood well, i can have the same result with the Carl Zeiss Distagon 28mm 2.8? But with a lens booster on my Gx7?

Pretty much. The speed booster give you an extra stop of light, so an f2.8 become something similar to an f2, and an f1.8 would be something like f1.2 or f1. Depends on the speed booster (expensive booster tend to use better glass) you can achieve extra sharpness as well.

Check this out, it was successfully funded a week ago!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1623255426/fps1000-the-low-cost-high-frame-rate-camera

Stefan and to all others that are wondering about the Kowa. The 16-H, 8Z, and Bell & Howell are the same lenses. The 16-H I believe was for the American market and the 8z was labeled that way for the Japanese market. The Bell & Howell version is also identical to the 16-H/8Z.

The only distinction you can make between these lenses is that there's two different rear connector sizes. Some will come with M52-thread and some will have M50-thread x 0.75. 

You can look up the other Kowa versions here

http://super8wiki.com/index.php/Anamorphic_Lenses

Thank you for the tip Dhessel. I didn't see the M42-MFT booster adapter on the RJ website but I emailed them and they responded back in 5 minutes saying that they will put more up in stock in a few hours! Quickest reply I've ever gotten from a merchant, Awesome!

From the review it look like the RJ speed booster is pretty quality stuff as well. I may consider getting a Canon EF one sometimes in the future, since I've been eyeing some vintage canon lenses to add to my collection.

Thanks for sharing Andy. I went ahead and snagged one on Ebay just now. I've been searching for a second lens lately; my Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4 is great and I been enjoy using it but I think a zoom lens would be a welcomed addition for day-time shooting.

Any other lens that might sparks some interest in this noobie?

I'm currently using a GH4 with a Nikon-MFT Speed Booster.

The Helios looks pretty attractive but I'm not sure how it could be adapted (M42) to fit onto the Speed Booster's taking mount (Nikon) and what kind of performance I may get from it, since I really want to keep infinity focusing. Any idea guys? All help/input appreciated!