Bold

Hi Bold, 
             First of all: what a Bold statement, hahahahaha, but seriously; thank you for the advice! My company liked the footage and they want me to use the kit on the next shoot we'll be doing next week, so I want to make sure I get everything right on the day (I threw away a lot of footage I recorded on the day of the film above because of distortion, etc.)
- What would you recommend using when you say 'using a high-detail test pattern'? A focus sheet?  
- I have a nice looking 15mm rail platform to operate on (although it's a bit heavy for my tripod sometimes, as you'll notice in the film): 

It also has a nice Mattebox system for all my filter needs! 
it's really encouraging to see that I'm not getting too shunned from using a projection lens; but hey! I'm working on a budget! So thanks a lot for all the great tips, Bold, I'll make sure to print out goodies (like focus sheets) to put me on the right track.
Francois
 

Lens-cyclopedia has been updated with a reference to this thread 

I'm definitely doing this edge blackening on the next few days! Great thread, these DIY things are awesome and I miss them more in our community. Thanks for sharing, James! 

Well that took a bloody long time! But I've just this minute completed my new reel and site. It's not "announced" until Monday.... social media campaigns etc blah blah. But it's live! Check them here: 
View my new showreel and website!
Some info
Each and every image -  I shot, lit, edited, graded. A little directing. Very involved in creative ideas.  Core crew was mostly 4-5 regular people in these productions (Director, DOP, Production Manager, Spark, Make Up Artist).  For the geeks - cameras used are Sony F55, FS7, FS700, RED Epic, GH3, BM Pocket.  All images are music videos, but going for commercial/corporate work aggressively into the next year. (and still many music videos).  The aim is to have 100% new material for Showreel 2016. Max creativity required.  Anyway, if you like it or don't like it, whatever. Just thought I'd share.
 

Right off the bat, 
                              I know projection lenses are a bit of a no, no in terms of shooting anamorphic (especially on this site), but I just had to impulse buy this Schneider projection lens on eBay when it was valued for £80.
I am having trouble lining up the anamorphic lens with my primes; in some cases I get nice crisp images, and sometimes I get visible distortion after 'expanding' the 4:3 footage horizontally.
Are there any sure-fire ways to make sure the alignment is top notch?  here's a video I shot as a test, let me know if you notice any glaring errors: 
I know, it's YouTube so it's compressed, but at this point I'm mostly worried about my 'tunnel vision' and not seeing the distortion properly
Feedback is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!!!
Francois 

+1 for vintage and for Helios 44-2 recommendation...it is a perfect pairing for so many anamorphics.
Nikkor's can be good (older non Ai versions) as most have warm, non MC coatings that compliment warm flaring lenses such as iscomorphot s8/16 - iscorama - kowa B&H etc. Downside is that when stopped down most Nikkor's have hexagonal aperture, cutting into the oval bokeh shape caused by the anamorphic up front.
Helios 44 has a nice round aperture throughout stops due to blade shape/number (usually 8, or 13 on early silver versions)

Lens-cyclopedia has been updated with a reference to this thread 

Anybody familiar with this beast?  Looks like it will have similar size/weight/performance specs to the big 35mm Bausch & Lomb or Kowa Prominar projection lenses.

Rear element size: reported to be ~68mm Length: ~9in Weight: reported to be 1.5kg (I'm skeptical...I suspect it's heavier) Manufactured in Japan I have found nothing else on the intertubes about it.  Perhaps manufactured by another company, and rebranded for Xetron.  The support I'm building for my B&L should fit this lens as well, so that I'll be able to take some Xetron footage and possibly add a new entry to the Lens-cyclopedia. 

The nice thing is that you can blacken the edge on this Kowa type without having to open the lens at all. The edge is accessible from the front as is.
Other lenses can be treated the same way, but some may require disassembly first to get access to the optic edge...be very sure to check how to reassemble properly before attempting though. 

Lens-cyclopedia has been updated with a reference to this thread 

Lens-cyclopedia has been updated with a reference to this thread 

Awesome stuff man!  Kudos for doing all this research and sharing your findings!

Kowa B&H Close Focus Mod & other 'Tweaks'
 
Recently I picked up a very cheap Kowa B&H that needed a lot of internal cleaning and a fresh re-lube. Since it was my 'Spare' Kowa, I have a chance to illustrate/share my findings on some simple modifications that I discovered a couple of years ago on another lens. Since I already have a 'Standard' Kowa to compare with, it should prove easier to illustrate the difference in performance before & after modifying such a lens.
These principles will work on many lenses of this type that share a similar construction.
Following these steps are at your own risk.
 
The modifications allow:
* Minimum focus to be reduced from 5 feet down to 3 feet.
* Reduction/elimination of 'Veiling Flare/ Barrel Glow' that is common with Kowa lens types.
* Overall sharpness improvement.
 
Close Focus:
To achieve closer focus from the 5 foot factory standard is pretty easy.The focus mechanism transport is done by a helicoid pushing/pulling the front element that is seated within a tube, guided by brass tabs/stoppers within slots in the housing.These brass tabs/stoppers ensure that the linear travel is straight and true (ensuring correct alignment with rear optic). By cutting these tabs to be shorter, the travel of the front optic assembly is allowed to seat closer to the body - allowing closer distance between front and rear optic.
This allows an increase in optic proximity to be achieved. This modification effectively allows the focus ring to turn to it's maximum close focus position, and not restricted by factory limits.
 
 
 
 
Veiling Flare/ Barrel Glow - Reduction:
 
A common artefact of Kowa lenses in bright light situations seems to be a strong Veiling glare. It is similar to a strong vignette of light that happens when the front optic is hit with off-axis light. Although this can be a desirable artefact, often it is too overpowering to the image when purposely flashing the lens to pop a flare for effect.
A simple solution I found is to blacken the edge of the front optic - this is the edge that gets hit by light and pools the image with a 'Barrel glow'.
Taking a fine tipped marker pen does the job well (without needing to disassemble lens) - even better would be black paint and a fine brush and a steady hand if you wanted to eliminate glow completely. I personally tried the marker pen method, as you can carefully remove or thin the ink with a tiny amount of lighter fluid on a brush - creating a reduction/dulling effect, rather than remove the glow effect completely. At least it is good to know how to minimize the glow effect, especially when shooting in bright sunlight without a mattebox and you don't want everything to be washed out all the time.
 

 
Overall Sharpness Improvement:
This came from a few year back when playing on another Kowa lens and is the nicest find I've discovered so far (about most projection anamorphic lenses). I found that when removing the brass tabs that are used for alignment, you can separate the front and rear optic assembly for cleaning etc.
But If you do not re-install the tabs into the pre-set positions (using the screw holes aligned in the factory) - you can often tweak the alignment and fine focus to be even sharper.
 

As a pure guess, I can only presume that back in the day when most of these lenses were made the tolerances for alignment were only considered for image projection, rather than image acquisition (iscorama/bolex types an exception) I found that by freehand rotating the front optic assembly (when attached to camera) - It is possible to achieve more finite sharpness from the alignment. Using high magnification on my camera and additional magnification on my EVF + focus peaking at a reference at infinity - it was possible to rotate the front element assembly to what is probably fractions of a millimetre from the factory alignment, then glue the brass tabs into a very slightly new position. Glue works well, as it does not require additional holes to be drilled to re-seat the brass tabs, or forever alter the lens. The glue does not bear any load of consequence, mealy seats the tabs to prevent rotation.
The lens can be easily returned to its original alignment by dissolving the glue with solvent and returning the tabs to factory position. I’ve found that the very slightest tweak to factory alignment in 3 out of the 4 of these Kowa lens types I've owned, improves the sharpness noticeably.
 

In Nick's post, he said his (slightly different) modification could focus to about 40 feet, later in that thread John Barlow said he fixed this using a cemented 2-element negative achromat (BTW, if anyone knows which achromat he's talking about, please let us know).
Earlier in this thread Rich posted an screencap @ infinity with his helicoid mod, it seemed fine.  I measured the focus travel distance of the unmodded B&H...the front element moves approximately 4mm when you focus from closest to farthest.  The helicoid has a travel distance of approximately 14mm, so there's a lot more play with the modded focus.
Based on this & Rich's test photo, my guess is yes, the modded version of the B&H should be able to focus to infinity. Once my mod is done I will test & confirm.

Since we had a big spam attack last week, newly registered members had to have their first posts or replies approved by a moderator. Unfortunately this system didn't work and most new members could not post at all from the get go.
I have taken the locks off and now you should all be able to post and use the forum as intended. Enjoy EOSHD!

Excellent - never heard of it, would love to know more!
Perhaps down the road, though I don't have bandwidth for that at the moment. If anyone wants to compile such a list though, I'd be happy to publish it 

Hello all,
Tito has kindly allowed me to do some streamlining of the Lens-yclopedia database:
I have templatized all the entries so key information is in the same location when you cycle through the pages. The template improves overall readability of the information. I've broken up Mounting Solutions into To Filter, To Taking Lens, and Lens Support I’ve changed the Index to a spreadsheet that provides key stats for easy ‘comparison shopping’ I’ve removed a couple lens entries that had no (or next to no) information. I've added a few bits of info on various lenses as I went through, particularly links to example footage. I’ve made significant updates to the B&H and B&L entries based on the info I gathered from EOSHD, as well as other locations. I'll keep adding to them as I embark on modding/using my lenses. Check out the updated Lens-yclopedia here. A great big huge thanks to Tito for allowing me to build on his great work.  And to all the folks who have responded to my info-seeking posts.  The information people have provided here has been invaluable for a newcomer like me.
I was surprised at how much info I was able to find on the B&L, I cited sources in the Lens-yclopedia entry where I could - I would love to see all entries given source/reference links. I know people’s time is limited, but even just a morsel of info here & there would really help re-invigorate the database and make it more robust.  A little crowd-sourcing can go a long way!
I am considering periodically starting ‘Seeking Info About X Lens” threads to build up the other lens entries in the Lens-cyclopedia.  If this is something you would like to see (or help me with), please chime in.  
If you want to send info my way (corrections, answers to red question marks, Lens-yclopedia functionality, etc), I will find time to update the database appropriately.
Cheers,
|. . | .|

Hello all,
Tito has kindly allowed me to do some streamlining of the Lens-yclopedia database:
I have templatized all the entries so key information is in the same location when you cycle through the pages. The template improves overall readability of the information. I've broken up Mounting Solutions into To Filter, To Taking Lens, and Lens Support I’ve changed the Index to a spreadsheet that provides key stats for easy ‘comparison shopping’ I’ve removed a couple lens entries that had no (or next to no) information. I've added a few bits of info on various lenses as I went through, particularly links to example footage. I’ve made significant updates to the B&H and B&L entries based on the info I gathered from EOSHD, as well as other locations. I'll keep adding to them as I embark on modding/using my lenses. Check out the updated Lens-yclopedia here. A great big huge thanks to Tito for allowing me to build on his great work.  And to all the folks who have responded to my info-seeking posts.  The information people have provided here has been invaluable for a newcomer like me.
I was surprised at how much info I was able to find on the B&L, I cited sources in the Lens-yclopedia entry where I could - I would love to see all entries given source/reference links. I know people’s time is limited, but even just a morsel of info here & there would really help re-invigorate the database and make it more robust.  A little crowd-sourcing can go a long way!
I am considering periodically starting ‘Seeking Info About X Lens” threads to build up the other lens entries in the Lens-cyclopedia.  If this is something you would like to see (or help me with), please chime in.  
If you want to send info my way (corrections, answers to red question marks, Lens-yclopedia functionality, etc), I will find time to update the database appropriately.
Cheers,
|. . | .|

Excellent - never heard of it, would love to know more!
Perhaps down the road, though I don't have bandwidth for that at the moment. If anyone wants to compile such a list though, I'd be happy to publish it 

This is incredibly useful Bold. Cannot thank you enough. There's currently something called a Dyaliscope on ebay. Says it was made by H. Chretien and produces pink flares. Looks small. Might want to add it to the list.

Hi all, been reading along for a while... As a photographer wanting to learn more about video, I found this site and forum which introduced me to anamorphic video on DSLR. It's quite the niche, but a lot of fun and you have a great community here.
I'd like to compliment Tito and Bold on this great piece of work. Already a brilliant resource, looks very pro now. I'll try to add info on my recently acquired and somewhat mysterious "Widescreen Supa-60 1.5x", as there is nothing on the web about it.
Would it be useful to add a single file to the database with a list for lenses that are known by name only (like the aforementioned Elmoscope II)? Could give people that are interested in searching for anamorphics some leads... This and this list on the super8wiki have been helpful for my eBay quests.

Cool, I hope you find the information you're looking for!
This got me thinking I should clarify everyone's expectations so there's no confusion later on:
In the future I *may* start  more lens threads and add Lens-yclopedia info on anamorphics I own or are otherwise interested in. I am *not* offering to sift through other people's threads and collate the lens information for them.
What I *am* offering is to add any lens info to the database provided 1) that lens info is sent to me and 2) that lens info is labeled according to the fields in the template, so I know where to place it:
Lens Name Manufacturer Also Known As Anamorphic Stretch Weight Length Front Element Size Filter Thread Size Rear Element Size Rear Thread Size Years Produced Focus Method Min. Focus Distance Taking Lens Minimum Focal LengthFull Frame ASP-C Micro Four Thirds Pros Cons Mounting SolutionsTo Filter To Taking Lens Lens Support Observations & Empirical Data Gallery Photos Screen Caps / Links to Footage  CHeers,
|. . | .|

Couldn't find the scene I wanted on Youtube, this one will do.  Part of the eerie build-up before all breaks loose, John Carpenter at the top of his game with The Thing:

Cool, I hope you find the information you're looking for!
This got me thinking I should clarify everyone's expectations so there's no confusion later on:
In the future I *may* start  more lens threads and add Lens-yclopedia info on anamorphics I own or are otherwise interested in. I am *not* offering to sift through other people's threads and collate the lens information for them.
What I *am* offering is to add any lens info to the database provided 1) that lens info is sent to me and 2) that lens info is labeled according to the fields in the template, so I know where to place it:
Lens Name Manufacturer Also Known As Anamorphic Stretch Weight Length Front Element Size Filter Thread Size Rear Element Size Rear Thread Size Years Produced Focus Method Min. Focus Distance Taking Lens Minimum Focal LengthFull Frame ASP-C Micro Four Thirds Pros Cons Mounting SolutionsTo Filter To Taking Lens Lens Support Observations & Empirical Data Gallery Photos Screen Caps / Links to Footage  CHeers,
|. . | .|

Rented a Dog Schidt Optiks FF58 this weekend, and I wanted to see how shooting with its oval aperture (f/3.5) would go on a GH4. With V-Log L in the mix I'm happy to say I'm sold. Depending on lighting conditions I had ISO anywhere from 400 to 1600. Also rolled on ISO 3200 for one shot to see who it would look -- it's the XCU of a parking meter with prominent oval bokeh at 1:47. In my opinion, shooting at (-2, -5) external 10 bit is essential for keeping the noise tight and fine and as grain-like as possible. I might drop to -3 Sharpness from now on but the difference would be subtle. And pushing NR above -5 would start turning it into mush.
No grading here. Just V709 + an Impulz Kodak Generic Rec709 LUT.