Bold

That eBay seller is a rip-off artist.  Anything he's selling, you can find cheaper elsewhere.

That eBay seller is a rip-off artist.  Anything he's selling, you can find cheaper elsewhere.

Since Mr. Jones brought it up - 
As a follow-up story to B&H Photo Video and Worker Abuses - they have unionized.  
And this is partly because of people like you and me:
"The workers received additional support on Oct. 22, when a coalition of photography and video professionals launched an open letter to B&H management, calling on the company to end the hazardous working conditions and discriminatory practices. They also called on the company to negotiate a fair labor contract. Within a week more than 1,000 signatures from artists, journalists, gallerists, educators, students and photo technicians were obtained.
“We welcome the workers at B&H to the USW and look forward to addressing their concerns with the company at the bargaining table,” said Shinn."
http://www.usw.org/news/media-center/releases/2015/bh-photo-warehouse-employees-vote-to-join-usw-union
This is an example of social media activism being successful.  The employees now have collective bargaining powers.
Hooray!

Hello guys, 
I'm creating this post to share something I did for myself to help me understand the difference between the original aspect ratio and end aspect ratio after de-squeeze with the different anamorphic lenses. 
Maybe it will be helpful for someone else. 
You can download it for mac of pc here http://www.sandrobrt.com/ratio-comparison-tool

Thanks guys, Bold the shoulder rig is from cowboy studio, it's like 30$ on amazon I'll get a picture of it.  I find  the threaded zoom stick so necessary. The zoom has a zoom crank, which is nice if you want a slow zoom but for quicker zooms and in general I used the stick. I am even planning on threading a longer zoom stick to get more leverage as the one I have is short. The key to being able to have a free hand to zoom is to have the camera stable on your shoulder. A heavier 16mm camera had some weight to it but the little gh4 needs to be nice and steadily mounted. The cowboy studio rig really helps for this. Looks a bit goofy but I can use both hands to operate the lens or one on the lens the other holding the camera to my shoulder.

Hey guys here is the Rallycross race I filmed last weekend with the Angenieux 12-120 
https://vimeo.com/152638879 
This lens was interesting to shoot with. Loved having the zoom range to get the cars, and it went decently wide. All real time footage was filmed in 4k in 4:3 aspect ratio and cropped into a 16x9 HD timeline. (the anamorphic crop on the final footage is just a mask)  The slow-mo on the gh4 is only in 1080p so I wasn't able to crop in to hide the vignette however at the longer end of the zoom the vignette I got gave a pretty cool look. I feel like Top Gear goes for a similar look in their post.  I applied a kodak LUT and minor exposure balance. The in-car footage was filmed with a No.1 close up diopter as the 12-120s minimum focus is ~4 feet. The diopter increases the tunnel vision effect further. Some shots I cropped in more than others but I ended up liking the cramped view for the in-car shots. Enjoy!

Hi guys,
Added these to the list. Great finds Ken! Couldn't resist buying that 77mm KMZ diopter on eBay for a steal...was the last one (for now)!
Cheers,
Tim
 
 
Diopters v20151215.pdf

I have a new housing, which has rim groove inside to reduce the reflection....  :-)
Customized machining, material: AL_7072. it's tricky to pull the glass out though. 

Hi Rich - Thank you for your response!!!  This certainly seems like a more affordable solution than finding a machinist to fabricate a new front element.  I made the following diagram to make sure I understand the process:

Transfer the glass from the B&H front element to a suitable helicoid (using step/filter rings as needed). The helicoid with the B&H glass then replaces the old front element and is joined to the rear assembly. The old front element is not needed and can be stored in case it's ever required again. Is this correct?  If so:
Which kind/brand of helicoid did you use (or would you recommend)? Will the helicoid require any adaptation or modification to join the rear assembly of the B&H? Which kind of step/filter rings did you use (or would you recommend) for the glass?  If you're able to go down to 58mm on aps-c with little or no vignetting, what would be the shortest lens usable on m43? 40mm-ish? And the million-dollar question: Since the B&H is doing the focusing and not the taking lens, can it be used with a parfocal zoom? Thanks again for the info,  I'm excited to reach the point where I can start putting this modification together and share some test footage.  if anybody else has anything they can share, it would be hugely appreciated - I'm hoping to consolidate enough info to add back to the Anamorphic Lens-opedia.
 
Cheers,
|. . | .|
 

If you crank the dial to 11 and leave it there, it loses its meaning/impact.  Nothing wrong with using color saturation judiciously, but its ever-presence in season 2 pulls me out of the story. Not so much that I won't stop watching, but enough that I'll complain about it 

Lubricant, my friend.

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? 

If you crank the dial to 11 and leave it there, it loses its meaning/impact.  Nothing wrong with using color saturation judiciously, but its ever-presence in season 2 pulls me out of the story. Not so much that I won't stop watching, but enough that I'll complain about it 

If you crank the dial to 11 and leave it there, it loses its meaning/impact.  Nothing wrong with using color saturation judiciously, but its ever-presence in season 2 pulls me out of the story. Not so much that I won't stop watching, but enough that I'll complain about it 

The second season of Broadchurch is up on Netflix, so I have been watching. And after a while, I found myself thinking "what beautiful images, what talented cinematography, what great color." No matter what you think of the content of the show, it is made by incredibly competent people. Apart from some annoying, intentionally-jerky handheld work, there is great composition, some amazing tracking work and focus pulls, great control of light and beautiful colors for people and landscapes alike. And the lenses are just beautiful too - there is a lot of shallow depth of field work, and the backgrounds are soft and creamy and not distracting. Generally, the images just "pop" in all aspects. So I googled out of curiosity, and it was shot on Alexa.
But after a while longer, I began to feel... oppressed by all the imagery. And that is what I wanted to start the topic about - the aesthetics. Broadchurch has all the things that people on this forum often talk about positively, and that I would take as positives too - the intelligent and creative use of shallow depth of field that comes with big sensors, color that is vivid yet "real," and an organic "film-like" image. You won't see any clipping or noise on this show...
If you haven't seen it, you can pull up a few minutes online and see what I mean. It can be any few minutes.
I am trying to reflect on this oppressiveness I am feeling, because it is making it hard for me to watch. And I am wondering if anyone sees/feels the same. The best theory I have is this - on color, it is like living in an eternal "golden hour." The colors are absolutely lovely, but you wish sometimes they would go away - they are asking too much of you in their loveliness. On the shallow depth of field: the work is incredibly proficient, but sometimes you wish you could just see the scene and decide where to look, and not have your attention dragged around the scene by the decisions of the director and cinematographer. Again, you wish it would go away and ask less of you.
Maybe it is just me, and I am just odd. But I am wondering if anyone else has had this feeling, on this or some other film and their aesthetics. It is great, in many many ways, but in some way (for me, at least) it is "too" great. I would aspire in my dreams to produce images with a fraction of the quality of those in Broadchurch, but I find myself being distracted by them and not wanting to watch.

MOKIM, I recommend doing a step-by-step documentation of disassembling & reassembling the lens — as well as labeling of all parts and taking measurements (distance between the glass elements, e.g.) — before doing any modifications. "Measure twice, cut once" as the saying goes.  Good luck with the mod, please post your progress! 

MOKIM, I'm so glad this thread has been useful!  I'm gratified to see all the great information people have contributed.  My own progress has stalled as life/job stuff has been taking priority but I will get back to my anamorphics in the next few weeks and post more info/progress when I can.
I have a couple B&H's I have to get back to first, and hopefully by the time I'm done tinkering with them, Jim will have some more B&L info too  I am very eager to see his rehousing results!.
Cheers,
|. . | .|

Also Jim for re-housing the glass, have you considered painting the sides of the elements flat black to reduce internal/barrel flare? (This may be moot if the housing you are planning is already black)

create a timeline of 2.75:1

so 2970x1080
 
drag your footage into the timeline, then stretch the footage on the horizontal by 2x.  the sides will be cropped off.  You might find you can get away with stretching less than 2x - sometimes 1.8x will be ok - particularly for closeups, since anamorphic squeeze ratio is at infinity, when focused closer the squeeze ratio reduces quite drastically.  Use your own judgement - by eye is better than by the numbers.
 
Personally I think 2.66:1 is the golden ratio.  any wider and things get a little too thin.  - Unless you;re Tarrantino / Bob Richardson and able to make it work for the film:) 
 

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.

If someone has info & pictures they can send me, I'll be happy to add it to the db.

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

BOLD,  After reviewing the info and your posts from page 1 showing with the green arrows and viewing the "COOKING ANAMORPHIC LENS" video and other videos, It seems to me that the idea here is trying to get the two lens, front and rear closer to achieve closer focusing. I think the images with the green arrows tells me that we do not have to cut the B&L in half like Cooking Anamorphic's video, instead looks like we can modify the B&L by cutting maybe an inch off more or less the front outer element housing where in your photo shows the gap between the inner barrow and outer barrow with green arrow and cutting the same off the bottom of the inner barrow that holds the front glass so there is room to push the front glass further down, last thing to trim down would be the area with the two side screws are so everything can be reassembled. Will anyhow I think this is what I'm going to try to do and will also try to document back here with photos of the project. Oh and one more thing, this looks like it can be done with a pipe cutter, clean with no mess like a saw     

Here's a photo of my B&L attached to the camera