Ninpo33

Speaking of name dropping AND Lubezki… I was bartending my day job years ago while in film school and came to work to set up the hotel bar and looked up to see The whole crew from “Knight of Cups” standing there silence. I proceeded to hang out and cut fruit for 3 hours while they shot some scenes with Christian Bale and Natalie Portman around the pool and walking in and out of my bar. I was giving “Chivo” and his AC’s beers at the end of the bar and chatting with them in between takes. At the end he wanted to pay and I just laughed. I told him he was a huge inspiration for me and there’s no way they were paying LOL. Have me his business card and got to meet Terrance Malik later. i don’t think any of those scenes even made it into the film but it would have been even better if i got some background work out of it LOL. Loved the way he ran his set and how quiet and professional it was. Lubezki told me Mallick wants it all naturalistic and wanted the hotel and bar open the whole time. No closed set and no yelling from the first AD. Just quietly exploring shots and vibing off of the mood and the actors. I learned a lot through observation and it was inspiring. Epic day.

I was just about to mention how good Train Dreams looks and the magical pairing of the Alexa 35 sensor matched with the Kowa Prominar Sphericals. Stunning film and very Chivo-esque. As much as we say the camera doesn’t matter now I think there are arguments for both sides. I think it’s a lot like fine wine. A lot of people are fine with a $5 bottle and can’t really taste the difference between that and a $500 bottle. I can though.

Correct. The question from Zlfan above I guess was what it improves upon over SD card? Maybe you can confirm that it’s more photo related for faster buffer time when shooting continuous stills? I don’t think it helps video in any way…

S1R is a 6 year old camera so all of the codec options are pretty standard at this point. I think CF express type B will help with photos and faster buffer rate for continuous shooting. Other than that SD cards are fine for video specs.

There are two card slots. Camera takes both types of cards.

Made a lowball offer on ebay and scored the “Vintage Lumix” S1R kit for $800 US this week. I have a book project and need to photograph a lot of oversized art in high megapixel raw so i couldn’t pass it up for the money. Been wanting to try out the 5k mode for a while now and have a whole list of vintage lenses to adapt. As much as I wanted the SL2 or the GFX 100s the prices haven’t come down as much as the Lumix stuff and I can always revisit those later. For now the Original S5 with Ninja V for prores raw and the S1R for high res stills and 5k Super 35 Anamorphic. A little S9 for $800 is next and that will round out my 3 camera budget system for under $2,300, Not bad…

Hey Andrew, how about this one? Would be quite the deal if it could be fixed. Camera is about an hour from me so I am tempted to experiment. Otherwise an expensive paperweight. Salt water damage is probably up there with one of the worst things to do dona camera.

I’m in the same boat. Trying to time it so that the Sony A1 price vs features hits the sweet spot. I think we’re nearly there. I always talk about the Japanese auction sites but again, right now there is a promotion on Buyee and Mercari with 15% off coupons. Not sure about shipping and import tax to the UK from Japan but it’s still a great deal right now. Found one private party with very low shutter count and light photo use. $2,781 after the 15% discount applied. tempting…

Yeah exactly, for cheap smaller auctions it’s minimal. The secondary downside to the bullshit Tariff scam is that the options for shipping have decreased as well so the lowest priced options are now unavailable and there are just two options. I used to be able to pay $18 - $20 for a 7 day delivery but now that option is unavailable so ECMS is around $25 for the same sized package. One pro tip i can recommend is that they will store your package for 30 days free of charge while you sort it out and then you are able to combine smaller items for savings on postage. You have to be careful with weight and size however because i once combined 5 items and it ended up bumping me into the next tier and it ended up being $100 or more. Still though, cost per item was only $20 so in the end it was not bad. After your item arrives you can select the shipping rate in a drop down menu. As of last month there is now a 15% Tariff charge that’s added and that’s new. Also be sure to search for coupons in that drop down menu because right now there’s a 50% off international shipping so i just saved $30 on that and recovered some fees. I might do a youtube video soon doing a deep dive into it, I’ve been using it for 8 or 9 years now and learned a lot of tricks.

I know we’ve ventured off topic from Anamorphic adapters but I’m currently shopping for some cheap lenses with character and will use these with my Blazar Nero 1.5x so it’s somewhat relevant LOL… I stumbled upon both of these listings earlier, one from ebay US and one from Japanese Yahoo auctions. This is what I meant before when I said that there are bargains to be had for the savvy shopper.

I only buy old glass LOL. I look at the price of new lenses and think, "wow that's like 10 - 20 interesting vintage lenses" So you haven't bought from any of the Japanese websites or you have and haven't had good results? Speaking for myself, it's been a game changer and I've ordered 12 items just this week. 10 - 15% OFF coupons and promotions all the time so there's your tariffs leveled up right there. I will say that it depends what you're after and there are some things that are better on eBay vs direct from Japan.. Once you find a groove though, it's great to bounce back and forth between the two cultures and see what's what? Some things are really popular in Japan and fetch premiums while other items that are rare in North America sell for very reasonable prices. But it's nice to have options. And yes I got 3 of those Yashica Scopes 1.5x in mint condition for $80 each. combined the shipping for $20 and it was 2 days door to door. As far as fungus and issues with quality... The Japanese culture generally is very honest and most sellers accurately describe their products, warts and all. Better photos than eBay too and a much more realistic idea of what you're getting. I personally don't mind taking chances on things if the price is right and I know I can fix any smaller issues. But that has really never been an issue for me and any issues are almost always me trying to really get a good deal and gambling on a bad/cheap lens. I will say that the experience has changed for the worse with Trump in office and this most recent tariff grift. Shipping is a bit higher and you don't have as many options but at least delivery is super fast and always well packaged/protected. I'm a fan. Hopefully things normalize soon but it's still a deal. Here's a post I screen captured a while back with more info about the Sirui 1.25x mods

Another bargain right now is the Laowa Nanomorph lenses if you’re OK with APS-C. Used they’re getting really cheap and they’re very tiny. For a native mount solution and ease of use they’re quite acceptable in my opinion. Especially if you consider not needing to mess with all the clamps, adapters, FVD’s etc and being able to go wide.

My “Pocket Anamorphic” setup i’m working on. Waiting for a couple eastern european guys to finish with a small scale front focuser prototype for these little 8mm scopes.

Right now it’s a great time to pick up older adapters vs new modern $$$ anamorphic lenses. The 2x stretch and even 1.5x stretch of the older adapters looks really good to my eyes compared to the modern offerings. The Yen is also fairly weak so buying from Japanese websites takes it to another level. There’s also a nice middle ground and I’ve had a blast choosing from the best of both worlds. My favorites in 2025 1. Most Kowa Prominar 2x and 1.75x versions. $200 now 2. Elmoscope II because they are usually in amazing condition and equal to the Kowa’s but cheaper because they are not as well known. $150 now 3. Smaller 8mm scopes because they are fun and I’m working on a tiny solution with old small Rangefinder glass and Fuji APS-C $100 - $150 now 4. Blazar Nero 1.5x adapter because it’s good and you can play with completely different looks depending on taking lens and sensor size. Looks really good on APS-C and gets very funky on Full frame. $500 or less now on the used market if your patient. 5. Siuri 1.25x adapter mod where you take out the anamorphic and convert it to just a DIY Variable focusing adapter for cheap. That way you can have a budget focusing option for the older adapters at a reasonable cost. $250

Apparently not...!!!