Anamorphic at f/0.95

[whoisjsd 79]

Hi all! I just joined, but I am not new to Anamorphic or filmmaking. I know some of you here already (Hi Tito!) and some of you may have known me in a previous online life.

Recently I have been working with my current equipment setup and building up/mastering skill of what I have. Unfortunately, my current camera is a Panasonic G7 (long story), but because I'm the type that invests in glass before camera, I do have some great stuff.

On to the topic at hand!

I have one of those rare unbranded 1.33x adapters from the 90's. I have since modified it, added a filter ring, and cleaned it up nicely. One of the first lenses I tried it on was the Voightlander 17.5mm f/0.95 some time ago. I knew that fast apertures didn't mix well with anamorphics and I didn't think to try it as I didn't even have a +0.5 diopter at the time. I was still shocked at the result the combo gave me and I always wanted to try shooting more with it.

These are mostly at 200 and 400 ISO. Shutter speed is either 100 or 50. I had weird issues with ficker at shutter speed 100 and 60 fps, so I shot most of this in 4K. The undercranked stuff was shot at shutter speed 2.

The +0.5 diopter is what makes this video possible. Almost all shots of Yumiko (the girl in the video) were shot with the +0.5 with the exception of one or two with a +1.0.

I am very happy with the results. All of the lighting conditions I tried were more than acceptable... and this was handheld, run-and-gun style. I can imagine in a controlled shoot enviroment you could do even more magic with it. Very pleased overall. Also, this is my first time trying Speedgrade in my workflow. Please be kind

I love this little anamorphic. There's something special about it. I have shot with the SLR Magic Anamorphic on the same setup and in most ways I prefer this one. Still have some more practice and testing to do on it, but I'll get there. Also, thanks to this lens I think I was the first person to shoot anamorphic on the iPhone 7 Plus. Peek that video here.

Thank you for your time! I hope to contribute more here in the future

[bzpop 38]

sorry, i am a bit slow, so which shots are at f/0,95?

[whoisjsd 79]

5 hours ago, bzpop said:

sorry, i am a bit slow, so which shots are at f/0,95?

All of them

[Brian Caldwell 256]

Pupil size counts more than f/#.  Shooting f/0.95 with a 17mm lens is similar in terms of putting optical "stress" on the anamorphic to shooting f/2.8 with a 50mm lens or f/5.6 with a 100m lens.

[whoisjsd 79]

5 hours ago, Brian Caldwell said:

Pupil size counts more than f/#.  Shooting f/0.95 with a 17mm lens is similar in terms of putting optical "stress" on the anamorphic to shooting f/2.8 with a 50mm lens or f/5.6 with a 100m lens.

Maths aside, there still aren't many anamorphics that can go this wide to begin with, let alone many other lenses that fast that match it's optical stress maximum capabilities. Shooting at 50mm would give a very different challenge as far as shots and composition. I can use this setup on a gimbal, for example.

I know there are other ways to get fast anamorphics. I can double focus sharp at f/1.2 all day with my Leica 42.5 and my Ultra Star. I can even get a sharp image with a Takumar 50mm f/1.4 on a Lens Turbo with the Ultra Star. (Essentially a f/1.0 36mm) I'd love to get my hands on a Tomioka 55mm f/1.2 and try that on the Lens Turbo. But still, there are no real single focus solutions that can go that fast.

It's a unique setup for unique situations. I'd admit the f/0.95 headline gives it click appeal more than anything, but I think it's still impressive nonetheless.

[tweak 448]

To be honest with you though this doesn't hold much anamorphic flavour. The Ultra Star would be a better combo even with it's muted flares, to most viewers this footage posted would just looked like you cropped the top and bottom of an image, which begs the question; is it really worth it? Only you can answer that I guess.