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Better then iscorama 36?


rokkimort
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Better then iscorama 36?  

25 members have voted

  1. 1. Hey guys, which one would you favor and why (if it was NOT about the price, just IQ, character and usability)?

    • Iscorama 36 with focus gears.
    • Kowa 35 1.5x with HardcoreDNA.
    • Bolex-Moller 16/32/1.5x with HardcoreDNA.


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I am biased, as I have the Bolex myself (and love it), but in terms of usability - I think there is nothing that really can match the Iscorama on that front (looking past the close-focus workarounds). It is smaller, lighter and can go the widest (at 50mm on FF). The Bolex/HardCoreDNA combo vignettes at 58mm, and the Kowa is even "worse" from what I have heard (75mm). I personally shoot widest at 58mm with a 1.2x crop on ML raw, to be safe.

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I own the Bolex since a few months an I really like him. I use him with the Voigländer Ultron 40mm at my Samsung NX1. I have the one with bleuish / magenta flares and that one is what I have heard very rare. I consider buying the hardcoreDNA, but then I need also a rig for the weight of the combi. But perhaps I switch over to the Iscorama 36 to keep it compact for point and shoot. The sharpness of the Bolex is amazing!

14922462074031803487242.jpg

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The iscorama is the lightest, widest and most compact setup. You can go 40mm with a pancake on full frame, and nothing quite beats those warm flares.

The only issue I see is close focus, but that is also workable with regular diopters, since you have a 72mm front, which is easy to cover. Oh, and the 49mm threads at the back are also super easy to mount to taking lenses.

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3 hours ago, Tito Ferradans said:

The iscorama is the lightest, widest and most compact setup. You can go 40mm with a pancake on full frame, and nothing quite beats those warm flares.

The only issue I see is close focus, but that is also workable with regular diopters, since you have a 72mm front, which is easy to cover. Oh, and the 49mm threads at the back are also super easy to mount to taking lenses.

Can you go with 40mm pancake with bigger iscoramas, like 42 and 54?

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46 minutes ago, redimp said:

Can you go with 40mm pancake with bigger iscoramas, like 42 and 54?

The only problem with the 54 is that its a beast of a lens & dwarfs small lenses, so you need to use it on a rig or hold it all very carefully - but just too precarious without.

I do like using mine with a Super Takumar 35mm or 55mm - looks stupid, like you've added an oversized bazooka to your camera.

Don't have FF, but I happily use a 30mm with aps-c.

The thing about the 54 is that you can use it with bigger lenses without it limiting the F-stop - so with most lenses you will actually be shooting wide open when you have your taking lens set that way.

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24 minutes ago, Ian Edward Weir said:

I have both the Kowa 35 1.5x with HardcoreDNA and Bolex-Moller 16/32/1.5x with HardcoreDNA. They are very close. Kowa is slightly sharper but Bolex has something magical about the image. I can get a sharp usable image at f1.2 on Kowa. Iscorama is f2.8 right? 

I know it's so much to ask, but can you make a couple side by side images? I'll owe you so much.

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9 hours ago, redimp said:

Can you go with 40mm pancake with bigger iscoramas, like 42 and 54?

Yes. :D

1 hour ago, Ian Edward Weir said:

I have both the Kowa 35 1.5x with HardcoreDNA and Bolex-Moller 16/32/1.5x with HardcoreDNA. They are very close. Kowa is slightly sharper but Bolex has something magical about the image. I can get a sharp usable image at f1.2 on Kowa. Iscorama is f2.8 right? 

Not really, it depends on the taking lens. The rear element is what limits light transmission. In terms of sharpness, I'm good all the way down to f/1.4 with a Isco. Haven't tried 1.2 because I have no lenses. hahahah

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2 hours ago, Ian Edward Weir said:

I have both the Kowa 35 1.5x with HardcoreDNA and Bolex-Moller 16/32/1.5x with HardcoreDNA. They are very close. Kowa is slightly sharper but Bolex has something magical about the image. I can get a sharp usable image at f1.2 on Kowa. Iscorama is f2.8 right? 

+1 on the Kowa. I've got this as well and it's a shockingly good piece of glass. No idea why these don't fetch a premium. The Rapido clamps turn it into an easy to mount, elegantly align-able solution. 

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When I have some spare time, I'm planning to do a little shoot with my Kowa B&H, Kowa inflight 1.75x (both with Core DNA) and iscorama pre 36 (with 3.5ft close focus mod) on full frame with recent 3-4K magic lantern crop resolutions. I will probably throw in some iscomorphot s8 2x shots in there (because it's ridiculously underrated for portrait/closeup compositions). Think the Bolex 16/32 is the only lens I'd actually be interested in trying out...the recent Bolex+ML footage from @SigurdW looks great.

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I think if ISCO did not have the wider angle capabilities, I would just go for a C35, simply because it's cheapest of all.

I think I saw someone using B&H with a 40mm pancake too. @Hans Punk does your inflight allow to use wider lens then the B&H? There's a chance the C35 will also do, and in this case I have a winner.

@Ian Edward Weir Thank you.

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3 hours ago, rokkimort said:

I think if ISCO did not have the wider angle capabilities, I would just go for a C35, simply because it's cheapest of all.

I think I saw someone using B&H with a 40mm pancake too. @Hans Punk does your inflight allow to use wider lens then the B&H? There's a chance the C35 will also do, and in this case I have a winner.

@Ian Edward Weir Thank you.

Check out my picture of lens. From left to right. 2 Baby Hypergonars, 2 Kowa 1.75x Inflights, Kowa C35 1.5x, Bolex 16/32 and Bolex 8/19. The Kowa C35 has a much bigger back then Bolex 16/32 and the Kowa Inflight is much bigger then the C35. 

Anamorphic family - Top View

 

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29 minutes ago, Ian Edward Weir said:

Check out my picture of lens. From left to right. 2 Baby Hypergonars, 2 Kowa 1.75x Inflights, Kowa C35 1.5x, Bolex 16/32 and Bolex 8/19. The Kowa C35 has a much bigger back then Bolex 16/32 and the Kowa Inflight is much bigger then the C35. 

Anamorphic family - Top View

 

Oh my gosh! That's a ridiculously awesome collection.

What I actually meant was to see the images shot through the bolex and c35, to compare the IQ and character they deliver, but again, it's so much to ask.

Between c35, inflight and bolex, which one would you keep?

Thank you!

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1 hour ago, rokkimort said:

Oh my gosh! That's a ridiculously awesome collection.

What I actually meant was to see the images shot through the bolex and c35, to compare the IQ and character they deliver, but again, it's so much to ask.

Between c35, inflight and bolex, which one would you keep?

Thank you!

I love them all for different reasons. I'm gonna do a test between C35 and Bolex 16/32. The Kowa is sharper but Bolex might be a tad more vintage film looking and Kowa has a cleaner filmic look. Inflight and Kowa C35 are identical coating and optics besides the ratio being different. Love the native 2.35:1 

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