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New SLR Magic prototype anamorphic lens footage surfaces


Andrew Reid
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SLR Magic anamorphic flare

SLR Magic are working on a 1.33x anamorphic adapter. Hong Kong based shooter Edwin Lee has tried it out. The lens is 'compact' and attaches to the front of your prime. SLR Magic say it works best currently with their 35mm F1.4 on Micro Four Thirds and the Canon EF 50mm F1.4 on full frame.

[url=http://www.eoshd.com/content/11105/new-slr-magic-prototype-anamorphic-lens-footage-surfaces]Read the full article here[/url]
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I think options for 1.5 as well as 1.3 would be nice.

 

I like the idea, and I have to say that so far I'm finding working with "projector" anamorphics to be tedious at best, so a better solution with better way of focusing and overall a more optimized way to mount the lens would be most welcome. Price, is also a factor of course since I don't think anyone wants to pay many thousands for these.

 

Mostly, I hope they actually come through with something, I feel that they've been talking about it for a long while now, and it would be nice if they actually bring something to production soon.

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The flare aesthetic will improve with the coating.  You can get oval bokeh with 1.33X adapters and the use of a +2 diopter.  What I'm interested in is what was the actual widest aperture used here.  Regardless of what the taking lens is capable of.   If it can't go wider than f/2.8  then it's not really an improvement on the Century Optics adapter, aside from possibly increased sharpness and reduced CA in the corners sans diopter.

 

So for this 35mm lens I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some of this was wider than f/4 which would make this adapter significantly better than a Century Optics.  

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The flares are distracting.  I too hope to see what the final coating will be.  And I wish there was a 2x wide option out there to get real oval bokeh.  It sucks to be stuck with 85mm on a 5DmkIII as the widest option (and still vignettes!).

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1.3 - 1.5x is perfect, no issues with that.  I find the 3.55 stretch to be pretty tedious and other 2x solutions are widely available.

 

Although the modern art horizontal flares have a unique look, I think I'd get tired of this, and would prefer a more conventional oval flare as well.  Perhaps selling an uncoated version may be a reasonable way to recoup development costs faster.

 

I've spent much time looking at complex and occasionally dubious anamorphic solutions on ebay lately, and am fairly interested in a reliable, simple focus solution that doesn't involve blow torches, duct tape, and modified plumbing parts.  

 

Hopefully this lens, or one like it, will make it to production soon.

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The filmmaker commented that the video was shot @ f/2.8 which gives this adapter, even in its current form, a distinct advantage over the Century Optics style adapters, since they can't do the same thing on a 35mm lens without a diopter.  

 

This is looking like a nice upgrade for MFT anamorphic photography.  The earliest footage they released had a coating that produced a more pleasing flare so I'm not worried about that.

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The bokeh definitively looks like the AGLA7200. (I miss the oval but we can get it with a diopter as previously said...) I'm not a hudge fan of the flare either. I find it too present, too sharp. Maybe something more subtle could be better.

But if this anamorphic attachement can focus close without a dipoter and shoot @ F2.8 I dig it ! Such a big improvement over my AGLA7200 ! How wide can it go ? 24mm ? 18mm ? What about their 12mm F1.6 ?!

And the serious question is : what about the price ?

 

PS: nice short/test film BTW ;)

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Its really great that somebody finally want to produce the anamorphing lens atachment for the rest of us, but depens on the final price how affordable it will be. It looks good, but I dislike that thin and fragmented look flare what I see here. Oval blue streaks would be lovely. As far as I remember there were only some interesting anamorphic prototypes from Brazil.
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Coming from someone who has slowly gone off their Iscorama 36 over the last few months, I almost feel the anamorphic bubble may have burst already (at least for me).  Though this sample shows promise, I hoped for a bit better.  

 

I think one of the fundamental flaws in the design is the 1.33x.  though really good for using the whole of the sensor and delivering 2.35:1, added to this I think since it is a m4/3 lens i think this is also a critical error.  

 

I'd rather see an integrated lens designed for aps-c (or ideally full frame) with the sole intention to allow use of a speed booster on m4/3.  it would mean their selected taking lens could be a 50mm (which would equate to a similar fov as their current 35mm choice.).  the longer focal length combined with the speed booster will equate to a much more pronounced oval bokeh distortion and might help out the 1.33x to be more obvious.  

 

From looking at the video I also think the lens they were testing may not have had its curved elements properly aligned rotationally - the multitude of horizontals which are not all parallel would suggest this to me.  In particular in the first flare shot there is one short flare line which is particularly off from the rest.  Considering this, and the low light it appears they have created a rather good front mounted anamorphot.  Certainly a century and la7200 killer.  I imagine if the optics were tweeked this lens would be a lot sharper than we're seeing here.

 

I think people shouldnt be worried about doing the dreaded vertical crop to take a 2.66:1 down to 2.35.  Since the gh2 and gh3 and the m43 bmcc have very good resolution i dont think it is a problem to make the crop on the sides, and a 1.5x would help out the anamorphic look no end.  

 

A matching achromat would be good too - allowing those lovely portrait shots to be even more obviously anamorphic. 

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Rich, my experience is the opposite, the longer I've had my 36 the more I use it, total workhorse. 1.5x is a nice sweet spot, some bokeh without massive cropping on 16:9 sensors, on my gh2/gh3 I'm shooting as low as 25mm and up to 115mm, giving me a full range of shots  all with rack/single focus and clean optics. And with your mod I'm focusing down to 3.5 feet without diopters so I rarely need them.

 

The only lens in this bracket I can think of that compares/exceeds in terms of quality and versatility for real world narrative use is the centavision. (or a full range range of dso when they're ready)

 

sure 1.3 with 16:9 will result in a perfect 2.35, but so will just cropping your footage... whats the point of anamorphic if you are not getting the bokeh/burnt in stretch?  

 

Coming from someone who has slowly gone off their Iscorama 36 over the last few months, I almost feel the anamorphic bubble may have burst already (at least for me).  Though this sample shows promise, I hoped for a bit better.  

 

I think one of the fundamental flaws in the design is the 1.33x.  though really good for using the whole of the sensor and delivering 2.35:1, added to this I think since it is a m4/3 lens i think this is also a critical error.  

 

I'd rather see an integrated lens designed for aps-c (or ideally full frame) with the sole intention to allow use of a speed booster on m4/3.  it would mean their selected taking lens could be a 50mm (which would equate to a similar fov as their current 35mm choice.).  the longer focal length combined with the speed booster will equate to a much more pronounced oval bokeh distortion and might help out the 1.33x to be more obvious.  

 

From looking at the video I also think the lens they were testing may not have had its curved elements properly aligned rotationally - the multitude of horizontals which are not all parallel would suggest this to me.  In particular in the first flare shot there is one short flare line which is particularly off from the rest.  Considering this, and the low light it appears they have created a rather good front mounted anamorphot.  Certainly a century and la7200 killer.  I imagine if the optics were tweeked this lens would be a lot sharper than we're seeing here.

 

I think people shouldnt be worried about doing the dreaded vertical crop to take a 2.66:1 down to 2.35.  Since the gh2 and gh3 and the m43 bmcc have very good resolution i dont think it is a problem to make the crop on the sides, and a 1.5x would help out the anamorphic look no end.  

 

A matching achromat would be good too - allowing those lovely portrait shots to be even more obviously anamorphic. 

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