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Iscorama with vintage c mount lenses


Paulio
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Hello,

 

I was wondering about the viability of pairing the iscorama 36 with older cmount lenses.

I'm particularly interested in acquiring and using some Kern Pailard switar lenses from the 50's and 60's, any

one tried these with an isco?

 

Any info appreciated!

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  • 2 weeks later...
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kern the maker switar was taken over and asset stripped by leica,you see some of the lens they made especially for the lovely alpa camera the lens where to good.

kern swiss and kinoptik france where masters of optical perfection in the realm of apo light ray correction two very low key companies making optical perfection low production high end expensive.

 

the c mount optics that kern made where variable the kinoptik supreme.

the fast kern optics like the 1.4s and especially the macro switars where simply fantastic optical gems.

the 26mm f1.1 was an incredible optical design.

buying switar for anamorphic is not a good idea as a stand alone great but not just for anamorphic also the good stuff goes for good money now.

i have plenty of kern but never got excited about matching with iscorama

what camera system is it for/

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Switars are beauties for sure, but IMO results vary from lovely to underwhelming when paired with digital cameras.

 

I was thinking on the digital bolex as that is one of the nicest pairings I've seen https://vimeo.com/74887302

 

Can you elaborate on why they are not a good match for anamorphics though?

 

You should give it a go since you have both!

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i did years ago with a real bolex also with the gh1.

a lot of the variables are to do with lens condition abuse,budget optics.

the top line switar where used by bbc type natural history cameramen some where treated well others abused from a life spent in jungle or ice.

 

i always found the original olympus pen lens more interesting with iscorama back in the day just a case of trying matching.

some of the most expensive optics i had did not match well with iscorama.most stuff works.

 like making love to a fat girl it works but you get the feeling while you are doing it that it kind of isn't as good as it could be.

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I don't anything about c-mount lenses but there are some other interesting 16mm lenses on Arriflex: I recently bought a cheap Angenieux 12-120mm 2.2. I use it with my Leicina but I maybe it could work on my GH3 and I think the sensor of the Digital Bolex is just a little bit smaller?!

But I don't know how this would work with the Iscorama (ah damned just came to my mind that front size is 72mm so that is Isco 54 land...)

Sorry had two beers...  :wacko:

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Thank you for the info and the colourful metaphor.

 

I may try it myself at some point if I come across a reasonably priced switar or try a friends. The 26mm 1.1 is pretty legendary, I imagine you could pair it with an isco without vignetting on the Digital bolex as it has a smaller sensor than m3/4rds. I take it sharpness would not be happening at such low fstops.

 

 

i did years ago with a real bolex also with the gh1.

a lot of the variables are to do with lens condition abuse,budget optics.

the top line switar where used by bbc type natural history cameramen some where treated well others abused from a life spent in jungle or ice.

 

i always found the original olympus pen lens more interesting with iscorama back in the day just a case of trying matching.

some of the most expensive optics i had did not match well with iscorama.most stuff works.

 like making love to a fat girl it works but you get the feeling while you are doing it that it kind of isn't as good as it could be.

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  • 2 months later...

In case anyone is interested, I gave it go.  Iscorama 36 + switar 25mm 1.4 on the gh2.

 

 

Image is quite nice and pretty much exactly what you would expect. pretty even usable wide open. vignette is almost unnoticeable wide open, but severe stopped down. Adding chunky diopters and filters also causes vignette.

 

 

The one major problem, the switar does not have an aperture ring, instead the whole front of the lens rotates, which means the isco spins when you change apature. Of course it only takes two seconds to fix the alignment but still makes for a more awkward experience.

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