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Sharp cheap 2x anamorphic lens


Marty
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Good morning everyone!

I'm looking for a sharp crystal clear 2x anamorphic lens. I would like to know if it's possible to find sharp lenses for 200/400 euros. I don't mind the distortion as long as it's acceptable, but I don't want any blurry look on the background and edges. I will be using a gh5. I don't mind the double focus (for now). Can you suggest anything ?

Thank you.

 

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No, they aren't always red. 

I've got a small golden Ultra Star. 

But if you find a red one, you can rest relaxed, since I've never seen a big red version of it. 

Re: price - they usually go for 300 - 400$. 

Don't be fooled by 'ISCO Micro Red' - it's just a regular Ultra Star that had one of its barrels unscrewed. 

 

Before buying / bedding make sure that it's an anamorphic adapter and not a spherical lens. Take a close look at glass and see, if it's oval. 

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Yes of course, I wouldn't buy without a photo showing the oval. Although in a picture it can be difficult to see if it's 2x 1.33x, 1.50x etc...
As for not getting the bigger one, you said the bigger has a different shape, so at least I can't go wrong on that.

 

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All Ultra Stars are 2x, so it should be easy to recognize, if it's truly an oval.

Yeah, their shape is quite distinct.
What also differentiates them from smaller Ultra Stars is minimum focus distance - big scopes' MFD is ~5 meters, whereas the smaller ones can be focused down to ~1.5 meter

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  • 3 weeks later...
13 hours ago, Joshsanamorphic said:

Whats the downside of the big left one except of the weight?

Weight, length - your setup immediately looks like a bazooka.

 

Since it's longer, it'll give you more vignette. The smaller ISCO may give vignette-free image with a ~70 / 75 mm lens on a full frame camera, whereas the bigger one might require longer focal lengths - I'd say ~90 mm.

BUT, the biggest trouble here is minimum focus distance.
You won't be able to focus it closer than 5 m, unless you use diopters (which will be very difficult to find in these sizes).

And when it comes to variable diopters (aka single focus solutions), the only one you could use with anamorphic adapter like this is FVD-35A, which is huge, to say the least. Not only it weighs 1.1 kg, but costs 1200$.

 

To sum up: I'm happy that you managed to win the auction, but the lens itself is very impractical.

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okay haha think I was too enthusiastic that I found such a cheap ISCO. 

funny thing is that I can resell it more expensive - some iscos here in germany (the same huge model) go for 299$ !

I've got a mft camera so vignetting won´t be too bad and I also thought diopters were easy to find and I didn't mind that much about the focus distance because it was only 120$ - totally failed

Thanks for your help!

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Don't mention it. 

7 hours ago, Joshsanamorphic said:

funny thing is that I can resell it more expensive - some iscos here in germany (the same huge model) go for 299$ !

Good for you! 

 

Don't get discouraged, just take a little time to do some more research. 

( :

Anamorphic shooting is fun, but requires a lot of patience. 

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On 1/30/2020 at 8:59 AM, Joshsanamorphic said:

okay haha think I was too enthusiastic that I found such a cheap ISCO. 

funny thing is that I can resell it more expensive - some iscos here in germany (the same huge model) go for 299$ !

I've got a mft camera so vignetting won´t be too bad and I also thought diopters were easy to find and I didn't mind that much about the focus distance because it was only 120$ - totally failed

Thanks for your help!

welcome to the rabbit hole,  how deep it goes is up to you. I think quite few people jump the gun on these bigger projector lenses without doing alot of homework first. I know i did  😁

While cheap initially making it more practical gets expensive  fast. Still with a clamp and lens support you can at least wet your feet in anamorphics

its not a fail, its just more challenging to utilize properly. Some would call it character building 😉 If you persevere you can pat yourself on the back as its not a path many will travel. If nothing else attach it to a camera and stick it on a shelf, great conversation starter or resell on ebay to the next newbie anamorphic adoptee.

with the sirui anamorphic coming out and if it does well i'd expect projection lenses to take a hit  as its so much easier just to buy a complete unit rather than cobble something together which is good for mft and probably full frame further down the road

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4 hours ago, leslie said:

welcome to the rabbit hole,  how deep it goes is up to you. I think quite few people jump the gun on these bigger projector lenses without doing alot of homework first. I know i did  😁

While cheap initially making it more practical gets expensive  fast. Still with a clamp and lens support you can at least wet your feet in anamorphics

its not a fail, its just more challenging to utilize properly. Some would call it character building 😉 If you persevere you can pat yourself on the back as its not a path many will travel. If nothing else attach it to a camera and stick it on a shelf, great conversation starter or resell on ebay to the next newbie anamorphic adoptee.

with the sirui anamorphic coming out and if it does well i'd expect projection lenses to take a hit  as its so much easier just to buy a complete unit rather than cobble something together which is good for mft and probably full frame further down the road

Sirui's IndieGogo raised over a million bucks!  Talk about an untapped market.

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