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Van Diemen Cine-Iscorama Conversion - Review.


Tito Ferradans
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Damn that is a shame. Fixing the focus throw problem would be the main motivation for me to get the mod.

 

I spent the weekend on vacation shooting with just a pistol grip and a tiny c-mount lens (no iscorama) and it was quite liberating, pulling focus on the fly and moving/placing the cameras in ways I wouldn't normally. After the "Kendy" thread i feel like I need to bring some of that back to my everyday shooting, haha I spend half my time putting diopters on and triple checking focus with anamorphic... mo lenses mo problems :P

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Great review, Im glad to see people are getting them back a bit faster now. THe only thing stopping me is that mine is paired so well with the Trump and sits inside making those 2X ovals......I really need a gear on it though, something with a bigger second gear would make the throw a bit more manageable.

 

What lenses are you pairing it with after the Van Diemen Mod?

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I have 2 sets of taking lenses for the VD Iscorama:

Set A (high quality): Leica R lenses
Set B (strange bokeh): Russian lenses (helios, mir, jupiter) 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

´Cause of the long focus throw: Are there any recommendations on 0.8 pitch focus wheels for a standard follow focus?

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Probably not a bad idea, its the tapered Isco that stops me doing it on the gear that goes on the lens. I wanted to do it to the smaller gear on the FF but have not found one to do that with yet.

 

Tito moving to Vancouver? nice man. Let me know when you are here I would love to check it out and I could let you know some stuff around the city if you have any questions.

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Hello.

Here is my first "real" project with the VD Iscorama pre 36. 

http://www.lasgafas.at/work/das-beste-ist-noch-nicht-vorbei/

 

I shot with the RED ONE in 4K ANA mode with Leica R glass.
90% i shot with the Leica R Summilux 35mm. I wanted to create something like still life images (like paintings) and just used DOF very subtle to pop out the singer (also 35mm Summilux plus Tokina 0.4 diopter). So maybe no super usage of the anamorphic look - but you know - you kinda feel it. I decided to go 1:1.85 because i needed space.

Here is the setup (with an ARRI FF-5):
2gt2ixt.jpg

VD Mod: As Tito mentioned >jaquets VD Mod Mod: Yeah - i def. want to go this direction - Changing lenses and rearrange the Isco takes some time. And you really want to have a lens support for this heavy load on your mount.

All the best,
Chris

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great post Tito.

 

I haven't really been using my VD Isco. Primarily because I haven't found a satisfying lens-combination for use with 5D mkIII. Tony advised on some Leicas, but didn't want to order a bunch of lenses, when not 100% sure about vignetting or not.

 

Tony advised on the Leicas, and I can see that ch_d is using them as well. No vignetting on super35 sensors?

 

Anyone tried a 50-ish mm on a fullframe without vignetting?

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Lucian a few months ago PM'ed be about the VD mod and vignetting questions..  I never posted my response publicly, but now I can see that many people are wondering the same questions / solutions, so I thought my 2 cents might be helpful for some readers... So here it is...

 

Sooo, yes...  VD mod does create more vignetting than the original pre36 isco does on its own.  It does this no question.   However there is a way to work around it.  

 

At first i was surprised to see the difference in many of my taking lenses i had used before i got the mod done, however it was only effecting picture on a 50mm-60mm scale on full frame sensor.  Now a few elements are what makes this problem occur...  

 

VD does build the mod with the screw-on portion of the rear element flush to the actual lens rear element.

Pro : protects the rear lens element more so from scratches dings dents etc, also no use now for multiple stepup rings, filter rings etc.

Con: As everyone has been talking about lately, it does create a vignette on the widest taking lenses because of extended rear thread. also the bigger and deeper your wide angle taking lenses are, the more vignette you will get.  Diopters will also add to this problem, just making the lens longer in front.

 

FIX: pancake lenses!!.  the smaller the better.  I use a 50mm nikkor f1.8 pancake at my widest on full frame 5Dmkiii, and its fine.  no more vignette.  it's something thats a pain at first but once you get setup, no going back from VD version, its a real lens now.  Invest in some pancake lenses, they solve this problem and are very cheap usually.  

 

I've also done some experimenting with it using my mamiya 645 medium format camera lenses.  Because they are made for a 6x4.5 coverage, they are rated at 35mm full frame sizes but are actually "wider" on medium format then full frame.  The glass elements in the lenses tend to be bigger than 35mm lenses and they made really nice longer pairing lenses for my Isco.  my favorite being the 210mm f4 mamiya seckor C that becomes a really nice 140mm when in anamorphic, and is tack sharp.

 

Now in the APS-C size world, i think it's great.  I've played with it a lot on that size and haven't ran into a problem yet.  So depending on what lens and camera combination you are using with VD Isco, you might not have problems at all, or if it's full frame, you have to rethink your taking lens collection  ;)

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