josh-himes
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 p.1 #16 · Anyone here shooting anamorphic stills? | |
bjhurley wrote:
I love your work with anamorphics!
I wonder how these adapters can work on M mount if you don't have a camera with Live View, since my understanding is that you need to ensure horizontal flare alignment and correct image compression, and for some adapters it can be hard/impossible to do that without actually looking through the lens. Plus you'd need Live View for focusing the adapter.
I guess a lot of these adapters also vignette on full-frame cameras with wider lenses.
I'm interested in trying an adapter on a film camera; easy enough with an SLR but I'm not sure how it would work with a film rangefinder camera. I know some of these adapters are quite heavy as well; I have a baseplate and rails so I could mount the adapter on that to take strain off the camera's lens mount, but I think that would only work for lenses with internal focusing (i.e., the length of the lens doesn't change as you focus, nor does the front element rotate). It's possible to desqueeze a TIFF film scan in Resolve, Photoshop, etc. ...Show more →
Thank you. There is definitely a learning curve, but nothing that can't be overcome. I'll try to step through my approach below. Warning - information overload ahead.
I have used Anamorphic adapters mounted on M lenses with my M mount film cameras. It's doable, but it is definitely a multi-step process. Nikon bodies are a bit easier just because you have the SLR viewfinder for framing. It still won't provide critical close focus, as focus with anamorphic adapters can be a bit of a black art.
As far as aligning the adapter and checking focus, you definitely need to do that on a mirrorless camera, but it could be almost any system if you are using an M lens. You need precisely calibrated lens-mount adapters to know that the focus settings will transfer across systems, and the Rayqual adapters are the best I've found. I use them for M mount to both E and L and the focus is usually spot on. Once you have your M lens mounted on a mirrorless body, align the adapter by using a flashlight to get perfect horizontal flares and lock it down.
First step for preparing to shoot on the film body is to figure out infinity focus. If you get lucky, that will also be infinity focus on the lens (but not always the case). After that, you are ready to shoot on an M mount film camera, but you will be winging it on framing and close focus. If you care about precise framing and focus, first set up the shot on a tripod mounted mirrorless body by setting the focus and desired framing. Then carefully mount the lens/adapter on the film body and put it on the tripod. You really need a quick release baseplate on each camera to do this efficiently and repeatably. I use Arca mount baseplates on all of my cameras and that allows them to easily be tripod mounted and the framing is usually spot on. This isn't a quick process, but you can do it in the field pretty efficiently once you have it down.
The real hurdle is finding a suitable adapter that can be used on a variety of lenses and has wide coverage. I have some exotic adapters that took forever to find, usually from halfway around the world. The Zeiss Ikon Anamorphot/1.5x is my favorite, but they are very expensive. Usually $2K+. With the right lens (Leica M 50mm Elmar f/3.5), it will cover 50mm on full frame, which is pretty great. But it's not a practical solution for most people.
In my experience, the adapter with the widest coverage is the relatively new Blazer Nero 1.5x. The image quality isn't perfect, but it is totally usable. Image quality is also somewhat lens dependent, so experimentation will definitely be required. Generally, longer lenses will deliver the best results with adapters in general, with 55-75 probably being the sweet spot. I believe they may have stopped making the Blazar Nero adapters, but I see used copies on ebay every few months. These will cover 45mm on full frame with the right lens. I like the newer Nikon 45mm 2.8, as it is tiny and sharp. I use this combo on both Nikon film bodies and mirrorless cameras with good results. Very wide with great flares. Ken Rockwell on Nikon 45
That's why the Sirui 35 is such a winner if you want to go wide on mirrorless - no amount of experimentation with adapters will get you to 35mm coverage on full frame 3:2 and that lens is sharp corner to corner. I even use it for astrophotography with good results. But for film, the Blazar adapter or one of the various PL/EF mount cine lenses are the best bet for wide. Once you get up to around 65-75mm focal length, the options open up quite a bit for adapters. The cine lenses can be great because the focus is well marked and easy to track across different systems once the back focus is calibrated. Some of the newer cine lenses like the Laowa Nanomorph LF have easily adjustable back focus calibration, which is really handy.
De-squeeze is easy for film scans, you can even do it on your phone. That's usually the last step in the process for me. I use a great app called Vertiscoper that can handle DNG, JPEG and video. The developer worked with me to implement a few of my suggested improvements not too long after he released the app and it is an excellent solution.
Anyway, probably way too much to absorb in one sitting, but good luck and let me know if I can clarify anything.
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