HandiZoom

Canon CNE15.5-47mm & 35-105mm T2.8 L cinema zoom

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London, UK, 12 April 2012 – Canon today announces the development of four new digital cinematography zoom lenses, as the company expands its EF Cinema Lens range to provide greater creative options for video professionals. Joining the seven high-end lenses announced in 2011, the new models support 4K (4,096 x 2,160) resolutions and will be smaller, lighter and more compact – offering outstanding mobility and quality. Available with both EF and PL mounts, the lenses will also be available at competitive prices, offering premium performance to a wider range of users.

The expanded EF Cinema Lens series will include two wide-angle cinema zoom lenses, the CN-E15.5-47mm T2.8 L S (EF mount) and CN-E15.5-47mm T2.8 L SP (PL mount), alongside two telephoto cinema zoom lenses, the CN-E30-105mm T2.8 L S (EF) and CN-E30-105mm T2.8 L SP (PL). Ideal for use with next-generation 4K cinema cameras, the new lenses will join Canon’s existing line-up of high-end EF Cinema Lenses in forming the core of the Cinema EOS system, which spans lens, digital cinema camera and DSLR categories.

In addition to compatibility with industry-standard Super 35 mm-equivalent cameras, the four cinema zoom lenses will also offer superior flexibility. Each lens will feature a compact, lightweight body supporting a wide focal range, making them ideal for handheld shooting. Combined with the Canon’s existing high-end EF Cinema primes, the new lenses will offer a greater variety of creative possibilities for video professionals of all types.

Prototypes of the new cinema zoom lenses will be on display at NAB 2012, one of the world’s largest events for the video, broadcasting equipment and digital media industries. NAB 2012 will take place from April 16 to 19 in Las Vegas, USA.

True Anamorphic Lens Adapter Tutorial on DSLRs using 5d mark II

Attaching this adapter to a DSLR is a relatively simple process, but I still am getting TONS of questions on how to do it. So hopefully this video will demystify things.

The only real spec. you need to keep in mind is the AG-7200 has rear filter threads of 72MM.

The rest is pretty much illustrated in the video. Also keep in mind this video doesn’t really go into things like image quality or edge sharpness, and or how to maximize the quality out of the adapter… it’s simply how you go about using/attaching it. The comparison at the end was just of fun little test really.

I might make a second video though that talks about anamorphic focus and depth of field with more side by side tests if people want to know more about that in the future.

(Lens used to film the tutorial was the 35mm Flektogon f2.4)

For more anamorphic videos see my links on the side bar.

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To see our feature film shot on the DVX100b go to:slimedthemovie.com/​dvd.php

Or watch the full feature on vimeo HERE: vimeo.com/​9174900

ZEISS Lightweight Zoom LWZ.2 with interchangeable mount

The new Lightweight Zoom LWZ.2 is the first on the market to combine outstanding optical image quality with an interchangeable mount.
The LWZ.2 is a cine lens designed for use with HDSLR as well as traditional cine cameras. The interchangeable mount guarantees high flexibility for present and future use in any situation and for a wide range of camera platforms.

• Three different mounts available (PL, EF and Micro 4/3 (MFT))
• Compact, lightweight zoom ideal for Steadicam, handheld and remote work
• Super color matched with all ZEISS cine lenses
• Highest optical performance despite compact build
• T* XP coating ensures flare resistance

The Lightweight Zoom LWZ.2 is the ideal lens for shooting in confined spaces like airplanes, car interiors or elevators. It is also great when a lightweight camera is needed for action sequences, and for applications where size and weight are at a premium, including Steadicam, handheld, remote heads, car rigs, motorcycle rigs, bicycle mounts, body mounts and underwater shoots. In addition, small size and light weight afford a more efficient shooting pace.

Source: Zeiss Cine

 

 

Tamron / Sigma 70-300 Macro mode hack

Source: Camera Hacker

Have Lenses Passed Cameras in Quality?

Simplified illustration of how lateral chromatic aberration causes different magnifacations of the three RGB optical images that results in color fringing on the final Luma video.

 

 

SEATTLE—When high-end video people describe the major factors in image quality, you hear camera and lens, camera and lens. There’s an argument to be made, however, that the order should be reversed, and we should be talking about the lens and the camera.

That’s because the very top-of-the-line lenses have more than kept up with the very-top-of-the-line video cameras being employed for motion picture and television series production.

“Today the lens-camera landscape is completely different than even five years ago with the development and availability of large format HD cameras,” said Eva Paryzka, sales manager for Cinema Products at Thales Angenieux.

IMPERFECT FILM

Video lenses for general purpose cameras were designed to match the image capture capabilities of earlier cameras, and to be affordable, she said. “Today’s camera manufacturers are merging film and video production by offering PL mount, large format digital cameras with larger and more sensitive sensors, further closing the quality gap between the film and video worlds.”

It would seem that if the new single sensor cameras use a 35mm film frame-size sensor, at the same backspace, with the same PL lens mount, you could just put a high quality film lens on one of these new cameras, and get shooting.

Turns out it’s not all that easy. Film is not as perfect nor as exacting as a video sensor.

Film is less perfect?

How can that be so?

Jeff Cree, vice president of Technical Services at Band Pro Film & Digital (Zeiss and Leica lenses) noted you can start with the fact that the red, green and blue color sensitive layers of film are applied at different depths on the cellulous film backing. “You can only do a compromise focus on it,” he said, focusing crisply on one layer but not the other two.

Pixels on a video imager are at a prescribed depth. “On the Sony F35, it’s a thousandth of a micron,” he said. “So if you happen to be off, it shows. It’s minute, but we’re getting to resolutions where things like that are beginning to show.”

Because digital cinematography began with 2/3-inch sensors, additional challenges were placed on lens makers. “With the 2/3-inch, where we’ve got a very small format, all of us have had to elevate the capability of the glass to give us more line curves per millimeter, because [compared to the 35mm frame] we’ve only got fewer millimeters,” said Larry Thorpe, national marketing executive, Broadcast and Communications division, Canon U.S.A.

Lens technology developed to bring premium quality images to the 2/3-inch imagers has now trickled up to larger imager video cameras, according to Thorpe. “Some of the new 35mm PL mount lenses are claiming to have benefitted from the new designs and materials, and that they are much better than the traditional 35mm film lens.”

CHROMATIC ABERRATION

Chromatic aberration is another problem that has reared its head with the new, higher resolution video cameras. Chromatic (color) aberration (error), in simple terms, occurs because of the unequal refraction of light rays of different wavelengths. Lens designers go to great lengths to correct for this, so that all colors that make up a particular piece of detail in the viewed image converge at the same point on the sensor.

A chromatic aberration error might be seen as a slight bleeding of red, for example, on the edge of a thin line.

Fujinon National Sales Manager Thom Calabro explained that this might not really be a problem with a a lower resolution camera.

“If you have an error because you have a little bit of red bleeding, even though it’s separate from the green and the blue elements of the edge, because the red, green and blue all fall within one pixel, you won’t see it, said Calabro. “Now take that same error and put it on a camera that has a lot more pixels; you’ll have the green and the blue part of the image on one pixel, and you’ll have the red on an adjacent pixel.”

Differences between film and a high-end video sensor require video lensmakers to pay more attention to chromatic aberration. First, a 35mm sensor has smaller, more densely packed pixels, which are less than half the size of 12-micron film grain. Film can therefore hide small chromatic errors, the same as they are hidden on lower resolution video cameras. A second reason film can hide such an error is that where the pixels on a sensor remain in exactly the same position as frame after frame is imaged, film grain is randomly placed on frame after frame of film. A minor chromatic shift may be visible in one film frame, hidden a 24th of a second later in the next.

Fujinon’s Calabro noted that if chasing down a single pixel color shift seems like picking nits, remember that in a motion picture theater the image error will be seen on a 50-foot—not a 50-inch home screen.

One more difference between a video sensor and film is that the angle at which light rays enter a pixel must be more perpendicular to the sensor than is necessary when light rays strike the light-sensitive grain on film. “You’re actually looking at shooting light into little tunnels on a sensor, and the straighter you can do that, the more illumination you will have,” said Band Pro’s Cree. Special elements at the back of the lens are required to achieve this.

Though a number of digital cinematography cameras are touted as 4K (4-million pixel) imaging, there’s a lot of argument over whether we’ve actually seen a 4K camera. However, several lens makers have 4K-capable lenses ready. At NAB, we may or may not see a consensus 4K camera introduction. The lens makers are waiting for such a camera more anxiously than most. A true 4K camera will drive sales for their very best lenses.

Illustrating how the separation of the three RGB optical images might not be seen by an SDTV sensor array, but could readily be seen by and HDTV sensor array.

 

Source: TV TECHNOLOGY, by Craig Johnston

One Camera With 40,000 Lenses Helps Prevent Blurry Images

For all its virtues, digital photography has yet to correct one age-old weakness: If you blow the focus, you’ve most likely lost the shot. An emerging lens system, known as plenoptics, will change that. The product of more than a decade of research from Adobe and institutions including Stanford and Indiana universities, plenoptic cameras capture multiple focal settings in one snap, so users can refocus after the fact. The German-made Raytrix R11 is the first mass-produced plenoptic camera available in the U.S.

Post-shoot refocusing requires a camera that captures thousands of separate paths of light. Plenoptic cameras have an array of micro-lenses on top of the image sensor; the R11 has 40,000. As light travels through those lenses, it fractures into 40,000 separate image fragments. Computer software decodes the files to compose a final image; adjusting the focus is as simple as moving an onscreen slider to tweak the depth of field. Photographers can also view two slightly different angles to create stereoscopic 3-D stills and video.

40,000 Lenses: Courtesy Raytrix

Such flexibility comes at a cost. The R11’s final image resolution is only three megapixels, and video runs at six frames per second—pretty shabby given the camera’s $30,000 price tag. In a few years though, that may change: Adobe is working on a version of Photoshop that will edit plenoptic images in anticipation of forthcoming consumer-friendly plenoptic cameras.

Source: POPSCI

How to use the anamorphic clamp

Source of the Vamp Clamp: Vid-Atlantic

Horseman TS-Pro

Band Pro announces that they are now the dealer for Horseman TS-Pro made in Japan by Komamura Corp. for the Americas, Europe and Israel. The Horseman TS-Pro allows DSLR and digital cinema camera users to creatively control depth-of-field and perspective distortion through lens tilt and shift, as well as lateral and rise/fall movements. Such movements allow the shooter to selectively focus on a small portion of the image while leaving the rest soft, create miniaturization effects, and correct or exaggerate perspective distortion.

The Horseman TS-Pro works by placing a flexible bellows between the lens and the camera body. The camera remains stationary while the TS-Pro allows the lens to be tilted up/down/left/right or shifted off-axis up/down/left/right. The bellows also allows the lens to move away from the camera creating a macro effect. For years still photographers have used similar techniques to create compelling and eye-catching imagery. With the TS-Pro, these same looks can be achieved with digital cinema cameras.

The TS-Pro from Horseman works with four different camera mount styles: PL, Micro 4/3, Canon EOS and Nikon F. With the TS-Pro’s interchangeable mount system, one main unit can work with many camera types by simply switching mounts. Similarly, the mount on the lens side is also interchangeable, allowing a range of lens options, including: PL, Canon EOS, Nikon F, Hasselblad, Mamiya 645, Pentax 645 and M39.

The use of tilt-and-shift requires a larger than usual image circle in order to cover the entire sensor. Therefore optimum combinations are: Digital cinema cameras (Super 35mm) and medium format camera lenses such as Hasselblad, Mamiya 645, and Pentax 645; Panasonic AG-AF100 (Micro 4/3) and digital SLR camera lenses and PL mount lenses; or Digital SLR cameras and medium format camera lenses such as Hasselblad, Mamiya 645, and Pentax 645.

The introduction of the Horseman TS-Pro puts a powerful production tool in the hands of today’s cinematographers. Capturing such creative and dynamic shots has never been so flexible in configuration and so affordable for owner/operators and rental houses alike.

For more information: Band Pro Film & Digital, 3403 West Pacific Avenue, Burbank, CA 91505, Phone: 818/841-9655, e-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address),

http://www.bandpro.com.

GoPano

The GoPano micro is a lens for the iPhone 4 to make 360º panoramic videos! Just snap the lens to your iPhone 4 and press record to make cool interactive 360º videos. Use it to record all the action of your favorite sport, record your next meeting in 360º or just as a fun toy for the summer.

Source: GoPano

The Solaris Rig – LOMO anamorphic 35mm DSLR rig

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Tarkovsky shoots in the 70′s with the finest LOMO 35mm cinema optics. In 1972 the Russian master directed sci-fi classic Solaris using the very LOMO 35mm anamorphic lens which is the subject of this blog.

It only took a year!

Finally we can rack focus easily on an OCT18 LOMO anamorphic – with the original prime lens for maximum ‘sci-fi’ authenticity. One focus ring, with marks. Live anamorphic monitoring (thanks to the SmallHD DP6).

Previously the anamorphic front could easily be removed and worked well on FD glass but it is a real pain to focus two lenses at once and shoot through a squashed image on a 3 inch LCD.

Now thanks a new OCT18 adapter designed and manufactured by Ceicio7 (buy on eBay here) with a concept conceived by EOSHD, this beautiful Russian glass becomes practical again. The image quality of Hawk but the mechanisms of Rube Goldberg!

To read the original post go to: EOSHD post

Turn your Canon Digital SLR into a Holga

The installation of the HL-C adaptor to a Canon camera will turn the clock back on your electronic box of tricks. What was once a hi-tech digital SLR now takes on all the characteristics that we have all come to love of our Holga’s. The HL-C lens is manufactured with a standard Canon mount and so is fitted to the camera body in the same way as any other Canon Lens. No additional modification to the camera or lens is necessary. So now you get the Holga feel with none of the hassle or cost of developing and printing the film. The effective aperture of the lens is f/8 and focal length roughly equivalent to 60mm. Focus is achieved through the regular Holga Zone Focus method. Also enables the use of any regular Holga lens accessories once the adaptor is installed. These accessory lenses just slot into the front of the HL-C lens. Usage of these accessories exaggerates the Holga look even further.

Source: Holga Direct Shop

Anamorphic Look with out an anamorphic lens

Originally designed for Run N Gun shooting where regular anamorphic lenses could not
go!  These filters will NOT stretch or squeeze to create a true anamorphic image. It
keeps the image at 16:9 and you can crop in post at any ratio you choose.

It mimics characteristics of anamorphic lenses such as the flare or streak and vertically
stretched bokeh. It’s very easy to use and allows you to rack focus your photo lens like
normal. This is a HUGE plus as shooting with real anamorphic attachments requires you
to focus both the anamorphic lens and the photographic lens, making run and gun
shooting pretty much impossible.

This filter is great for when you need those shots that do require rack focusing.

It is mounted on to a smooth rotating filter for easy alignment and assembled with very
sharp optical glass that won’t dull the image. The down side is that your lens will lose 2
stops of light so we recommend fast speed lenses (f1.2 to f2.8). If you are shooting in
out door daylight then using slower speed lenses will work just fine.

And just like an anamorphic lens these filters are meant for use on Prime photographic
lenses. 50mm and tighter for cropped frame cameras like the 7D & T2i and 75mm and
tighter for full frame cameras like the 5D.

Some zoom lenses will work but they’ll need to have smaller fronts. For instance the
Canon 70mm-200mm lens wont work with the filter at any range wider than 200mm
because the front lens element is too wide and can’t shoot through the bokeh effect
element in the filter.

Also as with Anamorphic attachments, the ideal lenses are older Canon FD and Nikon
lenses that have the smaller 52mm to 58mm front filter diameters. 50mm f1.8, 80mm f2,
100mm f2.8, 135mm f2.8 have given some of the very best results. The old Russian M42
and Pentax M42 lenses also work very well.

All of these lenses are built well and can be found on ebay for very cheap.

Surce: Cinemorph VAMP

Anamorphic Lens Clamp

Gives your Anamorphic lenses standard 58mm filter thread diameter and allows you to lock in a proper horizontal
alignment! Mount and properly align a wide variety Anamorphic lenses that have stubborn Non-Standard filter
diameter sizes to a variety of standard SLR photographic lenses for use with DSLRs cameras like the Canon 5D, 7D, t2i,
550D, Nikon D90, D3s, etc. and 35mm adapters such as the EnCinema 35. If your anamorphic lens back end is wider
than 57mm

Source: Vid-Atlantic

Anamorphic Projection Lenses on HDSLR’s

Since we first got our hands on a Canon 5D nearly 2 years ago in July of 09, we’ve been after that Cinematic Anamorphic film look. Its certainly possible and many people have caught on by now, in turn, driving up the price of the good lenses like the Iscoramas, Kowas, Sankor, Singer, Eiki, Proskars, Lomos and others. Most people know to avoid using those large projection lenses that are plentiful and cheap on eBay. For a few reasons; mainly because of their size, they can NOT be clamped and mounted to regular photographic lenses that are needed to work. They also have impractical minimum focus distances of 15, 25 or 50 feet. The good lenses (made for taking and projection) that people are going after have 5 to 6 feet distance and through the use of diopters, they can get even closer. But using a diopter also voids achieving infinite focus. We’ve found quite a few Projection lenses that work very very well and have become our lens of choice for professional projects. And they work great using our Vid-Atlantic Vamp Clamp found at http://www.vid-atlantic.com/anamorphic

We’ve been testing and shooting projects quite frequently with these…I personally use one as my go to lens all the time…even before the Iscorama 36. I love the more dramatic anamorphic bokeh on these!

Some of them seem somewhat newer. 5 foot minimum focus distance and they are all sharp and seem to have picked up where where many lenses have left off in the 70’s and 80’s. They say 2x but they are really more like 1.7x and you still must focus both lenses. They’re also multi-coated, so no super dramatic flares. But trust me when I say they’re SHARP! We picked up a few last July and we didnt say much about them as we wanted to be sure they were all similar and somewhat consistant. We’ve used these on a few professional projects already and will continue to use them. At this time I counted 25 of them on ebay.

To read more go to the original source: VID ATLANTIC MEDIA PRODUCTIONS