Broke filmmaking: Anamorphic for less
My $350 anamorphic setup with the Panasonic GH5
Background
I’ve always been a fan of that anamorphic, cinemascope look. Not exactly sure why I’m so fond of it. No doubt it’s a multitude of reasons going back to the films that inspired me as a child. Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Alien, Blade Runner… the usual repertoire for an 80’s kid.
Despite being a more expensive way to shoot and delivering an arguably, lower quality image (reduced sharpness, more lens flares, geometric distortions and other weird aberrations), the anamorphic look is still highly sought after and quite prevelant in mainstream cinema. Loving(2016) and La La Land (2016) are two standout examples in recent memory.
Some anamorphic examples:
Historically, anamorphic shooting has only been available to the uber-wealthy or connected who could find ways to get their hands on those drool-worthy Cooke Anamorphics ($30K a lens) or some similarly priced alternative. Things have changed though and this is a very, very exciting time to be an indie filmmaker/videographer looking to shoot anamorphic.
This is 2018! I want to shoot anamorphic on my iPhone! Oh I can already do that? Ok …well I also want to shoot 10-bit internal, anamorphic 4K on a $1500 camera and I don’t wanna spend more than $350!
Ok so you can do that too.
There’s lots of information online about anamorphic adapters and cheap anamorphic solutions. Ebay seems to be the best way of sourcing these adapters, clamps and other bits and pieces needed to shoot anamorphic (on a budget). I won’t bore you with the details. Needless to say, I did a lot of research and here’s what I ended up going for.
My Setup
- Camera — Panasonic GH5
- Speedbooster — Metabones XL EF-MFT
- Lens Adapter — Fotodiox Pro M42-EOS
- Taking lens — Helios 58mm F2
- Step-Up ring 49–52mm
- Step-Up ring 52–60mm
- Anamorphic clamp
- Anamorphic Adapter — Iscorama Anamorphic bluestar 2X
Camera: Panasonic GH5 — GH5 is an awesome choice if you’re looking to shoot anamorphic. The latest firmware comes with an anamorphic shooting mode, allowing the camera to use the full sensor and record in a 4:3 aspect, perfect for pairing with a 2X Anamorphic lens.
Anamorphic Adapter: Iscorama Anamorphic bluestar 2X — There’s a lot of anamorphic adapters out there. Isco, Kowa, Sankor, Lomo, Panasonic, SLR, Bell and Howell are some of the options you’ll find. I went for the Iscorama for a couple of reasons.
- It was relatively cheap (Approx. $200 on ebay)
- Sharpness. After digging through a lot of youtube videos, a lot of people commented on the sharpness of the Isco compared to other options.
- It was available! These lenses are hard to find. They pop-up sporadically on ebay. If you’re really picky about sourcing a specific lens, be prepared to wait. Sometimes it’s better just to pull the trigger on a low-cost option and test it out.
Taking lens: Helios 58mm F2 — The helios has become a popular choice for videographers thanks to it’s affordability — (I got mine for $50 on ebay), speed — (F2 ain’t bad! especially paired with a speedbooster) and of course it’s special, swirly, dream-like bokeh!
How the pieces all fit together
As a total anamorphic noob, I had no idea how an anamorphic adapter worked and how adapting my GH5 to shoot anamorphic would impact my workflow and shooting style. One thing I thought would be useful is to illustrate how all these pieces fit together. Below is a simple render (I created in Cinema 4D) to help visualize.
I used a recent road trip as the backdrop to test out my new anamorphic setup. Needless to say, the drive from Las Vegas to northern Colorado is ridiculously scenic and there’s an abundance of shooting opportunities.
Anamorphic samples.
Disclaimer — The only compatible lens I had with me was the 58mm Helios. Any wider than that and I’d see too much vignetting. Losing the speedbooster might have reduced the vignetting (by increasing the crop back to the original 2X of the gh5), making it approximately 118mm focal length (but with a field of view around 58mm due to the 2x anamorphic squeeze!)
Yup. When it comes to calculating crop factor and field of view, things get confusing.
58mm + GH5 = 58 x 2(crop) = 116mm
58mm + GH5 + speedbooster xl = 58 x 2 x .64(speedbooster) = 74.24mm
58mm + GH5 + speedbooster xl + Isco = 58 x 2 x .64 /2(anamorphic 2x) = 37.12mm (field of view)
Does this make sense? Did I confuse myself!?^
Findings:
This was the first time I really got to spend time with this setup. Any maiden voyage tends to incur some risk and indeed mistakes were made. The biggest mistake was not calibrating the stabilization properly to accommodate the 2X anamorphic + 58mm lens. 50% of the footage is unusable as it’s simply too shaky. Another mistake was not bringing the correct step-up rings required to attach my ND filters… which meant I had to change the shutter speed to limit the light intake. But hey, that’s how we learn and improve.
- Stabilization: Lots of microshakes. I wrongly assumed the 2x anamorphic setting would magically account for the lens and adapter. I was wrong. Additionally, the combination of GH5, metabones, clamp, 58mm, ISCO all made this a pretty heavy setup. In hindsight a shoulder rig would have been great but then again, the big appeal of the GH5 for me has been the ability to shoot handheld.
- Vignetting: There’s definitely some vignetting that occurs with the 58mm. A lot of it can be cleaned up in post via an inverse vignette (Something like a white solid with a horizontal oval mask, feathered and the blending mode set to overlay). I was curious and tried my 18–35 sigma and it was ridiculous. Unusable.
- Finding focus: Eeughhhh. Dual focusing is tough. It’s time-consuming. If anyone has some miracle method please let me know. I should probably just purchase a single focus solution.
- Lens flares: The ISCOs aren’t know for their anamorphic flares. There are other adapters out there that are far better at getting those wide blue bars people tend to associate with anamorphic lenses. There’s definitely some interesting flaring going on (like in the shot below) but overall it’s pretty subtle compared to other anamorphics.
Closing thoughts
I’m still blown away that I can shoot anamorphic at all! Sure the system is hacked together but for me it’s the final result that matters most. Although I’m really happy with the images produced with the GH5+ ISCO combo, right now, this setup isn’t super practical so I’ll probably stick to spherical lenses. At least until I can get a single focus solution.
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Bonus pic: Anamorphic astral photography!
