Muddying the anamorphic waters (Part 3

Stephen van Vuuren · July 8th, 2003, 11:20 PM

The original page:
http://www.sevensmilingsharks.com/mu...anamorphic.htm

Page 2

http://www.sevensmilingsharks.com/mu...amorphic_2.htm

New Page which under more controlled conditions gives a far better picture of how you will fare. Gives me pause. If Century Optics is not going to debut a model soon, I may give it a try.

http://www.sevensmilingsharks.com/mu...amorphic_3.htm

Jeff Kilgroe · July 9th, 2003, 02:22 PM

Yeah, the anamorphic lens does seem to help resolution if a few situations. But for $800 I can't see justification for its purpose. Especially with the amount of barrelling/fish eye distortion it produces as the camera approaches 0% zoom. This effect isn't really evident in these newspaper tests, but there was a comparison posted a few weeks back that showed it. I've also played with the anamporphic lens at a local shop and decided not to buy it after witnessing the warping at wide zoom (very prominent at Z15 and lower).

Only half of what I shoot with this cam will be going to widescreen and all of it goes to DVD. I can live with LB - especially with the lower compression artifacting in LB mode due to the black image areas and I will wait for Century Optics to release a solution. If they don't, then I probably will just live with LB. I have a feeling the lifespan of my VX100 will be fairly short with all the announcements regarding the MPEG2 HD standards and potential for upcoming HD cams at NAB '04.

Mike Morrell · July 9th, 2003, 02:53 PM

I will try to reproduce a similar test. Without a good field monitor, I have yet to obtain focus in telephoto. The matted stretched pictures are probably good enough for most home video applications that spending $800 per is not worth it, especially considering the hard to (or impossible to) focus issue.

My observations so far on the focus problem is that the further you are away from the subject and the more you zoom, the harder it is to focus. Both distance and zoom play a part from my observations. I'll see if I can set up a good test under controlled conditions in the next week or so and post screen shots.

Mike Morrell · July 15th, 2003, 10:43 AM

Has anyone used or heard anything about the OpTex
DV Anamorphic Attachment lens for the DVX100? Could this be any better than the Panasonic version?

Stephen van Vuuren · July 15th, 2003, 11:17 AM

I don't believe on exists. There is one with a 72mm thread, but designed for the XL1s (I think).

Glenn Gipson · July 15th, 2003, 11:21 AM

Yeah, it does exist. Optex makes an Anamorphic adapter for the DVX 100.

Stephen van Vuuren · July 15th, 2003, 11:40 AM

It's not for the DVX100. It's generic and has some serious limitations if used on the DVX100:

http://www.zgc.com/html/anamorphic_attachment.html

Andrew Lewis · July 15th, 2003, 06:33 PM

Any overall comparisons between these two for XL1, etc. In other words, is there any reason to wait for Century?

Stephen van Vuuren · July 15th, 2003, 07:16 PM

I would rank them this way by image quality and usefulness:

(1) Century (theorotical and probably $1500 or more

(2) Panasonic (reasonable image quality and useful for most of zoom

(3) Optex (reasonable image quality and not useful for much of zoom

Note, I've used neither and only examined footage from #2.

July 8th, 2003, 11:20 PM	#1
Stephen van Vuuren Space Hipster Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Greensboro, NC Posts: 1,508	Muddying the anamorphic waters (Part 3 - Getting Clearer) The original page: http://www.sevensmilingsharks.com/mu...anamorphic.htm Page 2 http://www.sevensmilingsharks.com/mu...amorphic_2.htm New Page which under more controlled conditions gives a far better picture of how you will fare. Gives me pause. If Century Optics is not going to debut a model soon, I may give it a try. http://www.sevensmilingsharks.com/mu...amorphic_3.htm __________________ stephen v2 www.insaturnsrings.com

July 15th, 2003, 11:17 AM	#5
Stephen van Vuuren Space Hipster Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Greensboro, NC Posts: 1,508	I don't believe on exists. There is one with a 72mm thread, but designed for the XL1s (I think). __________________ stephen v2 www.insaturnsrings.com

July 15th, 2003, 11:40 AM	#7
Stephen van Vuuren Space Hipster Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Greensboro, NC Posts: 1,508	It's not for the DVX100. It's generic and has some serious limitations if used on the DVX100: http://www.zgc.com/html/anamorphic_attachment.html __________________ stephen v2 www.insaturnsrings.com

July 15th, 2003, 06:33 PM	#8
Andrew Lewis Tourist Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Gainesville, GA Posts: 2	Century vs Optex Anamorphic Any overall comparisons between these two for XL1, etc. In other words, is there any reason to wait for Century?

July 15th, 2003, 07:16 PM	#9
Stephen van Vuuren Space Hipster Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Greensboro, NC Posts: 1,508	I would rank them this way by image quality and usefulness: (1) Century (theorotical and probably $1500 or more (2) Panasonic (reasonable image quality and useful for most of zoom (3) Optex (reasonable image quality and not useful for much of zoom Note, I've used neither and only examined footage from #2. __________________ stephen v2 www.insaturnsrings.com

July 9th, 2003, 02:22 PM	#2
Jeff Kilgroe Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Golden, CO Posts: 681	Yeah, the anamorphic lens does seem to help resolution if a few situations. But for $800 I can't see justification for its purpose. Especially with the amount of barrelling/fish eye distortion it produces as the camera approaches 0% zoom. This effect isn't really evident in these newspaper tests, but there was a comparison posted a few weeks back that showed it. I've also played with the anamporphic lens at a local shop and decided not to buy it after witnessing the warping at wide zoom (very prominent at Z15 and lower). Only half of what I shoot with this cam will be going to widescreen and all of it goes to DVD. I can live with LB - especially with the lower compression artifacting in LB mode due to the black image areas and I will wait for Century Optics to release a solution. If they don't, then I probably will just live with LB. I have a feeling the lifespan of my VX100 will be fairly short with all the announcements regarding the MPEG2 HD standards and potential for upcoming HD cams at NAB '04. __________________ - Jeff Kilgroe - Applied Visual Technologies \| DarkScience - www.darkscience.com

July 9th, 2003, 02:53 PM	#3
Mike Morrell Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Norcross GA Posts: 119	I will try to reproduce a similar test. Without a good field monitor, I have yet to obtain focus in telephoto. The matted stretched pictures are probably good enough for most home video applications that spending $800 per is not worth it, especially considering the hard to (or impossible to) focus issue. My observations so far on the focus problem is that the further you are away from the subject and the more you zoom, the harder it is to focus. Both distance and zoom play a part from my observations. I'll see if I can set up a good test under controlled conditions in the next week or so and post screen shots.

July 15th, 2003, 10:43 AM	#4
Mike Morrell Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Norcross GA Posts: 119	Has anyone used or heard anything about the OpTex DV Anamorphic Attachment lens for the DVX100? Could this be any better than the Panasonic version?

July 15th, 2003, 11:21 AM	#6
Glenn Gipson Major Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Plainfield, New Jersey Posts: 927	Yeah, it does exist. Optex makes an Anamorphic adapter for the DVX 100.