Product Information

I’ve been contacted by a number of customers lately using the Hot Rod PL system with Lomo Anamorphic lenses.  The lenses are sharp and have the that tell-tale epic movie lens flare.  If you can handle opeating with a squeezed image on a GH1 it’s an awesome combination.  I haven’t see any front anamorphic adapters that comes close to the qualities of these purpose built lenses.

In the first part of 2010 there are at least two projects shot with this camera/lens combination which will be posted on-line.  I’m also trying to convince a filmmaker that recently won a film festival (with a GH1/Hot Rod/Lomo Anamorphic shot project) to post his Anamorphic workflow on how best to de-squeeze the anamorphic image in FCP.  In the meantime you can see a blog from one of my clients here.

I’ve actually been working with an optical designer to create a 1.34x adapter that can approach the quality of purpose built lenses, but it is not easy.  Why 1.34x?  1.34x gives the exact correct dimension of 35mm anamorphic production.  I’ll have regular updates in 2010 about the progress of the project.

One thing worth noting, if you want the best possible image on 35mm film- shoot anamorphic.  And this time by “best”, I mean most apparent (visible) resolution.  If you want some further reading on the subject, take a look here at the section of this book entitled “Comparisons of 1.85, Anamorphic and Super 35 Film Formats”.  It was written by my former boss, Rob Hummel.

There’s a good reason why Christopher Nolan and Wally Pfister shot anamorphic 35mm to intercut with the 70mm IMAX photography used periodically in the The Dark Knight, and it wasn’t because of the glorious anamorphic lens flare.  35mm anamorphic lenses (particularly Panavision’s lovely glass) pack in a lot more vertical resolution than standard non-anamorphic (or as they are typically called) spherical lenses.

More anamorphic information to follow in 2010!

I.

Illya Friedman
President
Hot Rod Cameras