Singer Anamorphic 16-D Lens
Photo thanks to Chris Lonn
crislon@ixpres.com

How would you like a front-of-the-lens attachment that turned your regular 35mm or medium format camera into a panoramic model? The same lens attachment provides an unusual compression effect for special effects photography too. Interested? Read on to learn more about anamorphic lens attachments and how you can use them. As you can see by the postings below, these lens attachments are modest cost too (circa $50-100 used).

Most of us are familiar with wide screen movies in both 35mm (Panavision, Cinemascope,...) and 16mm movies. These movies are not shot with special panoramic format movie cameras. Instead, special anamorphic lenses are used during filming to compress the wider image onto standard 16mm or 35mm film. The same or optically similar anamorphic projection lenses are then used ''in reverse'' to project the horizontally compressed image back to its original wide screen angle of view. But special anamorphic camera and projector lenses are expensive. So a variety of lower cost front-of-the-lens anamorphic lens adapters were developed for amateur movie makers and other users.

In short, anamorphic lenses or anamorphic lens attachments are used to produce this same wide screen effect. Granted, there are also true panoramic effect movie cameras which work with special lenses and formats (e.g., Imax). But even 35mm and medium format true panoramic cameras are expensive! They also use a lot more film per exposure. An anamorphic lens attachment lets you keep your current 35mm and medium format camera but experiment with panoramic photography using it. If you need pro quality results, go with the true panoramic cameras. But if you only want to have fun or make infrequent use of a fun lens effect, look into these anamorphic lens attachments.

Fortunately, a variety of hand-me-down anamorphic lenses and adapters are available to provide these specialty lens effects for the amateur photographer. Former users have found the costs of 16mm film, for film making versus video, have become prohibitive. So these specialty lenses are being sold off, often for a fraction of their new cost.

Tiny anamorphic lenses are also found in digital CD-ROM drives and DVD-ROM drives, where their aspherical shapes have benefits in these electro-optical devices. The anamorphic lenses described here are much earlier designs, which achieved their peak popularity with 35mm still camera users in the hey-days of the drug-hazed years of the 1970s.

Anamorphic lenses were originally designed to provide wide screen effects using regular 16mm and 35mm movie cameras and film. Most of these anamorphic lenses compress one dimension of the image by circa 50% or more. Ideally, the other dimension is left virtually unchanged and uncompressed. When projecting the image (potentially through the same anamorphic lens adapter mounted on your projector), the result is a wide screen effect. The image is 50% wider than if it had been shot with just the regular camera lens, producing a panoramic format effect for the viewer.

Some anamorphic movie lenses have other compression ratios, e.g., with factors of 2x instead of 1.5x. Naturally, these 2x ratio lenses would double the horizontal width of the projected image over a non-anamorphically compressed image.

When used with fixed 35mm or medium format camera lenses, the anamorphic lens attachment provides an odd-ball specialty lens effect. In the compressed dimension, objects such as buildings are rendered as very thin or narrow compared to their true dimension. Fat people look much skinnier too! Models become super thin and willowy in appearance, often excessively so.

Naturally, you can rotate the anamorphic lens attachment, causing the compression effect at any desired angle for a varying compression distortion effect. Think of it as a rotating fun house mirror. So while we have focused on horizontal compression here, you could also get a vertical compression effect simply by using a 90 degree offset. You can also double up, by compressing horizontally and uncompressing vertically for example, for a really distorted simultaneously squeezed and stretched effect ;-).

Like many filters, these specialty effects are rather unusual, and it takes imagination to take maximum advantage of the possibilities. Today's digital photographer can achieve similar effects rather simply in programs such as Adobe's Photoshop. This capability may reduce the demand for such lenses as a special effects lens, while still leaving the panoramic opportunities that interest us here. So the lens attachment costs may continue to drop as digital photography displaces more of its uses.

The wide-screen effect is interesting, as a panoramic camera substitute. The 35mm 24x36mm 1:1.5 ratio format becomes multiplied by 50% (1.5) to produce a wide screen panoramic ratio of 1:2.25. This anamorphic lens approach simulates a panoramic camera of 24mm x (36x1.5)mm or 24mm x 54mm. This panoramic format is close to a Hasselblad X-Pan panoramic camera format (24x65mm). That 54mm is very close to the actual size (56+ mm) of 6x6 medium format film images.

Using similar math and logic, a 6x6cm medium format camera would act like a 6x9cm camera (6x1.5). Naturally, some image quality is lost by the adapter itself, which isn't a prime optic of high cost but rather a front of the lens adapter. Moreover, the film will only record so much information, so expanding that information by 50% in one axis also corresponds to a potential quality decrease by the same amount on that axis when projected.

Fortunately, such defects are scarcely noticeable on most movie projection systems. It is a little known trick that slides appear huge on screen, but subtend a relatively modest viewing angle at normal viewing distances. A standard sized print held at the proper viewing distance would cover up most slides (larger viewing angle). It is counter-intuitive, but it is easier to see quality defects in the print than on the projected slide. That is one reason that slide projector lenses are often inferior to a typical enlarger lens, and usually used wide open at that, yet results are acceptable to most viewers.

For anamorphic lens adapter users, this trick means that a projected slide will not suffer from the same degree of perceived defects that an enlarged and static panoramic print will evidence. In wide screen effect movies, the persistence of human vision also helps raise the perceived image quality.

A 2x ratio anamorphic lens attachment could effectively double the horizontal coverage on film. A 6x6 medium format camera slide might end up projected as a 1:2 ratio super-wide screen image. The math suggests an equivalent 6x12cm panoramic camera would be needed to achieve a similar effect.

Naturally, the quality of the image will vary considerably with the specific lens and camera used, as well as the quality of the anamorphic lens attachment itself. Cramming twice as much image width onto the regular sized slice of film naturally means a drop in quality when projected. However, imagine the impact of projecting a few 1:1.5 and even 1:2 panoramic images from a second projector with anamorphic lens attachment in the midst of a standard 35mm or 6x6 slide show!

An enlarger could be used, with an anamorphic lens adapter mounted, to reconstitute these wide screen panoramic images on photographic papers. You would presumably want a matching focal length (or the same taking lens and adapter) for the enlarger optics. The idea is to simply reverse the light path through the film back onto the paper through the anamorphic lens adapter. You want to undo the compression on the film to get back the expanded panoramic image of the original scene.

While the principle sounds sensible, the quality obtainable in actual practice hasn't encouraged hard-core panoramic camera users to switch over to these anamorphic lens adapters. Panoramic cameras are still favored for higher quality requirements. Yet, like most front of the lens adapters such as fisheyes, the anamorphic lens offers an unusual panoramic option and specialty lens effects too. The key attraction for many of us is the relatively low cost of these adapters to experiment with these fun panoramic and specialty lens effects.

The anamorphic lens attachment is not a replacement for a superwide lens attachment, such as a .42x or .5x attachment. Most of the anamorphic lens attachments are meant for use on the camera's normal or telephoto lenses (including zooms on 16mm and 35mm movie cameras). A few T-mount anamorphic specialty lenses may include a built-in normal lens of modest speed and performance. After all, these T-mount 35mm camera adapters often cost only $30-70 new (in 1970 dollars).

But understand that a T-mount lens means you lose all diaphragm automation, and have to meter stopped down and manually preset your aperture. See Camera Mounts FAQ for more details. If you don't have a T-mount adapter for your camera, you should check the price and availability of such an adapter and add it to your total expected costs. While used T-mount adapters are available for some cameras for under $10, new T-mount adapters can cost as much as $35 and up. A similar looking 42mm screw-thread mount lens optic can be used with many Pentax screw thread mount cameras (often called Universal thread mounts).

Many users would prefer to use their higher quality, automatic diaphragm lenses with a front of the lens anamorphic lens adapter. Take note that you may have to buy an odd-ball (series VII) adapter ring to mount the anamorphic lens adapter onto your camera lens' filter threads. Be sure to check to ensure that a standard and available adapter can be used to mount the given optic on your camera. The costs of custom machined adapter rings can run as high as $125 and up!

We usually associate panoramic effects with wide angle lenses, but you can get a panoramic effect using normal and even telephoto lenses too. In some ways, this approach is even more interesting. Most standard 35mm and medium format panoramic cameras use a single wide angle lens only. Usually a very wide angle lens is used on fixed lens panoramic cameras, while a moderately wide angle lens is used on swing-lens panoramic cameras. The anamorphic lens adapter used with a normal or moderate telephoto lens might give you a panoramic effect with different kinds and degrees of distortion too. To get a similar panoramic telephoto effect, you would probably have to cut down film from a view camera equipped with a longer lens. On the other hand, many panoramic cameras owe their popularity to their ability to capture scenic shots taken closeup, thanks to their wide angle optics. The tradeoff is that these wide angle panoramic camera images suffer from their own forms of wide angle distortion, especially when shot with an off-center horizon line!

A similar special effects lens is sold by Edmund Scientific Corp. (at very modest cost) which is little more than a cyclindrical element of glass mounted in front of the camera's lens. This simple cylindrical lens provides a lot more distortion, but also some neat special effects, similar to a fun-house mirror depending on rotational angle. So if you are looking for a low-cost squeeze-effect distortion optic, look into such cylindrical lens attachments. However, a true anamorphic lens attachment is optically superior to this single element ($10) optic.

The postings below indicate a lively market of used anamorphic lenses and lens attachments at prices ranging from $30+ to $250. These prices are from EBAY, the popular online auction site for photo equipment. For listings of online dealers and classified photo ads online (another great source for odd-ball optics), see Jeff Albro's IMPACT Used Photo Gear Pages. A spot comparison of auction prices with posted dealer prices suggest major savings can be had buying these specialty optics directly from individual sellers. See Jeff Albro's IMPACT page for links on how to avoid problems and online scams, both from individual sellers and dealers, and caveat emptor!

Isco-Gottingen Lens. Made in Germany.f2.8 This is a very cool Lens. An Anamorphic Element in the front of the lens can be rotated to make effects, similar to fun house glass or unsqueezed cinemascope. Coverage is approx same as 50mm, although there is no indication on the lens. Would work on K3 Movie camera as well. Glass is perfect. 72mm filter ring. Includes both caps.

From EBAY 9/2/98 sale item price $240.50 + $5 s/h...

D.O.INDUSTRIES ANAMORPHIC 16F NO. 90725 LENS!.

Was told that this lens will take 16mm pictures, then mount onto a 16mm projector and show the movie. Do not have this information on any specific authority. Lens and glass in EX condition, except for several bright spots (metal showing through the paint) on the very end of the small end - apparently caused by handling, should not affect mounting the lens

From EBAY 9/05/98 sale $44.99 + $6 s/h

Kalart Victorscope Anamorphic Lens for showing wide screen movies (cinemascope). This lense mounts in front of your regular projector lense by means of a simple bracket, not included. It is intended for 16mm equipment but can be used on 8mm if your so inclined. This is a super anamorphic meaning it has a 2X horizontal expansion for the true 2:55:1 scope ratio. Be careful some lenses are less. This lense is in excellent condition and comes with original box protective case and lense caps.

From EBAY 9/6/98 $31 + s/h

KOWA Anamorphic Lens this lens was used on 16 mm movie projectors to strech the emage. you can use it in front of any long focal lens 100mm or better on 35mm camers you can see the two emages that I did on the front of my vidio Camera.

From Ebay 9/07/98 - reserve not met $32.00

PROSKAR ANAMORPHIC-16A LENS This lens allow you to project Cinemascope movies on your 16mm projector. It has an HORIZONTAL MAGIFICATION OF 2X. LENS MADE IN JAPAN #330607. It is in EXCELLENT condition.

From EBAY 9/16/98 $96 + $4 s/h

Singer Anamorphic 16-D Lens

This is an Anamorphic 16-D lens for 16mm movie projectors. It is made by Singer and measures 5" in length, and the front glass is 2" wide. It has a screw mount on the rear and I believe was suppost to attach to the lens for added wide view on a large screen. If you look through this lens it gives you a morphing distorted view when you turn it. A neat effect. It is in nice clean condition and I just had it cleaned so it is ready to use. I would rate it a 9 on a scale from one to ten. Comes with the front lens cap.

From EBAY 9/20/98 $80 + $6

Sankor Anamorphic 16 C Lens NO RESERVE LENSE, IS MARKED SANKOR ANAMORPHIC 16 C NO 44015 MADE IN JAPAN, I THINK IT'S FOR 16 MM MOVIE CAMERA BUT NOT SURE. HAS FOCUS RING FROM 5 FT TO INFINITY , REAR OF LENS HAS SCREW MOUNT, BUT DO NOT KNOW WHAT FITS, GLASS VERY CLEAN, COMES W FRONT CAP.

From EBAY 9/24/98 $67.66 + $6 s/h

This lens is marked: SANKOR ANOAMORPHIC 16C ... it has a focusing scale but no f/stops ... if you mount it in front of a 35mm lens it produces an oval image ... sort of a cockeyed fisheye ...it has a rear screw thread of about 41mm ... it seems well made inblack and chrome ..

EBAY 10/04/98 auction

Films Inc. 16mm Anamorphic Lens

This lens is labeled "Films Incorporated 16mm Anamorphic lens, magnification 2x, No. 370863". Anamorphic lenses are used to achieve the widescreen effect in many films. I think this lens is a projector lens, but I'm sure you could attach it to your movie or still camera with an adapter ring. Use it in other ways for nifty special effects (rotating it while shooting someone's stomach for a Tums commercial, for instance). The rear mount is 42mm, which means it should screw right onto a Pentax screw-mount camera, I think. Focuses smoothly from 5 feet to infinity. The glass is in decent shape; there is no hazing, but it could be cleaner. Comes with rear lens cap. Bidding on this 5-day auction starts at only $10, with no reserve. This is a great deal, folks!!

From EBAY 9/30/98

Date: Tue, 25 May 1999
From: Steven.Morton@sci.monash.edu.au
To: Robert Monaghan rmonagha@post.cis.smu.edu
Subject: Anamorphic Optics

Hi Robert,

I was having a look at some of your www pages. The anamorphic optics page was of interest to me. FWIIW (for what it is worth): Virtually all commercial 35mm "scope" films you see at the cinema are 1:2. Some 16mm stuff is 1:1.5. If you want to add a pic of some serious 35mm format anamorphic camera lenses have a look at:

http://www.physics.monash.edu.au/~smort/panorama/russgear

These Russian Lomo lenses are of extremely good quality. The "round fronts" are the best. Feel free to add one of my "bent glass" images to your page if you wish

Also can I suggest you add another link regarding one of the cheapest places in the world to buy new large format gear: www.robertwhite.co.uk

They are a nice bunch of guys at Robert White and I buy most of my large format gear from them. I don't think you will find a cheaper place anywhere to buy new Schneider and Rodenstock large format lenses.

All the best

Steve

From: Bjorn Rorslett nikon@foto.no
Newsgroups: rec.photo.equipment.35mm Subject: Re: Sankyo Anamorphic lens
Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1999

kenweissblum@mindspring.com wrote:

> I recently saw a picture posted on the internet that was photographedwith a
> Sankyo Anamorphic lens piggy-packed on a 135 mm nikon lens.
>
> Anyone know anything about this lens, what is it?, where to find it? cost?
> etc.

presumably you ment a picture posted on my web site which was taken with a Sankyo Anamorphic attachment piggy-backed on a Nikkor 135 mm lens (found at http://www.foto.no/nikon/anamorph135.html ).

Anamorphic devices are afocal and must be placed in front of the master lens. They work by compressing the image in one direction, say 2:1, and were employed to shoot wide-screen film where each frame had normal size. When such footage are projected through another anamorphic device, the aspect ratio of the image is restored.

The particular Sankyo attachment was made for 16 mm cine cameras and dates from the late '60s. They can be picked up dirt cheap in second-hand stores and elsewhere. I paid approx 5$ for mine, in fact I bought several when I had the opportunity. Because they were intended for a smaller format than 24x36 you need a longer lens than normal in order not to have a vignetted frame, the range 105-200 mm is appropriate. They should be attached through a revolving mount so you can control the degree and direction of compression.

Anamorphic lenses is the right tool for packing a shoot with tree trunks or whatever. Real fun to use. You should try it out.

Regards
Bjorn Rorslett
Visit http://www.foto.no/nikon for UV & IR Colour Photography and other Adventures in Nature Photography

[Ed. note: definitely check out the above site!!!]

Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2000
From: Tony scope@netcore.com.au
To: panorama-l@sci.monash.edu.au
Subject: Anamorphic panoramas

One method of shooting panoramas I don't see mentioned on the list is using an anamorphic lens on a still camera. I have an Iscorama anamorphic with a bayonet adaptor which fits onto my Nikon 35mm cameras. This does not couple with the camera's exposure meter so I use a hand-held meter. The A lens is 1.5x compression so the projected slides (using the same A lens without the camera adaptor) are half as wide again as conventional 35mm projected slides.

Is anyone else on this list using an A lens this way?

Tony Andrews
Melbourne.

From Panoramic Photo List:
Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2000
From: Steven Morton Steven.Morton@sci.monash.edu.au
Subject: Re: Anamorphic panoramas

Tony wrote:

> One method of shooting panoramas I don't see mentioned on the list is using
> an anamorphic lens on a still camera.

I feel there are two main problems with anamorphic attachments:

1. quite limited angle of view
2. image quality

The purpose built complete anamorphic prime lenses (usually 2:1) have better quality and can offer a much wider angle of view but:

1. the on film image size is usually for 35mm cine format: only about 19 x 22mm
2. these lenses are _not_ cheap

Cya
Steve

[Ed. note: now this is an odd application ;-)]
Date: Thu, 06 Jan 2000
From: Ron Klein panorama@gci.net
To: panorama-l@sci.monash.edu.au
Subject: Re: Anamorphic panoramas

Myron Wright in Anchorage Alaska has made anamorphic images with a #5 cirkut camera. I can't remember what lens he was using, but maybe he will pipe in and tell us.

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