July 2016 - TFerradans.

Anamorphic

Anamorphic on a Budget – Helios 44-2 Cat Eye Mod

July 31, 2016

Doing the mods has been a lot of fun, but having a fully working oval aperture is a game changer. This Helios 44-2 has been modified to take an oval shape and has a smooth aperture that ranges from f/5.6 to f/11

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A video posted by Tito Ferradans (@tferradans) on Jul 27, 2016 at 5:50pm PDT

Tito Ferradans here to introduce you to another weird – and unique – mod for the Helios 44-2 – I was corrected about the pronunciation of the lens’ name, live and learn, folks. Helios is the right one, as opposed to Heeelios.

A few months ago, researching for the USSR Lens Buyer’s Guide, I came across this video, about a “cat eye” Helios aperture mod which automatically triggered my “anamorphic sense” due to the shape of the iris and the possibility of adjusting its values. The same channel also had a test video which pretty much confirmed my expectations, with the slight issue of the oval being turned on its side. I reached out to the person behind it, after realizing I’d bought several lenses from him in the past.

Roman is a very knowledgeable guy and promptly replied that he could make me one of those cat eye Helios. The last issue I had to solve was how to get it aligned properly, which was achieved through the use of a special M42 to EF adapter. The white spot on the adapter marks the direction that’ll face UP when attached to the camera, so aligning is easy.

The mod has a few limitations, such as the minimum and maximum apertures, from f/5.6 to f/11, which can be slow for low-light depending on your camera’s ISO limits. For the A7s2 it was a breeze and it allowed me to change aperture on the fly – which is the main issue with the oval aperture disk mod. The only downside is that the oval rotates very slightly upon opening and closing (I’d say around one degree). It’s hard to notice anyway, but I thought I should mention it here.

I think this mod is a GREAT combo to go with any 1.33x adapter for the following reasons: first, the oval aperture shape reinforces the anamorphic aspect of the footage, when most of these adapters don’t get nice ovals. Second, the slower aperture is also a good thing to get sharp images with 1.33x focus through adapters.

If you’re interested in getting one of the cat eye modded Helios, Roman is selling his spares on his eBay store, along with some other Russian glass at good price. Also, his channel – Retro Foto House – is very much worth of checking out, with lots of unusual – and useful! – tutorials and reliable information about soviet lenses such as Nikon mods, disassembly guides, relubing and cleaning.

That’s it for now. Subscribe if you’d like to stay updated on the anamorphic subject, and check out the blog for plenty of tutorials and reviews! Ferradans out.

Day-to-Day

Balance.

July 12, 2016

Spring and summer have been fun. For the first half of June I was swamped during the pre-production and production for The New Romantics’ pilot episode – which had very long days, but the footage looks really good – followed by a two-week break all the way back home in Brasil. The last time I’d been there was over a year ago, and I really missed the people. Ariana tagged along for the ride and by the time we got back to Vancouver I think we were more tired than when we left.

The trip was just the perfect length, since by the last days we were already looking forward to coming back home and squeezing Finnegan. It was good to step out of my intense selling, filming, editing schedule for this long and it made reevaluate how I spend my time.

I turned my room inside out when we got back – I brought every single piece of gear I had left behind when moving from Brasil to Canada – and was determined to optimize where I’d keep boxes, rig parts, lens pieces and tools. Now things are looking rather organized and I think I know where each item is – or should be. On the next weeks I’ll be putting some effort into shooting more episodes for the YouTube channel and working on the Russian mod-set (Mir 1B, Helios 44-2 and Jupiter 9), with polished glass, amber tinting and oval apertures. The Helios 44-2 tutorial was received so well that I decided to expand the family. I’m also waiting for a lot of 10 Helios 44-2s for modding.

I’m also getting back to the USSR Lens Buyer’s Guide that went on hold before shooting The New Romantics. I have many lenses to talk about, countless pictures to take and choose from and a decent amount of pages to write before the project is completed.

Lastly, this was a little VFX stunt I started early this year and just finished now – rocks modeled and textured by Paul H. Paulino, animation by Fernão Morato, camera handled by Bruno Nicko and outstanding extra performance by Ariana Saadat in the background. My plan is to keep doing these small bits of eye tricks to practice and to have fun. I already have another one in the works!

How I Fell For a LOMO Anamorphic Scam.

July 12, 2016

This is a long post about thinking I was smart when I was stupid. It could’ve had terrible consequences but I was lucky enough to get through without losing money in spite of taking all the wrong steps.

By the end of May, some of you might remember a couple LOMO BAS Squarefronts popped up on eBay. One of the listings was for a complete set, using photos stolen from the web, the seller being a malamutecinema (now erased account). Several people, myself included, reported the listing for several days until it was taken down. On my case, I found an 80mm 35BAS-4-7, from a new seller based in Kazakhstan, sergew001-6. The lens was up for auction and I sent him a message offering to buy it directly if he cancelled the auction, for a considerable amount of money. He told me he was expecting to get a little more than that in the auction and would contact me two hours prior to its end in case the price wasn’t what he expected.

When the time came, he sent me a message and told me to raise the bid on the item so he would cancel the auction. It was the middle of the night here, and I wasn’t thinking straight about how stupid that instruction was, so I did it. He stopped replying and 5 minutes to go, somebody surpassed my bid. Then the timer hit zero and the auction was over. I sent him a bunch of messages about how dishonest that was and yadda yadda. He apologized and said it was his first time on eBay, and a bunch of other things. He said that he cancelled the auction after it was over and sent me a payment request on PayPal. I sent him the money and he went silent.

I spent the entire next day worried about my money. The name on his emails was Sergey Davydov, but PayPal gave me a different name. Let’s just say D., for I’m not interested in being a possible target for anyone. Upon googling his name, I was linked to the WHOIS domain registration page of Malamute Cinema. The domain registration info has been changed after I confronted him about it.

My nerves went on lockdown until the money popped back in my account as a refund. He said it was blocked for 21 days and the original buyer also paid for the lens and he had to honor the eBay deal.

On the same message he mentioned he had a 50mm BAS that he would auction too. Then we moved off eBay’s messages onto gmail. About his name, he clarified that Sergey Davydov was his alias, but his name was indeed D., but also that there were many D.s and he couldn’t be all of them – like the one on Malamute Cinema. I should’ve stepped out of the story here, but getting a set of LOMOs was my lens-goal of 2016, so I kept pushing forward.

Besides mentioning the 50mm, he said he’d be getting some roundfronts, already tweaked and ready to go (PL mount, focus gears, colimated) in about a month’s time. By that time, I was totally into the tale and sent him the money for the 50mm. In my head I thought “you know what, this is a nice guy and this is a good deal, I’ll send the money as ‘friends and family'”.

BREAK: NEVER. EVER. EVER do that. Multiple people told me that when I figured out the scam, and I was very lucky to get my money back.

On May 28th D. confirmed that payment was through and he would ship them on June 5th. I had already talked to Olex (lens technician, in Ukraine) and Viktor (to install PL mounts, in St. Petersburg) and worked the best logistics. D. would ship the lens to Viktor so he could replace the mount, then Viktor would send it to Olex for servicing and fine-tuning. I sent D. a few emails about why June 5th, and not the next day, but again he was dead silent. Then instead of one day worrying, I spent a week.

On June 5th, he replies that the lens has been shipped and sends me the tracking code. He also mentions that the lenses that would be ready in mid-July will be done in the following week. It’s a full set of roundfronts. I make him an offer for three of them (35, 50 and 75), and we agree on the price, to be paid when the lenses reach him.

In the meantime I’m turning my finances upside down to figure out how to send the agreed amount, selling many of my lenses/anamorphics – including my beloved Iscorama 42 – and getting a little bit closer every day. Talking to a few friends, I realized it wouldn’t be smart to send him any extra money before the first lens (50mm BAS) arrived at Viktor’s workshop. Before the deadline, D. sends me an email saying that PayPal’s taxes are too high and asking if I’d be OK with a bank transfer, or Visa Direct Transfer. I used that as an excuse to buy myself some time while I went to the bank and asked about how safe these transfers are, and what kind of information I’d need from him.

June 19th he gave me an ultimatum in a rather annoyed email. The same day Viktor tells me the lens is ready for pick up and that he’ll swing by the post office later to get it. I was able to get myself another day by saying the bank had blocked my transfer and asked for more documents.

On the morning of June 21st I get a notification that the 50mm has been delivered, as well as an email from Viktor with the following images attached.

I don’t need to tell you this is NOT a 50mm BAS as depicted earlier by D.

I immediately posted on Facebook asking for advice and tried to open a claim on PayPal’s website. Since I sent the money as “Friends and Family” the website wouldn’t allow me, so I decided it couldn’t get any worse and called PayPal directly.

While I waited for a person to pick up the phone on the other side I ran all the crap I did wrong. Starting off with the “Friends and Family” thing, then sending such a big amount to an unknown person and lastly, for PayPal’s sake, getting the package shipped to an address other than my own – an address in another continent even! Then a girl named Wendy picked up and asked me what was my problem.

I went on to detailing the transfer, what happened upon delivery and what I wanted to do moving forward. I was lucky to have written in the notes section of payment that the money was regarding the 50mm BAS. Wendy asked then about the difference between both lenses.

– Could you explain me better how these lenses are different, and why you want to reverse the transaction?
– Sure. The lens he charged me for is a rare Russian cinema lens, the one he shipped is a $50 paperweight.
– Oh my god! Let me put his funds on hold.

That’s when my hope started to return. Wendy instructed me to not dispose of the box, gather as much proof as I could that the whole thing wasn’t a mere accident. She put his money on hold and told me he had ten days to reply to the claim or PayPal would return the money to my account. Things were indeed escalating in terms of worrying about money in this whole story. It started with one day, then a week, now another ten days!

I reached out to Viktor and asked him to hold onto the box in case we had to return it. I also provided Olex with all the info I got on D., so he would blacklist him for his other customers and spread the word about it. Then I waited.

On July 2nd PayPal restored my money and I started to organize all the info to write this post.

In the meantime he listed some other lenses on eBay and things didn’t end well for the buyers either. It seems to be a running scam now, for new sellers (zero feedback), from Kazakhstan and LOMO anamorphic glass. It might be a killer deal, but I’m no longer interested unless it’s from a reputable/known seller.

The reason I’m sharing this story is because it’s one of the best ways to avoid more people falling into such schemes. I’ve been buying and selling lenses (and anamorphics) for about five years now and hadn’t had any trouble with sellers or buyers so far. You might not even be buying LOMO anamorphics or anything super expensive, but always make sure you’re dealing with someone trustworthy and that will hold their word to the end.

Anamorphic

Anamorphic Chop Shop – El-Nikkor 63mm f/2.8

July 3, 2016

Here’s a quick trick for the widest possible taking lens when using 2x stretch anamorphics. There’s a little bit of hacking and slashing, but not much, I promise.

USEFUL LINKS:

All the RED links on this post are part of eBay’s Partner Network, so if you purchase anything through them, you’re helping me to keep this project going.

You can support this project on Patreon. Make your contribution and help the Anamorphic Cookbook!

Tito Ferradans here to help you achieving wider angles – around 30mm! – with 2x anamorphic adapters! It’s common knowledge that you need a taking lens around 85mm to get full frame coverage on 2x scopes. It’s time to conquer another good 20mm off that mark. These instructions were relayed to me by John Barlow, maker of the Rectilux. According to him, this is the widest you can go with no vignetting while getting full frame coverage. It’s a rather cheap and simple procedure, so I recommend it. For this video we’re gonna be adapting an enlarger lens, the El-Nikkor 63mm f/2.8. There’s a f/3.5 version, get the faster one. It’s a tiny lens, super light. In a certain way this mod reminds me of the original Iscorama lens, a 50mm locked to infinity, that’s about as wide as you can go on the Isco. I guarantee it’s a great match for the Rectilux, and I bet it works just as good for other single focus solutions and 2x scopes.

Here’s what you’re gonna need: A 63mm f/2.8 El-Nikkor enlarging lens, M39 to M42 adapter ring, M42 to EF adapter (this was my choice, you can get your own camera mount), M42 extension tubes, thin copper wire, pliers and gorilla tape! It’s also good to have a 40.5-58mm step up ring for the Nikkor’s front thread and then step to whatever size you want! In my case, for the Rectilux, I used a 58-67mm step ring.

First step when you get the El-Nikkor is to remove the M39 extension tube. This is an enlarger lens, meaning it’s always focused to infinity – which is good – but with a flange distance that’s slightly different from the standard. Screw in the M39 to M42 adapter and then the shortest M42 extension tube. Before it’s all in, add a few loops of copper wire there for spacing.

Add the M42 to EF adapter at its back. Mount this contraption on the camera. Infinity will be falling past the sensor, so start unscrewing the lens from the extension tube until infinity is in focus. Now fill the gap with a few loops of the copper wire and make sure it’s tight. This step might require repeating to ensure it’s all good.

To wrap it up and make it a little nicer to look cover the entire thing with gorilla tape – which has the perfect size! The tape is super strong, so the wire-filled gap won’t move, and your lens will end up looking more reliable. Using an exacto knife I cut off the tape that covered the f-stop markings, screwed in the step-up ring and put lens caps on.

Now just attach the El-Nikkor to any 2x stretch scope and go shoot 3.56:1 compositions with 31mm horizontal field of view with no vignetting! This is pretty much the widest you can get for full frame coverage!

Subscribe if you liked the tutorial, and check the blog for many others involving diopters, the Helios 44 and various anamorphic adapters. See you soon, Ferradans out.