A Ride Reborn

Just sharing my latest piece of personal work.
Not a Lomo anamorphic piece but how I wish I did use them!

Selling a 50mm roundfront and 30mm squarefront

Hello all,
It’s with a heavy heart that I’ve decided to sell my two Lomo anamorphic lenses.
I’ve racked up some debt lately and the anamorphic lenses are just some of my gear that have been sitting around too long, stagnating.
The anamorphic journey has been a tumultuous one, and I will still endeavour to keep this site alive for the time being.
It’s been great to own some of these beautiful lenses, however there is virtually no market for them here in Hong Kong/Asia. I just can’t utilize them the way I want to so I need to offload some gear to stay afloat for the time being.
I don’t want to post the eBay link here for fear of hard-selling, but you’ll find it if you search for it. I’m selling the 50mm round front first, then the 30mm square front in May.
I hope the new users will make more use of them than I did.
The listing will end April 16th 21:30 PDT

New Lomo anamorphic project in the works

Hello internets!
Sorry it’s been a while to update this website… Truthfully there hasn’t been much to say after the initial launch. For one, I don’t get to shoot anamorphic often and not much new knowledge to share.
However I’m pleased to report a new short film I’m working on here in Hong Kong, and I’ve convinced the director to go anamorphic!
Called ‘Static Dreams’, it’s a short sci-fi piece intended to promote a new series of graphic novels produced by The Immortal Peach crew – of which I’m affiliated to.
Here are a few screengrabs shot with the Sony FS100 + nanoFlash using 50mm roundfront and 30mm squarefront. I’ve also been using the 35mm T1.4 and 150mm T2.8 primes for a few scenes because of the need for close-up and tele.

Anamorphic Projection Lenses

Lately, I’ve seen an abundance of Lomo 35-NAP anamorphic projection lenses on eBay. I got a lot of Q’s about them and I just basically told people to forget about them. You’d spend ages trying to properly mount it, get your anamorphic flare kicks for a few minutes, then relegate it to a paper weight. Unfortunately there is no cheap way to play with proper anamorphic. Hell, Lomo’s are the highest I could go!

I’ve never used the projection types but had tried other brands such as Kowa, Isco, Hypergonar when I started off with HDSLRs. They all had the same characteristics: Only a barrel to focus, no useable mount and damn heavy. The Hypergonar HI-FI 2 was the one I made famous with this little clip I made over a year ago:

I assume these Lomo projection lenses are the same, except they look much heavier. You’d need to mount it in a similar way to what I did for the beastly Hypergonar:

Or this Russian website also details some findings. Notice the DIY wooden frame mount! Can you imagine going out shooting like that somewhere…

Tasteful use of Lomo’s with the Panny AF100

Danny Garcia & Brandon Moore shot this tasteful “video photography” or “photography video(?)” piece in the Mojave, Nevada, USA. I really like such pieces, it’s like looking at animated photographs. Don’t necessarily need a story or narrative, just pretty to look at. It’s also the first time I’ve seen it on the Panasonic AF100. They even cropped the vid to a skinny 3:55. Nice.

Looking for contributors

Hello all, I’ve been reading the stats and it does get a healthy dose of daily views. So much so it makes me even more embarrassed at my lengthy absenteeism!
So I’d like to welcome any contributing posts about users’ experiences with shooting Lomo anamorphic. Be it about shoots, DIY projects, tests, comparisons or video showcases, please shoot me an email with a subject line that includes “lomo anamorphic” for easier screening. Ideally, please include photos if possible.

Many thanks.

Dublin Memories

Here are a few shots of home town in Dublin, Ireland. I wish I could do more but it was a really short trip and I had intended to travel to the famous Cliffs of Moher in the west of the country but weather was too bad. I think that would’ve looked epic! Plus I haven’t been there since I was a child. In fact I’ve been away from home so long sometimes I can be a tourist.

Shot with 30mm square front and 50mm round front on GH2 + NanoFlash@220mbit/s

Memories of Dublin from Edwin Lee on Vimeo.

OCT-18: The low down…

OK, been getting a lot of queries about how to use OCT-18 lenses. First off, I TOLD YOU they’re a pain in the ass!

But I know how ya feel. I was also like that when I first embarked on my rather short Lomo anamorphic journey. Unless you’re filthy rich of course, and you’d buy PL or Hawks!

In short, the problem is that OCT-18’s are really designed for Konvas cameras with dovetail support. It holds the entire unit together so they don’t fall apart. Now, when I was using and selling OCT-18’s I used something called a SPT-1 by Velbon. It’s this magical accessory that helped me sell Hypergonar anamorphic lenses. It was designed for tele-lenses but I managed to configure them to push my anamorphic agenda! I bought them from a distributor in Hong Kong but if you Google it you should find it. It cost me about US$50 each.
Below are pics to illustrate. Here I use a GH2 with a OCT-18 (old version) adapter from ciecio7 on eBay. Now, the SPT-1 allows the OCT-18 unit to sit on top. The front element does extend while focusing so the SPT-1 provides enough room for it. I don’t have more pics but you can also stick a pistol grip underneath the SPT-1 to do some rudimentary handheld work. Entirely feasible but really a pain in the ass.

 

Greetings from Ireland!

Hello Internets,

Wow my last post was in February, how time flies.

I’d been busy with a lot of work these months and ashamedly my anamorphics had been in a long slumber. But now they’re with me in Ireland and am using them in conjunction with a nanoFlash x GH2 test. Living and working in Hong Kong for so long doesn’t give me much inspiration anymore so it’s hard to go out and shoot much less use anamorphic lenses. Unfortunately the past few creative works I’ve participated did not warrant the use of anamorphics.

I’m taking a short break in my native Ireland and it’s the first time I’ve brought the Lomo anamorphic lenses. I’ll be travelling around Dublin as well as famous scenic sights around the country and doing some nice landscape shots using the nanoFlash/GH2 combo at 220mbps I-Frame rates. It’d be the highest bit rate I’ve ever used with these lenses – I might also get a chance to play with my friend’s RED Scarlet.

“What’s required to motorize a LOMO Ana lens”

Doing the usual patrol on Vimeo and was immediately intrigued by this title!

When I got my first roundfront anamorphic lens, I was disappointed when I could not use my follow focus unit. This is because the focusing barrel was so stiff and heavy, and the front element extended too far when focusing. So you can see in that clip the follow focus gear is long and strong (motorized) enough to compensate!