AVS Discussions

Projection Screens => 2.35:1 Screens / lenses => Topic started by: NBPk402 on November 06, 2016, 12:03:26 PM

Title: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: NBPk402 on November 06, 2016, 12:03:26 PM
I installed a Panamorph UH-480 lens in my HT last year and I love it. The only thing is I wish I had a curved screen so I would have a perfect rectangle instead of curved top and bottom. :(

Anyone else running an Anamorphic Lens?
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: AVSCraig on November 07, 2016, 07:36:40 PM
I'm a zoomer at this point - too short a throw distance, and with electric screens, a curved screen isn't happening. 
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: NBPk402 on November 07, 2016, 09:22:51 PM
I'm a zoomer at this point - too short a throw distance, and with electric screens, a curved screen isn't happening.
I was a zoomer too, but when I went to the anamorphic lens... I noticed my screen is now brighter, and with a 195" diagonal I needed all the lumens I could get.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: AVSMike on November 07, 2016, 09:53:04 PM
I installed a Panamorph UH-480 lens in my HT last year and I love it. The only thing is I wish I had a curved screen so I would have a perfect rectangle instead of curved top and bottom. :(

Anyone else running an Anamorphic Lens?

Yes, 9' wide curved screen with Prismasonic lens and powered slide.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: AVSCraig on November 07, 2016, 10:31:06 PM
I was a zoomer too, but when I went to the anamorphic lens... I noticed my screen is now brighter, and with a 195" diagonal I needed all the lumens I could get.

I've owned 2 lenses - a Panamorph and a Prismasonic. My 2.35:1 is already brighter without a lens, due to zooming the picture, and with two separate screens, I picked the StudioTek 130 for my 2.35:1 screen to offset the lumen loss ( its a bit higher gain than my 16:9 screen ). Zero picture distortion too. However, there is more than one way to build a theater. Sometimes a lens helps, sometimes not. In my case, zooming works just as well, if not better. YMMV.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: NBPk402 on November 07, 2016, 11:41:49 PM
Yes, 9' wide curved screen with Prismasonic lens and powered slide.

Lucky you! I would love to have a curved screen, and a powered sled.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: AVSMike on November 08, 2016, 12:00:23 PM
Since Prismasonic does not offer a custom plate to fit their lens to a Chief mount, I build my own. Did this for my Sony VW600 and again for my JVC RS600.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: NBPk402 on November 08, 2016, 12:12:32 PM
Since Prismasonic does not offer a custom plate to fit their lens to a Chief mount, I build my own. Did this for my Sony VW600 and again for my JVC RS600.
Did you notice an improvement in Lumens in your setup too?
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: AVSMike on November 08, 2016, 02:08:47 PM
Did you notice an improvement in Lumens in your setup too?

Yes. You will always get an increase in brightness, if comparing from the same throw distance. Only reason some people get less brightness, is from them going to longer throws to reduce the pincushion. In my case I get significant brightness gain. Not only am I gaining the light from the pixels in the black bars, I am also gaining light from the 2' shorter throw. My throw distance is 2' shorter than what you could do if using zoom method. That is why I have to use a curved screen.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: NBPk402 on November 08, 2016, 06:05:13 PM
Yes. You will always get an increase in brightness, if comparing from the same throw distance. Only reason some people get less brightness, is from them going to longer throws to reduce the pincushion. In my case I get significant brightness gain. Not only am I gaining the light from the pixels in the black bars, I am also gaining light from the 2' shorter throw. My throw distance is 2' shorter than what you could do if using zoom method. That is why I have to use a curved screen.
I really need the curved screen. :( My distanced stayed the same (I couldn't go any further back at all without cutting a hole in the wall). If we move to another house I will get a new screen, and it will be curved.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: bmoney on November 13, 2016, 08:38:48 AM
so using one instead of zoom...requires a curved screen?  Im interested with using a rs400....right now I have the zoom maxed out to fill my screen
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: NBPk402 on November 13, 2016, 09:52:55 PM
so using one instead of zoom...requires a curved screen?  Im interested with using a rs400....right now I have the zoom maxed out to fill my screen
If you don't have a curved screen your geometry will be off..on my setup I have a bow on the top and bottom of the screen. If I had the projector farther away I think it would minimize it a bit more, but a curved screen is the correct way to solve the problem IMO.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: bmoney on November 14, 2016, 07:58:16 AM
thanks for the reply...I guess that rules me out...not only will the lense cost a ton..but then I have to buy or build a curved screen
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: NBPk402 on November 14, 2016, 11:45:48 AM
thanks for the reply...I guess that rules me out...not only will the lense cost a ton..but then I have to buy or build a curved screen
Lens is not too bad...I picked up a used B-Stock one for around $1k, but for me to take my T-channel frame and make it into a curved frame would be another $1k or more.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: ShadeRF on November 14, 2016, 03:21:06 PM
Another zoomer here. My projector is currently mounted slightly off center so I'm not sure if a lens would even work for me. I could use the extra brightness but I assume I'd have to get the projector mounted perfectly center to use a lens?
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: NBPk402 on November 14, 2016, 06:01:29 PM
Another zoomer here. My projector is currently mounted slightly off center so I'm not sure if a lens would even work for me. I could use the extra brightness but I assume I'd have to get the projector mounted perfectly center to use a lens?
Ideally...yes, but with my setup I set the projector up as close as possible to perfect, and then used the lens shift to get the last little bit. If you use just a little bit of Lens shift it works out nicely, but if you want perfection you need to def have a curved screen IMO.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: AVSMike on November 15, 2016, 11:22:18 AM
so using one instead of zoom...requires a curved screen?  Im interested with using a rs400....right now I have the zoom maxed out to fill my screen

With a flat screen, you need to use the long side of the throw range. That minimizes the pincushion, but in doing so, you are giving back some of the brightness that you gain by using the lens.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: bmoney on November 15, 2016, 01:03:44 PM
defeats the purpose imho
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: AVSMike on November 18, 2016, 10:24:11 AM
defeats the purpose imho

Keep in mind you do gain other benefits with an A-lens.

1.  Changing aspect movies do not hit above and below your screen.
2.  Quicker aspect ratio changes.
3.  More accurate aspect ratio changes.
4.  Still gain light output.
5.  Higher pixel density.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: NBPk402 on November 18, 2016, 12:03:22 PM
Keep in mind you do gain other benefits with an A-lens.

1.  Changing aspect movies do not hit above and below your screen.
2.  Quicker aspect ratio changes.
3.  More accurate aspect ratio changes.
4.  Still gain light output.
5.  Higher pixel density.

I agree. In my setup it also gave me another 10" of diagonal over zooming, and a brighter picture.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: bmoney on November 19, 2016, 08:30:55 AM
so just to confirm....from a 13' throw distance on my 130" screen (flat) i will have a distroted image if i just buy an A-lense?would 100% need a new curved screen?
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: bmoney on November 25, 2016, 05:16:28 PM
unfortunatly as I suspected this is way out of my price range....i will stick with the zoom meathod
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: AVSMike on November 25, 2016, 06:49:27 PM
so just to confirm....from a 13' throw distance on my 130" screen (flat) i will have a distroted image if i just buy an A-lense?would 100% need a new curved screen?

Yes, with that short a throw, you would need a curved screen.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: AVSCraig on November 25, 2016, 06:53:05 PM
Lens is not too bad...I picked up a used B-Stock one for around $1k, but for me to take my T-channel frame and make it into a curved frame would be another $1k or more.

Depends. A good lens can cost a lot more than that ( I wouldn't be happy with less than an ISCO II lens ).
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: NBPk402 on November 28, 2016, 01:58:30 PM
Depends. A good lens can cost a lot more than that ( I wouldn't be happy with less than an ISCO II lens ).

I think those are out of my budget too...I will have to stick with my Panamorph UD-480 lens, as that is max I could afford at the time, which is more than I could afford now.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: alangouger on December 24, 2016, 11:55:56 AM
Now that most projectors are offering zoom/focus memory I have not touched an anamorphic lens in years and have no idea what is avail these days as well as sleds.

Lets start a list to include options, everyone's contributions are appreciated. Maybe starting a dedicated thread would be ideal but lets get this started here first and if it warrants it we can move the content to its own thread.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: ask4me2 on January 12, 2017, 12:29:23 PM
Hi, I am still using a JVC HD100 (RS2) with a ISCO II anamorphic lens on a 120" curved screen in my home cinema.

Have no slide for the A-lens because this ISCO II lens need the projector to have lens memory so the 16:9 picture is zoomed and shown correctly onto the screen when switching.

Uses another JVC HD1 for 16:9 instead.

Curved screen solves the pincushion effect from the A-lens, but because of the curve, the screen material start to "see" the picture side to side, and the screen should have higher gain to reduce the reflection cone so it is smaller than 180 degrees and do not reduces the contrast.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: ed weinman on March 22, 2017, 01:57:08 AM
I have the Panamorph 480 motorized lens and am having trouble with the remote.  Is there a way to replace and/or purchase a new one?
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: AVSCraig on March 22, 2017, 11:15:47 AM
I have the Panamorph 480 motorized lens and am having trouble with the remote.  Is there a way to replace and/or purchase a new one?

Have you asked Shawn at Panamorph ? Send him an email - maybe he has replacements. shawn@panamorph.com
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: AVSMike on March 22, 2017, 12:39:50 PM
I have the Panamorph 480 motorized lens and am having trouble with the remote.  Is there a way to replace and/or purchase a new one?

What about using a universal remote? I use a Harmony to move my lens in and out of place.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: ed weinman on March 22, 2017, 10:04:03 PM
Have you asked Shawn at Panamorph ? Send him an email - maybe he has replacements. shawn@panamorph.com

Craig,
...i tried to email Shawn but it did not go through...i called Panamorph and left a message...

Thanks for the advise.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: ed weinman on March 22, 2017, 10:06:05 PM
What about using a universal remote? I use a Harmony to move my lens in and out of place.

Mike,
...i first am trying to contact Shawn as Craig suggested at Panamorph...trying to use a Harmony
would be, for me, like teaching an old dog new tricks!...i wouldn't know where to program the
Harmony.

Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: ed weinman on March 23, 2017, 05:38:57 PM
I connected with Shawn at Panamorph and it seems it isn't a simple matter of replacing the remote.
I have to return the entire lens with remote for repair ($350.00).  I've decided to do that but it's a
big pain to do so.  I'm waiting for the OPPO 205 to purchase and I'm sure that the repair and return
will be well after the OPPO arrives (hopefully, the Oppo arrives!).  I informed Shawn that I do not have
any boxes to return the unit and asked for his advice; (am awaiting a reply).

Gosh, this whole 4k/lens scene is a stress.  I probably will not be able to connect the returned lens to the JVC projector because I'm having surgery on April 13th and will not be able to lift the projector from it's stand, install the lens and return the whole thing to the stand for some time.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: AVSMike on March 23, 2017, 06:33:51 PM
Sorry to hear. Too far away from you to help. :(
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: ed weinman on March 23, 2017, 09:31:04 PM
Mike,

...as always...you are a great help and I appreciate it very much.
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: AVSCraig on March 24, 2017, 11:37:59 AM
If you were in Northern CA I could help. Alas, you are 6+ hours away. Can you use the projector without the lens ?
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: ed weinman on March 24, 2017, 09:04:28 PM
Mike and Craig,

I mustered up enough energy to get the darn thing packed and took it to UPS
today!  Now I think I'll get in bed!

...about using the projector without the lens...I never had any intention of purchasing
the JVC without the Panamorph anamorphic lens for all the reasons that this type of
lens can do.  I've got a great image on my Carada Masquerade screen (constant 2.39:1
ratio) and can't live without it.  It's also very dramatic to have the motorized sides go
in and out for the different ratio programs.  I was born in the Bronx, NY and had 12, count
'em, 12 local movie houses that I could walk to from our apartment and, boy, did I live in
almost all of them at one time or another.  Back then, masking and curtain opening/closing
was an art form even in second/third run theaters and the dimming of the theater lights
and the opening of the curtains as the studio trade mark appeared on the screen was
something to behold and remember.  None of these theaters have made it past the 60's
when they were either turned in to churches, drug stores and such, or totally demolished.
There are a few web sites that I visit occasionally that have photos of the theaters of yesteryear.

So many people want to share their memories of the "old" days and two of the sites actually have photos
of these great movie palaces.   

Thanks for your concern.
Ed
Title: Re: Anamorphic Lenses
Post by: AVSMike on July 24, 2018, 10:40:49 AM
Since we would like for more people to be able to see the benefit of using a Panamorph anamorphic lens, we have set it up so that you can buy the lens, use it for two weeks and be able to return the lens, paying a 10% restocking fee. If anybody would like to try out one of these A-lens, give us a call.
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