Why Anamorphic Lenses are Used in Major Films & How To Use Them ft. Atlas Lens Co

[@glevasseur]

I love the irony of having Deakins book on the table in a video talking about anamorphic 🙃

[@MarcosElMalo2]

He hates lens flare and focus breathing. He also seems to prefer Arriflex over Panavision, and Panavision’s Primo anamorphic primes are one of the major reasons many DPs like Panavision (anamorphic lenses were the original basis for Panavision when it was founded. That’s always been their biggest feature). If you weren’t shooting anamorphic, there was less reason to rent from Panavision. I worked at an Arriflex rental house (Lee Utterbach Cameras) in the mid 90s, and once in a while we’d sub rent Primos from the local Panavision agent (CineRent West). Their technician (his name was Tom) would replace the Panavision mount with a PL mount. This added to the expense, but some clients just don’t care and will give the DP whatever they want. I’m not a big fan of lens flare. A lot of it can be avoided by shading the front element of the lens with a hard matte, a French flag, a flag on a c-stand, or having a grip float a flag over the camera, Hollywood style. Or heck, a lens hood if you don’t have a matte box or flags or stands. Do people use lens hoods anymore? Do they even know they exist?

[@visualelexxion7032]

He shoot’s spherical and adds the bars.

[@8lec_R]

@@MarcosElMalo2 but Deakins is actually a huge proponent of shooting however you like to suit your style and story. Like once there was a roundtable of cinematographers fighting uselessly about film vs digital, Deakins was visually annoyed and just said, shoot what you like how you like, this debate is useless.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

@@8lec_R That’s awesome. 😊

[@geoffreybassett6741]

@@8lec_R I love that round table with him. The second it’s brought up, he clearly gets upset that they are wasting time talking about it and does not give a shit.

[@dankanes4383]

Thanks so Much Gene and Kari ! Really appreciate the opportunity to discuss Anamorphic lenses with you, and happy to answer any questions from your community and viewers !

[@BigKarl519]

Lookin' good Dan.

[@tom_k_d]

Thanks Dan and Forrest for sharing your expertise, this is one of the most informative and entertaining yt clips I've seen in a while.

[@alexanderloskutkin2885]

What do you think of companies like sirui? do anamorphic lenses require a certain minimum price to be good?

[@Studio23creation]

Do you think it would be physically possible to make an orion lens, but the size and weight of a greatjoy lens, with the same characteristics than orion? Or it is simply impossible for practical reasons?

[@dankanes4383]

Do you want a smaller Orion ? There has to be some compromise - for example : you can make a smaller lens with Orion style architecture but slower T stop and without a cam mechanism for focus (look at vintage JDC Crystal Express). Setting attributes for a lens design gives you a set of constraints to work within. Look at how small a vintage Kowa anamorphic is - but they do have slight mumps and some other distortion attributes that people either love or hate. I would recommend Mercury if you want something smaller - if you want a smaller Orion, let us know that too ! We are always thinking about what cinematographers want because many of us at the company are cinematographers - but it’s challenging because not everyone wants the same thing, so we try to do what we think is right and will help the people and the industry in the right direction.

[@FelixCervantes]

Of all the KZbinrs I follow, Gene seems to get the most respect from Hollywood. Great video!

[@lain2779]

He shows them respect, knows when he doesn't know something, and not afraid to admit it, along with a will to listen and learn from those that do know. A bit of humility and respect goes a long way versus the brash personality a lot of youtubers like to give off.

[@TechnoBabble]

Ditto to what Iain said, plus he's one of the few that has ACTUAL experience working on decently sized productions in Hollywood. A lot of the bigger KZbinr's never got to that point, they were solo wedding photographers or made small commercials and then went into doing KZbin. Many of them lack any real knowledge in the production industry, outside of what they've read online or heard from other people.

[@CarlPaulsen]

Wow! Talk about customer engagement! I wish these guys all the success in the world. It's great to see real subject matter experts talking about their passion...

[@ODHunte]

These lenses are incredible. My favourite are the Panavision T series but Atlas are looking like the second place contenders. Really great to ‘meet’ the owners.

[@R8135003]

When the first re-boot of Star Trek with Chris Pine came out the first action shots of the Bridge of the ship are just beauty. It lens choice in that part of the movie added so much to the film. The scene lasted less an a minute but set the pace for the rest of the movie. From 25 miles north of London, have a great Xmas. Be lucky stay safe.

[@familygonzcartwright]

And then when Abrams left and you get to Star Trek Beyond, they lost all that...

[@R8135003]

@@familygonzcartwright ain’t that the truth

[@kqschwarz]

One of the best photo videos ever. The Atlas guys are great and inspiring. Potato Jet did a great job with the interview. Thank you.

[@AbstractFilms]

Love this company and their products! My coworkers and I always visit their booth at NAB and collect their merch. Gene, I ran into you this year but I didn’t want to interrupt your interview. Great video!

[@Skipsul]

This is very cool. As a business founder myself, I fully appreciate the guts and work of these guys.

[@Karlabacken]

Besides cool flares and oval bokeh the best thing with anamorphic lenses is how they make persons just "pop out" from the image. Hard to describe what it is. Almost 3D feeling.

[@SubhasisMukherjee]

A much required discussion on the internet. Potato Jet done an incredible job.

[@timdanyo898]

These Atlas guys are the real deal. Artist innovators. Fascinating information!

[@benbeattie4609]

Such genuinely lovely and tremendously knowledgeable chaps! It’s a joy to see such passion and a desire to pass on that wealth of expertise to others. Thank you so very much Gene for sharing your experience of meeting the faces behind Atlas with us!

[@donmyers2967]

Man. I need to figure out where to begin on this one. Gene, you, your crew, Dan and Forrest have completely knocked it out of the park, the country, and the freakin local universe. I am a camera/lens newbie (halfway through LAFS while working as a Sommelier for MFG / Carbone . . . @ 47 years old), and if it weren't for you and Josh Yeo, I don't know where I would be. Dan and Forest's lenses are already spectacular and unique, and the extra attention to education and inviting people to create is humbling and downright teary-eyed inspiring. ( I'm not crying; YOU'RE CRYING!) I am so grateful to live in this era, but that would not be giving the credit and acknowledgment that all of you deserve. Thank you so much for this video and this deep dive into not only anamorphic lenses but our craft of film and lenses. You and Josh have already turned me into more of a SuperNerd than I could have imagined in this aspect, and I'm so happy that I'm apparently not alone. Lol. Please consider expanding a series like this with deep dives and education; I've learned more through you and your introduction to complex material than I would have gotten in 2 years of amateur film school. This and the ARRI episode have been a couple of my favorites, but let's be honest, you pack amazing content into every episode. Thank you again; your commitment to putting something great out for everyone is clear. YOU. FUCKING, ROCK, MAN. Deuces from Dallas.

[@dankanes4383]

Thanks for your kind words ! Looking forward to your visit !

[@WilliamBurdine]

WHOA. That was the BEST Video in a while... Great information, Detail and what a couple of GREAT GUYS with such a generous offer!

[@cinemaipswich4636]

I recently took the lens of my Nikonos Underwater camera (50 years old), and modified an adapter ring to mount it on one of my Blackmagic Cameras. It captured an image that I have never seen before. Parralex was completely eliminated. A unique look. I bought an Anamorphic Projector lens from a auction sale of an old Cinema some 40 years ago. It was a prop for all that time. Now I will need to brush up on my trigonometry and mathematics before I even open the box.

[@wyldflowerfilmwerks6008]

It was great meeting you at Atlas! My students were also stoked to meet you! Please do more of these deep dives

[@davelawery4811]

Brilliant, no other words for it. Merry Christmas and stay well 🇬🇧👍

[@ThomasSmartt]

Hey Gene! Loved this video man. It's awesome to see people geeking out about cameras/lenses. I've been curious about anamorphic lenses for a while and this video really helped me understand everything a lot more! :)

[@richardmendez2269]

kudos for the table angle with the monitor displaying your guests. never seen this in any youtube video before. small idea thats pushing content quality forward

[@DannyDHidalgo]

Love my Atlas Orion set, best lens investment I made!

[@OliKember]

So well shot and edited! Thanks for this. Great hang with Atlas.

[@thejordanflynn]

Such a rad breakdown of anamorphic. Would love to be able to use one one-day.

[@SenpaiinJapan]

Thanks for including my unqualified question @ 26:36 😂 I forgot I actually asked that lol Great video btw! Learned a lot! 🤘😳

[@mamanche]

Been waiting for this one for yeeeeears, ever since you did that one video with Art and the Arri Master Primes. Thank you

[@donmyers2967]

That's what I'm sayin!!!! Both are so brilliant.

[@dav]

Learned so much in this video. Thanks to everyone involved.

[@ericsantiago2199]

Great video Gene! Thanks, Dan and Forrest for your contribution to this field :)

[@Mutantelamadrid]

this was so good, enojoyed every second of info, these two are amazing.

[@arindamandybhattacharjee1406]

What a great and informative video about anamorphic lens - thanks for making it!!

[@strAwrlD]

I understood like 5% of the whole video :D Loved the relaxed and peacful conversation. People who found their passion👍🏼

[@nahlene1973]

surprised to not see the interview be shot with anamorphic lenses!

[@hollylandtech]

Great video & Great to see Dan!

[@mooremedia2103]

Fantastic Video!! Thank you for taking time to create this type of content. Educational, beautiful, and fun to watch.

[@Lowest_Levels]

Very good. It'senjoyable listening to very smart people and seeing their mark within industry and the wealth of knowledge they carry on the subject. Learned quite a bit today. This company seems open and generous with their time and feel it beyond use as some marketing tool.

[@Tethysmeer]

Fascinating that out from a constraint based solution we got this beautiful immersive look.

[@findJLF]

This is fascinating stuff - what a great video

[@geoffreybassett6741]

Appreahiate the deep dive by all involved. Love the look of the Original Atlas lenses and excited to see them in use on the upcoming "Babylon".

[@amamdawhatever]

I'm shooting with Orions for the first time this week. I am super excited to see how they work.

[@kendall6030]

Love your mobile platform/set! Nice work!

[@ForrestSchultz89]

So fun! Thank you Gene and Kari!

[@xlrouge]

Terrific and informative video, very appreciated!!! 🙌🙌🙌

[@theseventh2609]

Thank you for putting all this effort in your videos man 😎

[@thisisfilmatic]

This was so dope!! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🔥🔥

[@checkeredflagfilms]

Music Videos (MTV) came along in the 80's, (spherical) flares were used creatively in general. Initially adopted for commercials and later (Anamorphic) flares were more widely accepted and used on feature films.

[@heiko4297]

Great Video, great lenses, great Dudes. Love this kind of deep dives. Would love to see more like this (I know it is higher production effort, so maybe lower frequency) instead of the 10000th FPV Drone-Vid.

[@TrevorNew]

Nice! Was hoping for a video about this 😃

[@YOUAREMYKIN]

Such an awesome episode Gene!🙌✨

[@danieljohnpeters]

Great video, love the Atlas guys

[@peturthor5140]

the mercury line looks super interesting!

[@leobardobivianomedia]

Waiting for a video like this!!

[@jimmoss9584]

I like these guys! Total anamorphic freaks.

[@davideskerlot2945]

Watching this video has given me a pretty decent understanding of what anamorphic lenses are. Before that, I had no idea what the point of these were. Very nice. Now I want to get me some prime anamorphic lenses. Very expensive though.

[@wellfoxs]

loved those guys and the lens

[@aLgProduction]

This was the BEST!

what many people never mention is that if you shoot anamorphic on red cameras you can just as well shoot with 16:9 only cameras. the Sensoe itself on red cameras is 17:9 and 16:9 so even the 4:3 mode on the red monstro doe not give you more vertical view it just crops internally the sides off ... so even if you have have a sony without open gate it is just not that bad

[@AuthenTech]

i learned a couple things in this one

[@Arsenjev_Kirill]

This really greate! Thanx all of you! :)

[@urba.cinematics]

One day i will obtain these precious lenses and film my cats with them :3

[@charlesrocks]

Well I wasn’t planning on spending $20,000 on camera equipment…but here I am.

[@jacobhamm_co]

I mean, you could always try the new Sirui anamorphic for $1500. Probably wasn’t used to film Babylon, but early reviews are good.

[@EliasMendozaTV]

How amazing the look that lens makes 😮Omg

[@rio197]

15:31 Diopter! Thanks for the explanation on this

[@KevinQuesada448]

Excellent video! Will return to it many times I am sure

[@ashcinematics9487]

Great Video...a lot to learn...Anamorphic it is from now on... but too many numbers to remember.

[@Peterwfowler]

dude on the left hardly talked and wasnt having it at 12:15 lol

[@RockWILK]

This was amazing. Thank you.

[@JamesRogers-hl4qc]

Hahahaha hey that's my old Bausch & Lomb Cinemascope Adapter you guys are playing with (I think)! I sold it to Dan a while back...2 of them actually. Rare pieces of moviemaking history. Interesting to see what looks like an Iscomorphot-35 2x 50mm lens there on the table. Super rare. Great vid.

[@dankanes4383]

Good eye James. Thanks for the hookup - I’ll take more of these Cinemascope adapters if you find them haha. And yes! It is an Iscomorphot 35 Cine 50mm ! Pretty nice lens. Large image circle. One of the jewels of the museum. Come by and visit if you’re ever passing through LA!

[@donmyers2967]

super cool.

[@thetexaseagle]

Thanks for sharing. May I suggest placing a dark color skirt (maybe with some Camera Gears Graphic) around your cargo cart will make you look more "professional"?

[@LuDawgg]

Dan looks 15 years younger!!!

[@cobymarcum1442]

Awesome. Atlas seem like really cool guys. 👍

[@jonweinraub]

What a great video. Atlas is a name I heard of more and more and they seem like such a down to earth good people business. I loooove the anamorphic look and if I ever were to consider buying a single lens what focal length would you recommend? S35 or FF?

[@cnex101]

I love videos like this! Can you do a series of videos like this?

[@gwpaulsen]

Hey thanks so much for doing this: Anamorphic knowledge and insight amazing.

[@Ben-ig3bf]

Anamorphic is fucking amazing

[@MrRayAx]

Great lenses, I am getting nanomorph for sure

[@826media]

Seeing vlog style jump cuts on an anamorphic lens is really jarring 😂

[@jessedarlandjr]

Potato Jet, You should stay in the Potato Hotel out in Idaho and do a vlog about it.

[@rdhphoto1]

Wow beautiful thanks for doing this what awesome info I luv anamorphic look everything shot on it just looks lush. I like sharp but not clean and sharp as life is not clean and sharp I think anamorphic does that mimics how we the human eye sees the world. But it’s not easy to achieve the look.

[@JunaidUrRehman]

Well I have something called Optical Flares in AE by Andrew Kramer and it has all of these flares puls some really wild ones which you cannot achieve by any lens in the world :'D

[@ChrisRidesHisBike]

11:14 the look during this segment is dreeeeaaaaamy!

[@Focusdigitalsabuja]

Awesome!!!

[@satan5259]

Atlas please make an affordable anamorphic adapter like the Moment or Great Joy! your flares are so beautiful!

[@Plusmonkey]

Amazing kind of people!

[@bmefilms6879]

Gene , you are a beast. The angle with the 2 of them is beautiful. its simple but im drawn in. Great interview also!! $6,000 for a 1 lens...yikes! what focal length would you use to film an entire project, if you only had one lens?

[@ODHunte]

42mm apparently..

[@fr33dom_s4int]

Well, when you consider a Cooke anamorphic is about $30K… 🤌🏼

[@AAYUSH024]

to the point! loved this video! thnaks

[@gregoryrogalsky6937]

Super interesting.

[@repinanatoly1]

Thank you for very interesting video!

[@pilotpencil]

I hope this type of video does really well on your channel. We need more deep dives into lenses from experts who can help us all make better choices for our projects!

[@elvisnotpresley]

I'm still amazed that he's not at 1 million subscribers.

[@LaneCarter]

Everytime Dan is on I can't stop thinking about how he talks like Bill Hader.

[@kendigProductions]

I’m not really feeling the pointy bokeh. I prefer the true oval bokeh. Not sure why Atlas went this direction but to each his own I guess.

[@Karthig1987]

Cool stuff and so much knowledge even though everything doesnt apply to me and is over my head lol

[@themasterfors7580]

good one!

[@alexgsproductions]

I think you need @axk to come back and teach you about loudness. The video is so quiet!

[@8lec_R]

Zoom call bouta get real full 😂

[@WayneThePoet]

I still don’t understand why cinematic bokeh is taller than wider. If the film is squeezed on the horizontal axis when shot (so the raw film would have round bokeh?), why is the final aspect ratio, when it’s stretched out on the horizontal narrower??? Logic says the bokeh oval should be wider on the horizontal, not the vertical. What step am I missing?

[@dankanes4383]

Actually a great and reasonable question. When the in focus light rays hit the film strip or digital sensor, they are distorted by the anamorphic group to the compression coefficient of the anamorphic lens design (I.e. 2x for an Atlas Orion) the out of focus rays, because they are distorted to a higher Degree because of where they go through the lens’ entrance pupil. So for example - before desqueeze process those out of focus rays that make a bokeh spot could be like 4x skinnier than the actual point - it has to do with the disproportionate magnification of the anamorphic lens’ pupil. Kinda hard to explain, but this is in effect why bokeh is bokeh, the spot of light rays is magnified in a different manner because they are not being focused down to a point by the lens (when out of focus). Hope that’s helpful and not overly complex (it’s a very complex topic when getting down to the level of true science here)

[@WayneThePoet]

@@dankanes4383 Thank you for your reply. I think I see my error. The raw animorphic film has a very squished horizontal image. And due to the way animorphic lenses capture light, bokeh/out of focus light is even more horizontally compressed. It’s so narrow horizontally, that when the film is stretched in post, the out of focus bokeh does not get stretched to “normal” like the in focused elements do. So while in focus elements now look correct, the out of focus/bokeh, never gets fully stretched on the horizontal, it doesn’t make it back to round. Thus the tall bokeh shapes. Is this right… or closer? Here’s a video with a lot of helpful info on the characteristics of animorphic and spherical lenses: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5rMqJyerK97a7s

[@dankanes4383]

You pretty much get it there.

[@ollkllok]

you should put a bit more videos, your channel is almost with 1million

[@cinamatographer20]

Excellent video. I live in Europe in germany how can I get my hands on a set of theses silver Orion anamorphic lense

[@periskop]

Anamorphic looks great, but can be a PITA for VFX work unless shot properly (good distortion grids, breathing)

[@periskop]

@Officialpotatojet... Hello scam artist

[@TheOneThreeFour]

Really wish the BMD Pockets shot open gate

[@Rappasta]

do you download all the movies you use as a BROLL, or do you find clips online and so it is so much easier to do?