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Apefos Scoperama Anamorphic Adapter Development Topic
  • 470 Replies sorted by
  • Jean71Jean71

    @apefos

    Hi, i'm following this thread since it started, and i want to say: hell yes i'm interested! I would like to know, since you showed the prototype with the kit lens, if the thread is 52mm (that would be a perfect fit for the 25mm and 17.5mm noktons) Congrats, and count me in :-)

    Edit: I'm reading now it does not work under 32mm. My interest remain the same as before.

  • anti12anti12

    @apefos I'm also interested in buying the finished adapter.

    I was hoping for a price closer to $300,-- but considering the alternatives (or lack of) and the time you invested it still seems very reasonable.

    I've got some friends in Brasil, will domestic shipping make a big difference?

  • EeeCeeGeeEeeCeeGee

    I'm interested in buying one, I'm impressed by the quality of this prototype

  • apefosapefos

    Thanks guys, I will consider the inputs here as a waiting list, so as the units get ready I will contact the first inputs and so on.

  • RRRRRRRR

    @apefos Really impressive work, I must say..! I´ll wait to see the finished version but in all likelyhood I´m interested in getting one! :)

  • apefosapefos

    Please guys, don't drool, please girls, don't drop wet, not for Apefoscope, but for the couple! PS: This was not filmed with Aaton Super16mm and Zeiss Anamorphic Prime. (Just to Keep the sense of humor...)

    1920x810p available on vimeo

  • B3GuyB3Guy

    @apefos, the flares from this lens are wonderful! I can hardly wait to see them in blue or purple once you get the coating sorted.

  • bannedindvbannedindv

    Put me down as an interested party!!!

  • apefosapefos

    Please, just confirm if the new video is streaming in 1920x810. I uploaded the 1920x810p version and I enabled the 1080p button in the settings of Vimeo Plus, but my old laptop screen is just 1280x800 so I could not confirm if the full resolution streaming is working good. I did my best to preserve the grain in the encoded mp4, hope it is. Thanks

  • JohnBarlowJohnBarlow

    Congratulations on achieving your objectives!

  • apefosapefos

    Many thanks. You all encouraged me when there was moments I was thinking about to give up. So If there is someone to say thanks, that's me!

  • JohnBarlowJohnBarlow

    Just a word about the coating. Choose a coating which gives a distinctive look to the flares like gold or deep magenta. Then when people see footage shot with your device they will say "it looks like it was shot with an Apefoscope"

    :)

  • apefosapefos

    Thanks! Coating is the last challenge. As I said before, I am in a low money moment, so I am thinking about what I can do to raise funds to try the coatings. Also, different coatings will need a new set of lenses to do each coating. Probably I will sell the first unit uncoated to raise funds to go on. I will use the lenses from the prototype which did these first videos to assemble the first unit.

  • apefosapefos

    There was a small delay in the plastic machining service. I will show the first unit as soon as I get the parts. They are always busy schedule, so a little patience is necessary.

  • jpbturbojpbturbo

    It is streaming at 1920x810p with scaling turned off.

    Although, It's really kind of hard to tell if the lens combination works very well at all other than the crazy flares and the aspect ratio looks right because the video is so soft and noisy. I mean, the overall quality of the latest sample video is very bad.

    From about 0:16 to 0:24 it looks like there is some pretty noticeable CA on the left side of the image, so much so that I would probably consider it unusable for any serious work. Hopefully it's just a small alignment issue that will be cleared up once you have the plastic body.

  • apefosapefos

    Today early morning, when I woke up, I started to think about the people who are willing to buy the Apefoscope and I realized I need to do a new video showing the adapter with it's qualities and imperfections. This way I will be selling the adapter in a very honest and transparent way. And who buy it will know exactly what are they paying for.

    People will not need to wait for reviews and tests because I will do this video as I was a buyer, but not any buyer, but a demanding buyer. In this video I will also show how to get the best from it.

    @jpbturbo In a previous post you asked me how to build an anamorphic lens and I did not answer you. Your question was:

    "Would it be possible to take the lens elements from a 0.7x wide angle adapter and replicate the lens profile on a single axis only(cylindrical) to create a 1.33 anamorphic lens that you could focus through? Sorry if this belongs somewhere else."

    And my answer was:

    "I need a long rest from thinking about optics. Almost two months of hard work to reach these results. All I can do now is finish the final body, try the coating options and replicate this unit with good quality without thinking so much." (as the optical system is ready, I do not need to think about it anymore)

    Maybe you became upset with me because I did not answer your question and you started to criticize the adapter. But no problem, criticism is good, it helps a lot improving things. And it shows you just want the best, I also want the best, we all want the best. You just confirmed me that my idea of making the review before start selling was really good.

    Did you think about how much money could you make selling video service done with Apefoscope for wedding clips, cable tv series, music videos and so on? But you started to say the adapter is not good instead of considering the great feeling and emotion it gave to the video. Of course it did not alone, there was the music, the film grain, the image grading, the slow motion, the noise reduction and the engaging couple. All was done in post, not to hide imperfections, but to make the video more filmic and emotive.

    The first video shows the images straight from camera so it is better to judge the image quality. The second video I did for the couple with lots of post production to increase the romantic feeling. The couple was in the square, they saw me with the camera and they asked me to shoot them. I liked the results so I uploaded it because I think it shows the Apefoscope capabilities very good.

    I am not defending that we must look to the qualities and forget the imperfections, I am pursuing the imperfections since the begining of the development two months ago. But sometimes pixel-peppers just keep saying I hate moire and aliasing instead of enjoy the movie, sometimes a guy do not kiss a girl just because she have some freckles. No, I will not convince you to stop wanting the best, this is not my goal, my goal is to offer the best adapter I can, and I will show exactly what I can do.

    Stay tuned, when I get the first unit assembled, before I sell it I will do the review and upload to Vimeo, so you can have your final decision, if you don't like it, just don't buy it, if you like it, buy it and be happy!

  • JohnBarlowJohnBarlow

    @apefos

    I am sure you understand that the front and rear groups must be perfectly aligned vertically and certainly to an accuracy of 1.0 milliradian or better. Otherwise the light rays will become twisted and will manefest as a soft focus.

    Perfect alignment takes time if you do not have special test equipment and you must factor this into your costs. Just sayin'

  • jpbturbojpbturbo

    @apefos, I wasn't offended by any of your responses and it wasn't my intent to be offensive and I'm sorry if I came off that way.

    Best of luck with your project.

  • apefosapefos

    @JohnBarlow thanks for the advice. be always welcome.

    In terms of pixel pepping I agree the night shoots was not so perfect as the day shoots. It was a little difficult to me do deal with the prototype at night, but I am expecting the final body with focus mechanism will make things easy. But in terms of film look and involvement of the viewer I liked the second video more.

    It would be a dream to make a focus ring in the adapter like the Nikon AIS lenses. But I do not have the same resources the big companies have. I will do my best with the manufacturing resources I have to build it the most perfect as I can. I will try the best alignment between the lenses and in the focus mechanism. And as I said, I will show the qualities and the limitations before sell.

    Making money is a consequence of a good work, before making money it is much more important to make friends.

    So after I show all the product details, it will be much better when a fellow say: Ok, it's good for me!

  • RRRRRRRR

    @apefos I have a suggestion. There are many people rooting for your project and one way to take it further would be to make a small and simple website for it, include the video(s) and make it possible to donate money via paypal, like here on p-v. The only thing you need to promise people is a discount on a finished adapter. Donate 5USD and get 10 off from the final product (if it´s finished and manufactured), up to 50USD (100 off). This way you can take your time to make the adapter as good as it can be. IMO it will be very problematic with the sell one / manufacture two idea as it will take forever to meet demand and interest will fade + you might get into a sticky situation where people want to return their adapters. If you already have the investment to make it happen it will be much, much easier for you. Then you might also be able to consider a more complex focusing mechanism (even if it remains simple). It would also mean that the adapters you put out are absolutely consistent in assembly / design.

    I would donate in a heartbeat even if I never even bought the adapter in the end! (as I like the effort you put into it)

    @others feel free to state your opinions on this.

  • kavadnikavadni

    I would donate with understanding that it might never get made, but that if it does I have option to get donation back as discount on purchase.

    I'd also gift $20 just to see you succeed

  • LC_Digital_ArtLC_Digital_Art

    @RRRR I agree with your suggestion. I believe this is the way to go.

  • apefosapefos

    I would only agree with non-refundable and non-discountable small donations from 10 to 25 usd to help me in the research and developing to finish the adapter (body and coating). I need to build three more bodies and pay for three different coatings to try them and finish the project. I will not get donations that can be deducted or discounted from the final price or refunded. The reason is: The adapter works good, I am sure about this, but there is a chance the final product do not meet all the expectations because I do not have the same resources the big manufacturers have, to offer the same precision they can do. You all need to consider it as "an improved DIY product" , not an "industrialized product".

  • RRRRRRRR

    @apefos: I would only think of the suggested discount as a "sign of good faith".. just something in return. I realize you are not making an iscorama. Maybe someone else would feel differently about this, I can´t say. Your suggestion: a non-discountable small donation would be ok by me, it seems like others feel the same.

    I was thinking about the focusing and alignment mechanism; IMO the focusing could be done with a thread solution (a bit like lomo oct-18 focusing or if more advanced something like m42 mount flektogon and other lenses (still simple mechanisms). In this way you can make some markings to aid in everyday use. If it would be possible to have a solution for fine adjustment of alignment, that would also make it much easier to use. Maybe your thoughts are already going that way, I don´t know! :)

  • apefosapefos

    About the donations, if someone agree with the non-refundable and non-discountable small donation just send me a PM or a post here and I will inform my paypal email. I prefer to inform my paypal email in the private message instead of here in the topic. Just do it if you feel good in helping and also consider the fact that the project can succeed or not.

    @RRRR The idea of a helicoid focus is really great. And yes, I was thinking about it from some time ago. When I found the behavior of the lenses, the fact it need to move front and back I just picked up a Nikon lens in my hands and talked to myself: "If I just could build a thing like this..." But the problem is the plastic machining service started to say to me that this is so difficult do do, this will not work, this is too much for our resources..., they said the female thread would be difficult to do to fit perfectly in the male thread. So they did not manifest a willing to do. To be honest sometimes I think these people just want to avoid more complex job, they are always busy schedule so they can choose what they want to do. Due to this I simplified things to make it happen. But we need to wait a final word about the body design after it become ready.

    I also have a good new information: I started to compare the grinded lenses I used since the beginning of the project and I found sometimes they show a difference in thickness between the both sides. So I will talk to the optical lab to ask them to do a more precise grindind to try to make them all the same thickness. I believe they can improve this, but as I know their machines and how they do the job, I will need to consider some amount of difference because probably they cannot guarantee the perfection, I believe they will guarantee some kind of a best approach.

    I some new tests I found if the lens have a difference in thickness I can use some small pieces of black rubber adhesive tape in one side to calibrate and align the lens to the plastic pieces. It seems it helps to balance the corner sharpness but another problem shows up, the CA moves from one side to the other. I need to do more tests on this to say this for sure. If I can get more precise lenses it will be great, but if I need to consider an error margin, I believe it will be better to get better corner sharpness.

    So after I talk to the partners and I build the bodies and lenses to try the coatings, I will find what will be the quality control I can offer, and what will be the error margin I need to consider.

    Everything will be reported, no hidden things here.

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