(vimeo)

Finally getting around to filming some new videos.  Hit a few snags with life but more content should be rolling in relatively quickly from here on out.

I emailed Valdas of Aivascope to see if he’d let me try out his new and improved Aivascope. The video I did of the first one did well (a lot of people seemed to use it or stills from it to sell them…) and I’m still a fan. I only sold mine because I needed something I could use for anything and more often at night.

Well, that’s where this new version comes in. It was purported be be much sharper and better at fast apertures than the old one. And as you can see in the video above, that is VERY true. It gave me a chance to try one of my new favorite lenses, the Voightlander 40mm f/1.4 Leica M mount lens.

This lens seems to work with just about any setup I throw at it. I have more videos coming with this lens and another baby I picked up, the Canon 50mm f/18 L39.

The whole video was shot at f/1.4 and around ISO 800 pretty much. There might be a few shots at ISO 400 or f/2.0. The area of Tokyo we were in was very bright and had lots of lights. The Aivascope handled everything, especially the closeups, very well. The only issues I had were some flare ghosting by the custom variable diopter I thew together and a few shots where I forgot to turn off digital stabilization. It’s not bad overall and I’m still happy with the video. It really shows what the Aivascope can do. It doesn’t flare like the old one, but you still get some nice ones in the right light. The only thing I’m not sure sure about is the “D” bokeh, but it could grow on me.

As for the variable diopter used in this video, I made it from the focusing diopter glass on a Bell & Howel 2X anamorphic. The anamorphic part is cracked, so I picked up the lens super cheap. I designed my first ever 3D parts, and with some sanding they fit in a Pixco helicoid perfectly. Bam, a super sharp variable diopter for small anamorphics. It works on anything and REALLY surprised me with it’s quality, especially compared to the Focuser 8. Any aperture, any focal length. It’s only kryptonite is bright lights, they ghost in the elements and I can’t find out if I can fix that. It works, sometimes. Others… it looks really cheap. But for the 85% of shots where it’s super good, it’s still worth it.

I have to return the Aivascope in a few weeks, but I’ll try to get a few more videos done with it. I was planning to do an iPhone video with it, but iOS 12 bricked my phone. I’ll get a replacement soon and give it a shot.

Lastly, thanks again to Jennifer Liza for helping me out with another video! You can find her Instagram here.

Tech specs:
Panasonic GH5
4K UHD 60fps 4K, CINE-D
Converted to 24fps
Voightlander 40mm f/1.4 Leica M mount
Aivascope V2 1.75x Anamorphic
Custom Bell & Howell Variable Diopter
Marumi 72mm +3 Diopter

Filmed in Tabata, Tokyo.
Music by me, made in the iOS Launchpad app.