Anamorphic Promo Vid for strangerskateboards.us – TOO YOUNG TO DIE
2019 Jan 09 By answer 0 comment

Was asked to film with Sean of strangerskateboards.us while he was in Tokyo for his new drop. We did everything on the fly pretty quickly, but it was a lot of fun to do. We filmed in Shibuya for a few hours and I came back another day to do some pick-up shots. I used the same setup as this video with a few changes. It was super easy to just go out and shoot with such a compact setup, but I want to improve it more. It’s always fun to have actual content to make. Sometimes just having…

JSD LABS: Aivascope V2 Test, New Lenses, Custom Variable Diopter
2018 Oct 06 By answer 5 comment

(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…

JSD Labs: Rapido Technology FVD-16A, all the jackets, Moller 32/2x, and Helios 44-2 at the Youtube Hanami in Yoyogi
2018 Apr 13 By answer 2 comment

(vimeo) I was lucky enough to get in on the first batch of the Rapido Tehcnology FVD-16A variable diopter. When this came out I was already in the market for a single focus solution, and Rapido just happened to have something that was exactly what I wanted and a few extras I didn’t know I wanted. I ended up getting the full set to make my anamorphic combo look like a monobloc lens. It’s not flawless but it’s very, very good. Before and after. I have the parts to use my Isco Ultra Star with…

JSD LABS: Panasonic GH5 VFR 180fps ver. 2.2 Test – Maihama Skate Park
2017 Dec 19 By answer 0 comment

When the newest GH5 Firmware update came out, it claimed to improve the stability of the VFR. To me, in hope, that was fixing some of the issues that I had earlier with the high speed modes beyond 120fps. We did do a few 120fps shots in Tokyo Dreams and I really didn’t see what everybody was complaining about. I had a few editors not even know it was shot in HD next to the 4K footage. So, with firmware version 2.2 in hand, I set out to Maihama Skate Park in Tokyo to practice skate filming and see…

JSD LABS: GOLDEN AFTERNOON – GH5, SLR Magic Anamorphot-50, Iron Glass Modified Helios 44M, and Kenko Orange Filter
2017 Dec 13 By answer 0 comment

I had been thinking of ways to make use of the SLR Magic Anamorphot-50 outside of it’s basic look. I had already done some tests in DCI Cinema 4K with it, which with the Anamorphot gives you the same aspect ratio as a 2x lens in the GH5’s Anamorphic Mode. I was already trying to think of tests using 1.33x lenses for landscape and wide shots to mix with 2x shots for focused areas or people. I really wish I had access to another GH5 to do some real testing of this kinda stuff. But done right, the Anamorphot…

JSD Labs: Anamorphic at f/0.95
2017 Mar 26 By answer 0 comment

(Vimeo) One thing that I learned since getting into anamorphic is that fast apertures and anamorphic adapters do not mix. Most adapters will rarely work faster than f/2.0, with a lot of them going around 2.8-4.0. The fastest full anamorphic lens ever made is the Panavision 50mm f/1.0. Well, I think my 17.5mm f/0.95 has it beat. My anamorphic is an unbranded 1.33x from the 90’s. While it may look like something from the Century Optics line, it’s more similar to the Sony VCL-W169. I have modded it a bit and it now has a filter ring, and have cleaned…