Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: EK prints: 1.85 spherical or 2.35 anamorphic.

This is topic EK prints: 1.85 spherical or 2.35 anamorphic. in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Ben Brahem (Member # 9905) on 06-23-2018, 10:25 AM:

EK prints in 1.85 spherical or 2.35 anamorphic scope prints

I know it's like comparing apples with orange, but which one looks the best to your eye?

Obviously anamorphic scope prints have finer grain and use a bigger projection area, but I am also told that the spherical projection lenses are sharper than scope projection lenses which therefore offsets the difference in resolution.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 06-23-2018, 11:53 AM:

It is a matter of how the movie was shot. If you are running an "EK" print, it is off of camera original (except for opticals) so you don't get a choice in the matter.

Anamorphic projection lenses vary all over the place in quality. Better ones, like the ISCO Blue-Star, for instance can resolve 80 ln/mm over much of the image or essentially what the prime lens can resolve. As such, I don't have any reservations as to the image quality (projection) of anamorphic movies...but it is lens dependent.

Without a doubt, ISCO full size anamorphics are best. Blue-Star is at the top of the list, then Ultra-Star (5-element) followed by Ultra (4-element). The very last generation of Schneider full-size Anamorphics ("WA") are equivalent to the ISCO-Ultra but only the last generation...any before that are junk. In the compact anamorphics, the roles are reversed. The Schneider compact anamorphic is of similar quality to their full-sized one but more suited to shorter focal lengths. The ISCO integrated anamorphics are okay but nothing spectacular. They did make a Blue-Star compact anamorphic but I have never seen one in operation. The Red ones on the Ultra Star plus are the same anamorphic as the gold ones but with the Ultra Star Plus prime lens.

Posted by Jonathan Wood (Member # 4614) on 07-21-2018, 02:06 PM:

Out of interest , was the main adavantage of the intergrated anamorphics that they could be used with wide angle backing elements at short throws? I use an integrated Isco in my home set up because it will focus much closer than my Blue Star full size lens .