American Cinematographer - September 2019 - 26

t Model Becka Adams, shot with Deakinizer #1. u Cinematographer Kaity Williams shoots with Deakinizer #3, which incorporates a swing/tilt
mechanism with bellows adjustment.

I first tried Deakinizer #1, the modified wide-angle Kinoptik; physically, it
looked like a normal lens, except that an
element had been removed. It required no
special attachment, and it produced that
enhanced/dreamy effect with heavily
blurred edges. Fascinatingly, with the
element in question removed, the Kinoptic
was now more of a 44.5mm focal length.
Deakinizer #2, #2A and #3 are all
frontal single-element attachments that
pair with a taking lens - an Arri 32mm
(T2.1) Automatic Exposure Compensating
Macro, an Arri 50mm (T3) Automatic
Exposure Compensating Macro, or an
Arri/Zeiss 60mm (T3) Macro to achieve
different focal lengths and looks.
The attachments are held in place
in front of the lens either with a swing-tilt
mechanism that allows adjustments side
to side, up and down, forward and back,
and by tilting vertically and horizontally, or
with a bellows adjustment. There are
specific combinations of the elements and
primes that have to be followed for the
effect to work; a cheat sheet comes in the
lens case.
It was an honor to be able to get
hands-on experience with these special
optics. In person, I was amazed at how
much fine-tuning could be done to achieve
a specific look. I looked at each Deakinizer
that day and took home some frame grabs
from the quick test for further study.
Living and working in Los Angeles,
it's easy enough to walk into Otto Nemenz
and ask to view the Deakinizers. But I
know that not everyone has that easy
accessibility - and I also realized that
there was no thorough test or visual
demonstration available online to illusSeptember 2019

trate the beauty of the Deakinizer lenses.
So I teamed up with Jay Holben to create
a more formal lens test that showcased
each combination's configuration and
effect. For each combination, we would
show the Deakinizer option alone, then
with direct flare, then with veiling glare,
then with a pan to show side/edge performance and, finally, with a rack through the
full range of focus. When the combination
allowed, we also showed the bellows
adjustment.
For the test setup, we brought in
model Becka Adams and keyed her with a
650-watt Arri tungsten fixture through a
medium-bank Chimera. We added a 150watt Arri behind her head to allow for
backlight on her, and - as she leaned to
the side - to be a direct flare into the
lens. A second 150-watt unit was set off to
the side; this would be turned on and off
to reveal the lens systems' ability to
handle veiling glare. Finally, we strung
Christmas lights in the background so we
could study the lenses' bokeh - a requisite for any lens test.
First, to show how a normal lens
would react to this test, we shot an unaltered 32mm Arri Macro before proceeding through each variation of the
Deakinizer. The effect is at its most
extreme when the lens is wide open, so
we shot each Deakinizer combination at
its widest stop. We then stopped the lens
down about two stops to show a less
intense variation.
After completing the standard test,
we followed a suggestion from Lopez -
Otto's resident lens guru - and we went
outside. Lopez had proposed that we
simply shoot a tree, filling the frame with
ASC 100th Anniversary

the foliage. While this seemed like a somewhat random suggestion, we soon realized
how the backlit leaves beautifully revealed
the dreamy quality of the Deakinizers.
For this outside portion of our test,
we started with an unaltered 50mm Arri
Macro as a control to show us how a
normal lens would react. Frankly, I was
unimpressed and wondered what we
were doing outside - it was just a boring
shot of a tree. However, as soon as we put
the Deakinizer effect into play, it was
incredible to see how much more interesting the shot of the tree became! It
turns out that the best way to see the full
capability of these specialty lenses is by
filling the frame with a texture or pattern,
as this really shows the blur and distortion
around the edges. To see the distortion
and make the most of the effect, you
really need something along the edges of
the frame.
This entire experience has been
fascinating. I found it deeply enlightening
to see how these lenses could be manipulated and altered to achieve different
looks. The Deakinizers provoke emotions
you can't easily achieve with a normal
lens. It was a pleasure to see these optics
in person and be able to spend some time
with them. And I hope our lens test will
allow others to see and understand the
characteristics of these altered optics -
and to imagine the creative opportunities
they present.
The Deakinizer lenses are available
to rent at Otto Nemenz International in
Los Angeles. For more images from our
test as well as a video, visit bit.ly/shotcraft
deakinizers.
u

http://www.bit.ly/shotcraftdeakinizers http://www.bit.ly/shotcraftdeakinizers

American Cinematographer - September 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - September 2019