Panavision’s New Ultra Vista Lenses

BenjaminB — Thu, 31 May 2018 14:54:42 +0000

Panavision Ultra Vista image

Panavision has announced ULTRA VISTA a new series of large format anamorphic lenses, with a press release, and a striking vimeo demo. They are announced for release in 2019.
Some key features:

Image Size
– The Red Monstro 8K sensor is 8192 x 4320 pixels, and is 40.96 x 21.60 mm
– Ultra Vista lenses cover 7472 x 4320 pixels, which should be about 37mm wide.

Comparison of sizes of Red Monstro sensor, Ultra Vista format, traditional anamorphic

2.76:1 Aspect Ratio
– Ultra Vista is designed for an ultra-long 2.76:1 aspect ratio
– This is of course the same ratio created by the classical Ultra Panavision System 70 lenses, that were recently used on “Hateful Eight” and “Rogue One”

1.6x Horizontal Squeeze
– Traditional anamorphic lenses have a 2x horizontal squeeze
– Vintage Ultra Panavision System 70 lenses have a 1.25x horizontal squeeze
– Ultra Vista lenses have a 1.6x horizontal squeeze, creating distinctive bokehs with a little more elliptical distorsion.

Ultra Vista bokehs

Large Format Anamorphic
The Ultra Vista lenses are great news for filmmakers. They offer large format anamorphic, with a bigger squeeze then traditional Ultra Panavision, and therefore more of an anamorphic feeling, and stretch the format to an ultra wide window on the world.
Theoretically the Ultra Vista lenses should also work on other Vistavision-sized sensors, like the Alexa LF and Sony Venice, with the possibility of different aspect ratios…

Bravo to my friends at Panavision for expanding the anamorphic palette !

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LINKS

vimeo.com: Ultra Vista video demo

thefilmbook on ascmag: Large Format: Ultra Panavision 70

panavision.com: Panavision CineGear Product Announcement

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thefilmbook - edited by Benjamin B » Ultra Vista

Panavision’s New Ultra Vista Lenses