Kowa Prominar In Flight Zoom projector Lens Japan Anamorphic Compatible GH mirrorless m4/3 Adapt.
Adaptable lenses Anamorphot Iscomorphot adapted adaptable -
This listing is for a lot of 2 extremely rare Kowa Japan prominar zoom-16 lenses
1 ) INFLIGHT Prominar zoom-16 f/1.8 / 30-66 zoom #20049 with Kowa front cap , excellent condition
2) INFLIGHT Prominar zoom-16 f/2.2 / 50-110 zoom #30681 , no caps, fair to good condition
I believe these lenses were made in the 70s for projecting 16mm movies during airplane flights.
These projection zoom lenses *may* be compatible with The legendary Kowa ( and even Isco or other manufacturers?) Inflight Anamorphic Front Adapter lenses which have become all the rage in HD cinematography... If so, pairing them will open up anamorphic zoom capabilities in a relatively compact lightweight footprint- a true holy grail of film making !
While I cannot be 100% certain, the reason I suspect these are compatible with anamorphic / anamorphotic lens fronts is multi fold:
1) most movies projected on flights would be anamorphic
2) both lenses zoom by turning their front rings however the zoom mechanisms on both is 100% internalized;
I.e, there is
NO change of position of the front lens element
And
NO change of the overall length of the lens barrel
as you turn the front zoom ring.
And
the “filter thread” does NOT rotate or move in any way as you rotate the front zoom ring
ONLY the internal elements of the lens change position to accomplish the focal length changes / ie zooming in / zooming out.
For those familiar with 70s zoom lens design and construction you will recognize this as being extremely sophisticated and expensive way of building a zoom lens one which is not found on the standard 16mm Angenieux 12-120 , Bolex, SOM Berthiot or Canon / Nikkor zoom lenses of that same era.
A zoom design of such complexity would only be worth undertaking if the zoom lens was * required * to have another element or adapter screwed into the front thread, and therefore cannot be allowed to rotate. What could that be, besides an anamorphic adapter ?
An additional piece of evidence pointing to anamorphic intentions , Is that these lenses come without focusing helicoids but rather, have small ~ 1” long linear rack gears held on to barrels via set screws. (See pictures)
This design implies that the lenses are meant to be focused via turning an external pinion to engage with the rack thus moving the lenses (along with any screwed-on front attachments) back and forth linearly (again, eliminating rotation of any lens elements.) Once housed in such a mechanism, the lens should also function as a single focus mechanism anamorphic system, which is much preferable to more complex "dual focusing" anamorphic setups found in this price class (< 5,000 USD).
Rack and Pinion focus would be an extremely odd and outdated design by the 1970s; a choice that is again, implying these lenses were meant to be used with a front attachment. Again, What could that be, besides an anamorphic of some kind
For years , My dream was to adapt / rehouse / PL mount these and shoot a raw, low budget anamorphic feature on a small digital camera with them. Now I pass that dream to someone else ; perhaps you are the Director or DP who will make the next great independent cinema production with an amazing vintage 70s look , using these lenses.
Specs:
Both lenses weigh just over 1 lb (one US pound)
Both lenses have rear OD just under 30mm
Both lenses have front OD of 64mm
Both lenses have front ID (dia of filter thread) of: 54mm
Both lenses are 55mm OD at “widest” (at rack gear)
Both lenses have smooth turning zoom mechanisms and optics appear to be internally clean.
Both have wear and nicks to barrels, body, the 50-110 much more so.
Both lenses appear to have a back focus distance of somewhere between 50-65mm (measured quick / roughly with index card). Thus they are almost certainly Arri PL adaptable and / or Canon EF adaptable, based on FFD / flange focal distance.
Perhaps most important, Both lenses appear to project, by my estimate, at least an 19mm diameter image circle at widest focal length, the image circle of course increasing in size as you zoom in up to 30mm in diameter + at the most zoomed in (again, measured quick / roughly with index card). This implies the lenses were designed for S16 / Super16 compatibility in the 70's (again, makes sense if they were going to be used for anamorphic purposes). If so, this also makes them Micro Four Thirds and likely APS-C and Sony NEX compatible, by today's standards. See and judge results for yourself with the pics. Each square cell of the index card is 1/4" (6.35 MM in width and height.)
The 30-66 is 6.5” overall length
The 50-110 is 5.5” overall length
See my other listings for more : Hilux VAL Hilux 16 Anamorphic Lenses ,Isco Lenses, Iscorama, Wollensak Cinema and other vintage Cine Lenses,16mm and Super 16mm Lenses, Zoom Lenses, PL mount lenses C mount / M25 lenses and others adaptable to Mirrorless micro Four Thirds APS-C Canon Sony E Mount etc as well as books and publications from SPIE Photonics Optical Design Rudolf Kingslake Kodak and others