What is the Best 35mm Lens Adapter

[clearview4545]

Have been researching lens adapters for a while now and was wanting some input on who makes the best lens adapter and warranties on them. With all the research I've done im kind of favoring the letus extreme.

[lawriejaffa]

It's a bit lazy mate, - which one's best - do u think there would be so many 35mm products if there was an obvious choice!!!

Theres a whole 35mm adapter forum!!!! Loads of info on that, go do your homework!

[Justyn]

That Letus Extreme does seem really sweet indeed. I'd say to check out the shoot-outs and see what suits your needs. I think that the Redrock was the best out of the gate, but seems like a lot of others have caught up and passed it. Plus it gobbles up an entire stop and the HVX needs as much light as possible.. I also think that having it flip is really nice.... too

[Jeremy7]

Brevis35. Very nice.

[wgzn]

this is like asking "what's the best car?" - well, best car for what? road racing? going to church? off roading? - there is no "best" just a matter of what features are important to you and your tastes and budget.

all the adapters have their plusses and minuses.

as far as light loss goes, it looks like the letus extreme is the winner, buti HATE The way you have to jack your camera 2+ inches up to accommodate its dropped form.

i bought the brevis because 1. its the most readily available. 2,. less light loss than the redrock. 3. customer service is exemplary - dennis spent well over an hour on the phone with me before i bought, explaining all the technical logic behind his product. 4. its probably the easiest of them to use

[xtremepix]

I own the Ps Tech mini35. PL adapter which I use with my zeiss primes and HR 25-250. It is solid and produces very nice pics. BUT... must have adequate lighting, cause it cuts out close to two stops of light by my experience. I usually have budgets for lighting, so it works. But need $$ and manpower compared to run and gun with the DVX100 or the HVX without adapter. Outside it's rock solid and plenty of light. With adapter on, HVX is more or less the size and weight of an Arri SR3 super16mm.

I really liked the redrock look and $$ when it came out but it was slightly finicky for my shoots compared to the mini35. I haven't tried the Brevis.

I hear PS Tech came out with a new better ground glass in the new mini35. I have to check that out. The light loss in the older GG can be problematic sometimes. But shallow depth of field is a must for film look filming.

Good luck.

[TimurCivan]

I've used practicaly everything except the PRO35 and the WDR35.

SGpro. hands down, Letus ex close second.

[an04wrxer]

Sorry to revive this thread, especially if most are happy to be rid of it, but this is a good question, especially for n00bs like me.

I realize there is no "best" anything, just a matter of what your needs are.

2-3 years back I was reading on how great the dvx100 was and wanted one, but couldn't afford it. Then was looking for a used 16mm camera recently as I can now afford it... until I came across some hvx200 footage last week with an m2 adapter and thought OMG... Yes, I was one of those few backward individuals with the impression that a film look was merely about 24p framerate and cinegamma. Now there are whole cinema packages with mattebox and focus controls and focus rods and 35mm adapters and 35mm flips and stuff I can't even figure out what they are for. I find the more I research, the more choices I have, each tentative decision spawning 3 more choices to make. I digress.

I want to get a basic setup for an hvx200 with 35mm adapter and mattebox. The new flips look rather convenient, but doesn't seem worth it cost-wise and light-loss wise, expecially since I've seen most setups with an external display flipped and mounted upside down to compensate. Since I wanted an external display anyway, this sounded like a better choice. I want this rig to shoot dramatic features and shorts and have read that the brevis has the least light loss and the m2 has the most. Then I've read that most who want a rig for my purposes will invest in lighting anyway and so light loss is less of a factor. But then I've seen how poorly the hvx200 shoots in low light situations and sometimes you would like to shoot such a scene.

I realize that 80% of what I've been reading is all a matter of opinion, but sometimes opinion matters enough. Does anyone have any thoughts about this? Anyone that has a setup similar to what I am looking for and want to impart some wisdom, stuff you wish you'd known before plunking down a couple grand of equipment? Is it the m2? the brevis? I've never heard of SGPro and letus until I read this thread so I guess those are yet another two I have to research...

[Kholi]

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/forumdisplay.php?f=113 -- All the 35mm Adapter info you could ever want. Opinions? Oh boy... you want those? You're in for a TREAT.

Letus and SGpro = Win/Win Decision

[DM_rider]

I really don't think one is better than the other. It's all personal preference. Amazing stuff gets shot on all the adapter that are available. It comes down to what will work best for you.

[Bertholt4]

Clear winner for me is the SGPRO for fictional work!!! I own and love it, and have seen a lot of footage from the other adapters. Never had problems with the unit, don`t have to care about vignetting and so on...

[brian.wells]

I have the SGPro too. I'm thoroughly enjoying shooting with a set of Nikon Nippon Kogaku lenses from the 1970s. These have metal focus and aperture rings. Any way, I've been getting really lovely images out of the rig.

[an04wrxer]

Ugh. I've been looking at random footage and stills with a number of different adapters all night. (including a 20 min tutorial on DoF... Very nice!) Nm that I need to be at work in 3 hours...

Thanks for all the responses guys. From all the media I've seen tonight, the SGpro has the best look for what I want. I think I'll go with that and a 50mm Nikon lens, as according to the DoF tutorial, is a basic lens to have. Now if only someone has a tutorial on lenses somewhere... preferably shorter than 20 minutes... :)

[wgzn]

to work effectively with an adapter, you will need at least:
- support rods
- follow focus (if you touch your lens to change focus it WILL jostle your framing)
- lens supports (secures the lens position via the support rods - changing focus with follow focus will torque the lens and thus change your framing)