My G35 arrives!

[dmc]

Woohoo! The UPS dude just dropped off my G35!

I'm at work so I'll have to wait 'til I get home but...

I popped open the box and slid out the small 1300 Pelican case that it ships with (very nice touch) - the build quality really is excellent - it's build like a tank. Very tight tolerances on both the camera side (I got it with the HPX170 mount) and the lens end of the adapter.

I'll be busy tonight.


: )

dmc

[Tracey Lee]

I'm jealous! Would love to see some footage!

[ryvac]

Congrats on your G35! looking farward to some footage!

[johnsalazar]

woohoo! how long was your wait, from order to arrival?

[dmc]

I placed my actual order <gulp> at the end of Feb. and it arrived this morning. That said, Jonathan did stay in pretty consistent contact with me and offered to let me use the Universal mount while they were working the bugs out of the HPX170 mount. Of course NAB did delay things a couple of weeks.

Yes it was longer than I was expecting but I never once felt like I was being ignored.



: )

dmc

[kingwo]

Lucky man!

[Marduk]

Dmc, congrats man, now if you have the time, some test footage please. would love to see more footage of this thing in action.

Thanks
Ninos

[Tarkovsky]

Congrats dmc!

Anyway, which rail support are you pairing with the G35?
Would love to hear you take on the G35.

Enjoy!

[dmc]

Yeah, I'm really jazzed about finally getting it!

I'm not really sure about which way to go with the rails and support just yet. It definitely needs support. The 170 has that pesky offset (to the right) in it's threaded mounting hole, so whatever baseplate I use will need to be able to accommodate that. I was thinking of using the Red Rock system and follow focus but I'm not sure if it's baseplate can be slid left to right. Anyone know about this? Any other options? I know that Jonathan @ Cinemek has plans for a system in the near future but I'm not sure that I'll be able to wait.

I'm REALLY looking forward to doing more testing with it although I've got a lot of things on my plate this week.



: )

dmc

[DEPTH OF PHIL]

Yeah, I'm really jazzed about finally getting it!

I'm not really sure about which way to go with the rails and support just yet. It definitely needs support. The 170 has that pesky offset (to the right) in it's threaded mounting hole, so whatever baseplate I use will need to be able to accommodate that. I was thinking of using the Red Rock system and follow focus but I'm not sure if it's baseplate can be slid left to right. Anyone know about this? Any other options? I know that Jonathan @ Cinemek has plans for a system in the near future but I'm not sure that I'll be able to wait.

I'm REALLY looking forward to doing more testing with it although I've got a lot of things on my plate this week.

: )

dmc

CONGRATS, CONGRATS! i bet it felt like forever huh, i don't know that much from direct experience about the REDROCK system, the follow focus is good , you need to use the big len rings though. I could get only two of them to fit my Nikons. The RR lens support i'm not familiar with, Jonathan has his own, but i don't think it's ready for the public release yet. The Zacuto baseplate and lens support is what i have and its simply fantastic, and so solid. i can pick up the whole rig and hear no creaks or twisting, etc... You will need full adjustability with the riser and baseplate.

I needed about 24 inches of rods with my mattebox and the lens hood on the nikons and a donut.

The RR hand held rig , shoulder pad and handles, well blue is not my choice of colors and it looks too plastic i think. Remember mate, very important, your rig is going to be quite front heavy, you need to be able to slide this baseplate towards the front . Zacuto makes what they call a Z balance. This is cheap to buy and it slides on your rods and allows you to center balance your camera on a tripod evenly.

Let me know if you need help with back focus or flanging the lens

Hey, shoot the Empress for me, huh?
Cheers

[cheezweezl]

redrock baseplate is adjustable to compensate for the offset of your cam. i don't know how heavy the g35 is but the m2 isn't exactly light. the rr rods should balance just fine with your rig...

you can go zacuto if you want. their stuff is the best. however it is expensive as hell. the redrock is not one bit less solid. maybe a little heavier and not quite as elegant but can be had for way way way less cash.

[dmc]

CONGRATS, CONGRATS! i bet it felt like forever huh, i don't know that much from direct experience about the REDROCK system, the follow focus is good , you need to use the big len rings though. I could get only two of them to fit my Nikons. The RR lens support i'm not familiar with, Jonathan has his own, but i don't think it's ready for the public release yet. The Zacuto baseplate and lens support is what i have and its simply fantastic, and so solid. i can pick up the whole rig and hear no creaks or twisting, etc... You will need full adjustability with the riser and baseplate.

I needed about 24 inches of rods with my mattebox and the lens hood on the nikons and a donut.

The RR hand held rig , shoulder pad and handles, well blue is not my choice of colors and it looks too plastic i think. Remember mate, very important, your rig is going to be quite front heavy, you need to be able to slide this baseplate towards the front . Zacuto makes what they call a Z balance. This is cheap to buy and it slides on your rods and allows you to center balance your camera on a tripod evenly.

Let me know if you need help with back focus or flanging the lens

Hey, shoot the Empress for me, huh?
Cheers




Thanks Phil for your help on this.

Yes it did feel like forever - I'm not good at waiting ; )


I read in another post of yours (a different thread I think) that you had really got the back focus dialed in right around Z49ish. Maybe you could help me with this.

Although I just got the unit but I've been loath to adjust either the back focus or the flanging - I would have guessed that given the mounts I ordered (HPX170 and Nikon) that each would have been properly adjusted then locked down at the factory. While they seem to be adjusted okay, it sounds from what you're saying that the tightness in the image can be improved a little - also not having to zoom in quite as far is another plus re: light loss.


btw - My office is right in Bastion Square downtown - I can hit the Empress with a stone.

I'll grab some shots for ya - just for ol' time sake. ; )



again thanks,



dmc

[dmc]

redrock baseplate is adjustable to compensate for the offset of your cam. i don't know how heavy the g35 is but the m2 isn't exactly light. the rr rods should balance just fine with your rig...

you can go zacuto if you want. their stuff is the best. however it is expensive as hell. the redrock is not one bit less solid. maybe a little heavier and not quite as elegant but can be had for way way way less cash.



thanks for the info Cheezweezl (great name btw). I really have been leaning towards the RR stainless rods etc., especially since I'll be getting their follow focus and matt box.


again thanks for your help!



: )

dmc

[DEPTH OF PHIL]

Thanks Phil for your help on this.

Yes it did feel like forever - I'm not good at waiting ; )


I read in another post of yours (a different thread I think) that you had really got the back focus dialed in right around Z49ish. Maybe you could help me with this.

Although I just got the unit but I've been loath to adjust either the back focus or the flanging - I would have guessed that given the mounts I ordered (HPX170 and Nikon) that each would have been properly adjusted then locked down at the factory. While they seem to be adjusted okay, it sounds from what you're saying that the tightness in the image can be improved a little - also not having to zoom in quite as far is another plus re: light loss.


btw - My office is right in Bastion Square downtown - I can hit the Empress with a stone.

I'll grab some shots for ya - just for ol' time sake. ; )



again thanks,



dmc

Oh my goodness, Bastion square wow, brings a smile to the good ole days.

Alright, Mark with tape where you are now with the Nikon mount, that way you can always go back. Camera should be level and flat , focal distance on lens should be in safe zone. Minimum close, Max Wide, etc.... Make sure the lens you are using and the optics (glass) on all components are clear and clean. No swirls, no haze etc...... This includes the Cinemek, shine a flashlight across the lens /Achromat plane and double check everything is clear.


You will need the sharpest monitor , preferably with PtoP or peaking if available on the camera or monitor/lcd. Does it look sharp when you zoom all the way out? How far do you zoom in now? i get between 48 -51z

Are u using macro focus to achieve focus?
After it is set remove auto focus.

Okay the flanging is easy, us the widest lens that you have for me it was a 24mm f2. You can zoom out all the way till you see the full circle, Slowly undo the small allen inset and tweak till its loose. Now ever so minutely shift the mount forward and backward, watch the focus tweak in and out , this is dependent on how much play (breathing room)you want past infinity , perhaps you want a 1/8 or 1/4 turn to be able to double check the focal point for crisp focus. Zoom in till there is no vignetting
or soft corners.

If you are using "peaking ", it should display all the way across the plane on an even flat wide shot, no objects that are in the foreground should be peaking, you can rack between these and double check. It should look sharp to the eye, if you shoot a chart, (i can email u some hd charts if you want to print them out.) the small horizontal lines should flicker. Bingo zoom all the way out , they flicker still!

To gain more exposure you can go to 1 / 32 shutter and then get more edge focus by stopping down

Hope this helps, Good luck , keep me posted! Victoria is a beautiful place to shoot!

[dmc]

Hey Philip,

So cool of you to take the time on this dude - I'm gonna give it a try right now.

Definitely email me your charts if you get a second - dmcgrath@inlightentertainment.com

Just to be clear, you're using an EX-1 to do this with correct? I wonder if the actual zoom amount, (in your case Z48-50) might be a little different on my 170??

btw - I'd love to hear your impressions of some of my "first week" test footage - sans adapter. Heads up re: the lighting, I'd been watching a lot of Dario Argento that week. ; )

check it out here:

http://www.vimeo.com/3829458


thanks - REALLY appreciate your help!



: )


dmc

[SMGINC]

Yeah, I'm really jazzed about finally getting it!

I'm not really sure about which way to go with the rails and support just yet. It definitely needs support. The 170 has that pesky offset (to the right) in it's threaded mounting hole, so whatever baseplate I use will need to be able to accommodate that. I was thinking of using the Red Rock system and follow focus but I'm not sure if it's baseplate can be slid left to right. Anyone know about this? Any other options? I know that Jonathan @ Cinemek has plans for a system in the near future but I'm not sure that I'll be able to wait.

I'm REALLY looking forward to doing more testing with it although I've got a lot of things on my plate this week.



: )

dmc


the baseplates on the RRs will not accurately accommodate a hpx 170, when meeting up with your matte box it will be off by a couple centimeters. I designed and machined a replacement adapting plate for my setup to get around this.

[SMGINC]

redrock baseplate is adjustable to compensate for the offset of your cam. i don't know how heavy the g35 is but the m2 isn't exactly light. the rr rods should balance just fine with your rig...

you can go zacuto if you want. their stuff is the best. however it is expensive as hell. the redrock is not one bit less solid. maybe a little heavier and not quite as elegant but can be had for way way way less cash.

Sorry all it's late....the redrock will adjust accurately but only if you don't run rails clear through. I made my plate because I wanted to be able to run through rails and be able to store the baseplate set up with 6" rails in the given slot in the foam in the pelican case.

[DEPTH OF PHIL]

Hey Philip,

So cool of you to take the time on this dude - I'm gonna give it a try right now.

Definitely email me your charts if you get a second - dmcgrath@inlightentertainment.com

Just to be clear, you're using an EX-1 to do this with correct? I wonder if the actual zoom amount, (in your case Z48-50) might be a little different on my 170??

btw - I'd love to hear your impressions of some of my "first week" test footage - sans adapter. Heads up re: the lighting, I'd been watching a lot of Dario Argento that week. ; )

check it out here:

http://www.vimeo.com/3829458


thanks - REALLY appreciate your help!



: )


dmc

Yeah cool, love to see the test footage from the G35, just print out the charts as large as you can.
See if you can edge to edge sharpness, any CA ? no doubt the EX1 will be different , i 'm not sure how much, we need to get some feedback from HVX 200 users, that might be closer.

Just play around and test. You gotta have no life, lol
Cheers Philip

[dmc]

Sorry all it's late....the redrock will adjust accurately but only if you don't run rails clear through. I made my plate because I wanted to be able to run through rails and be able to store the baseplate set up with 6" rails in the given slot in the foam in the pelican case.

Hey SMGINC,

thanks for the updated info. I was just about to ask you if there were different versions (maybe a reissue or something) of those rods and baseplate since RR says that they will work just fine with the 170. I'm glad to hear that you figured out a solution - especially one that let's you store it without getting a new case.

again thanks for the info!



: )


dmc

[dmc]

Yeah cool, love to see the test footage from the G35, just print out the charts as large as you can.
See if you can edge to edge sharpness, any CA ? no doubt the EX1 will be different , i 'm not sure how much, we need to get some feedback from HVX 200 users, that might be closer.

Just play around and test. You gotta have no life, lol
Cheers Philip


thanks for sending Philip! I definitely owe you a couple of "chewy" pints - next time I'm down.



: )


dmc

[mpenczner]

DMC
Great post and comments from Phil and others. My personal experience with the G35 has been exceptional. Regarding the edge to edge and personal adjustment, I think Phil makes some great points. For myself, I had a slight issue early on but after discussing with Jonathan Houser and getting him to bench test and calibrate, I was extremely happy with the look post his adjustments.

The G35 produces an outstanding, and I'd argue hassle-free, image. Both I and my crews have been blown away by the look and ease of use. So congrats on your purchase! Would love to see any scenes as well.

[dmc]

Hey mpenczner,

Glad to hear that you've also had great experiences with it. I've only been able to do a couple hours shooting with it (this week has been tricky time-wise) but I'm very happy with the image so far.

Honestly, it really does have the nicest - most organic - look. At least to my eye. It definitely needs more light but I'd argue that it's not as much as some have claimed (at least on my hpx170).


I really appreciate all of the terrific feedback/info that everyone on DVXUser has offered.



: )

dmc

[cheezweezl]

how is the edge to edge when shooting wide open on the camera?

[dmc]

The E2E on the 170 itself (no adapter) is quite good wide open. When using the adapter the E2E is also very uniform across the image plane. I'd say that it may be more compromised by the specific lens your using on the adapter if it's wide open.

That said, this is the only adapter I've ever used so my experience with them is somewhat limited.



dmc

[cheezweezl]

The E2E on the 170 itself (no adapter) is quite good wide open. When using the adapter the E2E is also very uniform across the image plane. I'd say that it may be more compromised by the specific lens your using on the adapter if it's wide open.

That said, this is the only adapter I've ever used so my experience with them is somewhat limited.



dmc

so i'm talking pre-lens. when focusing on the gg, is it uniform, or do you have sweet spots in the middle and edges? do you have to find a "happy medium" between the two?

[dmc]

I'd say it was pretty uniform - middle to edge - based on my limited time with it so far.


dmc

[DEPTH OF PHIL]

It's very hard to just focus on a static screen such as the G35. You may be able to spot vignetting more easily soft, darker areas in the corners. I agree it is more lens specific, a 24mm f2 it is slightly soft as far as e2 e goes. I did numerous HD chart tests with a 24, 28, 35, 50, 85, 105, 135mm on an ex1 & ex3. We are intergrating this adapter for broadcast television use. So I'm working the bugs and workarounds, so far we have been very impressed.