medium format adapter and an observation

[morten]

I've read a pile of these mini 35 threads with a mix of great interest and awe at the number of different products, diys and experiments are out there. One thing I have yet to find tho is an experiment using medium format lenses rather than the tried and tested 35s.

I have an old Hasselblad 500cm lying around that I'm not using. Now reading all of these threads it strikes me that a medium format camera might actually be a much better sollution to the endless quest of the perfect film look than a 35mm lens setup. The reasons? The lens is bigger for one. and the lens quality is superior to any other lenses out there. Also, the old Hasselblad lenses are fitted with "teeth" allready on the focussing ring which should make it a lot easier to build a follow focus to fit. Most medium format bodies also come ready with a detachable backpiece which makes it almost comically easy to figure out where to put the gg - simply take the backpiece off and put a gg on instead. done.

I realize that there are some other issues involved as well... like the prize of medium format lenses. But then again, older style Hasselblad lenses and smashed bodies are going for fairly decent prices on ebay and you can find them at swapmeets. Truth is the old style fully mechanic medium format camera is dying out at an alarmingly fast rate so there should be plenty of the bodies and lenses available to grab in the future.

Now for the setup. Like I said I have a Hasselblad 500c/m lying around. I have no intention of rendering it useless as a photo camera so picking it apart is out of the question. I should however be able to find a non-working body for it for not too much money which will give me if nothing else at least a lens mout. Then I can use a pvc pipe cut to the exact lenght of the camera body and put a gg at the other end. this rig will produce a crystal clear 6x6 cm image on the gg with plenty of dof (the lens is 2.8 fully open).

Ofcourse this is all nothing but speculation at the moment. I just want to hear what people think about it.

On a different note:

I notice how "everyone" seems to want a DVX with a 35mm lens mount rather than the lens that comes with it. So why not make one. I'm sure there are a few DVX bodies with busted lenses kicking around out there. Let's say you got a hold of one, ripped the whole lens assembly out and retrofitted it with a 35mm lens mount instead. bypass the whole gg issue and focus the lens straight at the CCDs.

Or do one better. Why not create a DVX style camera that uses 35mm lenses right out of the box? maybe that's a new avenue for Panasonic and the other manufacturers?

Or maybe I'm an idiot. You tell me.

mor10

[GenJerDan]

Retrofitting the camnera with a new lens won't give you the DOF effects that an adapter would. (But cool primes would be...um...cool.)

I attached my 6x6 to the DVX. Worked fine. Looked silly, of course. But if I ever get around to making an adapter, it'll be medium format rather than 35. I've got a bunch of Zeiss lenses sitting here and it would be a waste to just ignore them.

[Ted Ramasola]

Hi guys,

The mid format lens adapter that I made allows the video cam to capture an image that is 37mm x 21mm. Its really bigger than what a 35mm lens can project to the gg.
I initially made it for the DVX but since I got an hd100, I made a mount for this as well.

[morten]

Retrofitting the camnera with a new lens won't give you the DOF effects that an adapter would. (But cool primes would be...um...cool.)

Retrofitting it would require adding some doublers or using for instance a macro lens... after all, dof is caused by low apperture number and high zoom value, correct?

The point I'm trying (badly I admit) to make is that someone should make a camera that comes with a lens mount and a choice of a variety of lenses rather than a fixed lens. It's obvious that Panasonic wants in on the film market so why not make a camera that does what people want (unless they have stakes in the mini35 adapter market or something). The XL1 and XL2 are kinda on the right track except that you need an expensive and clunky adapter to add on the lenses and it's not really working the way the way you want etc etc.

I would think this would be a good business idea. just imagine. All of a sudden a company releases a camera and a series of lenses that lets you do everything from making DV type shots to Film type shots just by switching the lenses. MAN would they earn a lot of money.

[morten]

Do you have a pic and/or some plans of your adapter Teddybear?

[GenJerDan]

Retrofitting it would require adding some doublers or using for instance a macro lens... after all, dof is caused by low apperture number and high zoom value, correct? .

And the "target" size. That's where the GG comes in...to get another lens to "project" an image that'll fit on those teeny tiny CCDs... Ihesitate to even imagine what it would entail.

Much easier to focus the existing lens on the focal plane of an additional lens.

[Ted Ramasola]

Morten,

Link to pics and plans (http://www.tedramasola.9k.com/)

[petri63]

The idea of using mid format lenses is not new. Like Teddybear, other users have done it before. The main advantage was to have a larger image to capture on the GG.

I say "the main advantage was", because some adapters out there allow the camera to capture an image which is very close to 36mm wide in 16x9. That is the case of the MPIC. And from what I know of the Brevis35, it should have slightly more useable GG surface than the MPIC.