Choice 35mm Adapter for A1/G1.

[Kholi]

Okay, I'm about to jump into the water.

I want to get an adapter at the same time. Is the M2 still on backorder? What Lens would you recommend and why outside of cost?

[Jay Rodriguez]

great question... this is something that I was just thinking because I hate my Letus35 adapter.

[Kholi]

Yeah. I'm liking the footage from the m2 on every camera. I think it's the all-around winner. But, I think I saw some good Brevis footage on an HVX. I wasn't sure.

Might be the m2 for me! Gotta find out if it's on backorder.

[rawfa]

I tried both the M2 (very quickly) and the Brevis35 and I can say they are both really great adapters. I sold them both along with my FX1 because I needed the money for the A1. But I'm sure I'll eventually buy a 35mm again. I gotta say, if I had the money right now I would buy the Brevis back. It's very very light and portable. It looses half a stop. It's plug and play (just screw it on the camera and you are ready to rock). Dennis (the brevis inventor) just bought a Canon A1. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of test footage very soon. I loved the M2...but I gotta say it's a real pain in the ass to set everything up whenever you want to shoot (aligning the adapter horizontally and vertically on the rod support is hell for me).

[henry cho]

m2/a1 is a solid combo. i just hardmounted the a1 to the m2 and i'm getting some nice, corner-to-corner sharp images. hardmounting facilitates assembly and disassembly i find. i'm still waiting for a few pieces of gear to take this setup out and will post some grabs when i do. njce has some m2/a1 stuff up.

kholi, i'm sure you know this, but faster lenses are best. ideally, you'd want a few fast primes (as they tend to be generally faster than zooms)... a wide angle (like a 24mm f2), a 50-55mm f1.2 or f1.4, and a telephoto (85mm+ f1.8). compliment those with a couple of zooms that cover useful ranges for you and you should be set. ebay is flooded with older nikon and canon lenses, and you should be able to aquire a few of these without breaking the bank.

[henry cho]

dupe post

[Kholi]

ooo Cho. Give us FOOTAGE!!

And yes, Cho, I do know. Thanks for the recap, though. I have to remember to consider that when finding lenses. I have three lenses already, and they're all slower ones, gonna have to get some new ones.

Rawfa - Good news on the Brevis owner purchasing an A1. I'll definitely head over to the Brevis site to see if anythings popped up yet.

[rawfa]

One thing I said many time about the A1 is that is already has such an amazing DOF that I might just wait to play with it a little bit to see if a 35mm adapter is REALLY necessary. It's bokeh is a thing of beauty and the dof has a very organic feel of three dimensionality. Of course, you will never be able to have a wide shot with dof like you would have with a 28mm for instance. Yeah, I might buy a 35mm adapter anyway. Yo, Dennis, ma main man, where are those tests? As soon as I can find somebody to buy my left kidney (why do we need to anyay? ;-) ) I'll buy the brevis back.

[rawfa]

For about 800$ you can buy a brand new set of essential nikon lenses at bhphotovideo. Of course you can find them cheaper at ebay.
Brand New at BH:
24mm f1.8 around 350$
50mm f1.8 around 100$
85mm f1.9 around 350$
You're set for life with these.

[moe52]

Guskerthecat from Cinevate (Brevis35)is getting a Canon so will see footage soon ... I say, Brevis all the way...

[Jay Rodriguez]

I emailed Dennis this morning to see if he has any information on the A1/Brevis set up

[Barry_Green]

I wouldn't put any sort of moving ground glass adapter on an HDV camera; you're just asking for trouble. We used the mini35 on an HD100 and got amazing ghosting/trailing artifacts; I believe Nate had similar issues with his HD100 and Macgregor complained about artifacts when using an adapter on his FX1.

HDV + spinning ground glass = worst case scenario for MPEG-2 compression.

If you *have* to put an adapter on an HDV camera, I'd recommend looking at a static adapter only.

[Kholi]

I thought Disjecta got good results with his Letus? As well as a few other Canon users?

Where's Elton when you need him.

[Jay Rodriguez]

oh man that sucks....... I fell in love with the "filmic" look that the adapters gave my DVX.

[Jay Rodriguez]

I thought Disjecta got good results with his Letus? As well as a few other Canon users?

Where's Elton when you need him.


oh that's right, i forgot that Disjecta had the Letus... But are you sure he's been using it?

[henry cho]

the redrock forums have plenty of examples of hdv/m2 footage from the jvc and sony cams. and disjecta has some xl-h1/letus footage over at dvinfo and on his site.

links added...
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=78139
http://www.pinelakefilms.com/blog.html

[scharky]

Yeah, disjecta has been using one for quite a while, I acutally talked with him a little while back and for visual quality he has been very happy with the way it was performing. Now if you know disjecta, he always posts full resolution videos and I can assure you that there is no artifacting casued by the GG movement nor the H1 at all, really is a thing of beauty. WHat I'm still trying to figure out is a way to flip the LCD on the A1. While having a larger 7in monitor mounted upsided down is always a nice choice, I do like having the LCD as well for situations when having a larger LCD is not ideal. Any info on this for those of you who have been using adapters?

[Kholi]

That's what I thought. And Disjecta is a stickler for quality. So if he's using it, it's probably acceptable.

Scharky did you get an A1?

[rawfa]

Disjecta is using the XL letus, which connects directly into the cameras...not in front of the lens.

Mcgregor is using a beta version of the G35 (static).

If it's recommendable or not to put a moving mechanism in front of a HDV camera I really can't say. All I know is that I've seen some AMAZING results with the brevis, the m2 and the G35 with the FX1, the HVX, the XL-H1, the Z1, the HD100. I also had the chance to personally try the M2 and the brevis with the Fx1 and I didn't have any problems at all with artifacts.

[disjecta]

With 35mm adapters on an HD/HDV camera, unless you have absolutely critical focus and really good light on your subjects, it will look like bad SD. On the other hand, with good focus and lighting, it can look beautiful. The example below was shot on a foggy morning. Although you can't actually see the fog, the diffused lighting was about the best conditions I could possibly shoot under using the adapter. Soft shadows and relatively even contrast.

I'm not sure if it's cool or not to link to XLCinema but here's the post with a link to my latest LetusXL test:

http://xlcinema.com/look/showthread.php?t=1405

[disjecta]

Yeah, disjecta has been using one for quite a while, I acutally talked with him a little while back and for visual quality he has been very happy with the way it was performing. Now if you know disjecta, he always posts full resolution videos and I can assure you that there is no artifacting casued by the GG movement nor the H1 at all, really is a thing of beauty. WHat I'm still trying to figure out is a way to flip the LCD on the A1. While having a larger 7in monitor mounted upsided down is always a nice choice, I do like having the LCD as well for situations when having a larger LCD is not ideal. Any info on this for those of you who have been using adapters?

Yeah, I would not shoot without a 7"HD monitor. It's next to impossible to get critical focus using an LCD. I certainly wouldn't rely on the LCD for anything other than testing or for fun.

[DammitJanet]

We got an M2 today with our A1 and we ordered a little over a month ago. Haven't put it all together yet, but when I do I'll be sure to get some samples up for you guys.

[deedive]

sorry, rawfa but i dont understand why it was taking so long to set up your m2. It does take alot longer for the first set up but once your good , your good. I have used both the brevis and m2 and they both are great. takes 5 minutes for either now. (takes som getin used to) Posted footage from both here. Had very little problems. Even just using the lcd. (for things that wheren't important) but it would be great to have a monitor

[scharky]

Which HD monitor are you using Disjecta?

[Elton]

He's got the Marshall HD SDI LCD.

So far it seems like the Canon HDV codec has held up just fine with GG 35mm adapters.

[rawfa]

sorry, rawfa but i dont understand why it was taking so long to set up your m2. It does take alot longer for the first set up but once your good , your good. I have used both the brevis and m2 and they both are great. takes 5 minutes for either now. (takes som getin used to) Posted footage from both here. Had very little problems. Even just using the lcd. (for things that wheren't important) but it would be great to have a monitor

Some cameras are more iffy than others to setup. But the main point for me is that I do a lot of run and gun work on the streets and I simply could not walk around with rod supports and the m2 on my backpack and take all that time to put it all together. With the brevis the setup is immediate. And the unit it's small enough for you to carry around and shoot nice guerrila style footage. I guess there's just different strokes for different blokes. Image wise you cannot go wrong with either.

[Noel Evans]

Agree on the monitor point, its very difficult to focus without one. After my fist day teething issue the M2 has worked perfect with the A1, I havent seen anything that was of concern just great footage. Gotta light that baby though.

My m2 literally takes no time to set up. I throw off the mattebox if its on, pop on the achromat, slide on the m2 all the way down,(took me a few goes initially to get it perfectly aligned), throw an adapter ring on my FD lens, slide mattbox on, focus on gg. Done.

[deedive]

Some cameras are more iffy than others to setup. But the main point for me is that I do a lot of run and gun work on the streets and I simply could not walk around with rod supports and the m2 on my backpack and take all that time to put it all together. With the brevis the setup is immediate. And the unit it's small enough for you to carry around and shoot nice guerrila style footage. I guess there's just different strokes for different blokes. Image wise you cannot go wrong with either.

Can't argue with you on that. The brevis is light and quick. with the m2, I tend to leave my camera all set up all the time. When i'm going to run around the streets i set it up the day before. (tape focus and zoom, etc) i did need to start a weightlifting program, (lol) rocky style in russia pulling logs up mountains, while fighting polar bears to be able to hold the weight of it all day. And still my arm hurt sometimes. My friend has the brevis. In a perfect world i would have both, each is good for different things. I might have to invest in those cavision carbon fiber rods and plate.

[Bogdan]

Actually, once you go serious about the setup by adding rods, matte box and FF, you end up with similar weight and cost with both adapters. That I know, but since I haven't used Brevis, could someone let us know how does vibration compare between both adapters?

Personally, I prefer rotating GG solution rather than vibrating screen.

Thanks.

[deedive]

Brevis has a different look to it. You don’t have to zoom as much, DOF is a bit wider but for run and gun it helps, but not some other things. Keep in mind my test wasn't scientific and we had different lens on each set up. I don’t think anyone would be unhappy with either.

[Dennis Wood]

I'm waiting patiently for that A1..even have the new core2 duo parts incoming for a new editing box.

It just happens that this week our new rails support should be in as well as a bunch of other parts (including diffuser option 2!!)..so the stars are aligning. Rawf, you're going to pee your pants when you see the option2 diffuser tests. I'll be posting a lot of A1 poser grabs.

[rawfa]

Hahaha. Now I understand why the new brevis35 comes with free dippers ;-)
I'll be looking forward to some footage, Den!

[deedive]

me 2

[Dennis Wood]

Latest I have from Leo's is mid-next week for the cam to arrive here.

[rawfa]

Things are tight, my friend. If I cannot pony up the dough for a brevis until the end of december I might just have to go with a letus35A. I really don't want to, but I'm going to start shooting a feature on mid january. My experience with the FX1 and the letus were less than pleasant but I don't seem to have much option here. Maybe it won't be so bad with the RR achromat on it. Djecta gets good results with it. Boy, I really hope it doesn't come to this :-(