Brevis 35 Production Tests: XL1s, XL2, DVX, HVX, VX2100

guskersthecat said:
After testing the other three cameras, I had macros in hand, and was completely surprised that none were required.
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You had me at Hello! You had me at Hello!
 
Guskers.....it's beautiful.

Too bad you are using crappy macros; the chromatic aberation is very apparent in a few.

Are you aware of the vignetting in a few of the pics?
 
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I think that I can speak for everyone and say that we appreciate your hard work and willingness to keep us all informed.
 
argh...no..more..torture...footage..please!

Dennis, I think I must be doing something wrong. I don't belive that it would work with all these 72mm cameras without a macro/achromat and then it wouldn't work with the FX1.

BTW, any luck finding a FX1/Z1 to test with?
 
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Just a few notes on the grabs..particularly the XL2 ones:

1. The 16X zoom showed chromatic aberation under sky backlit conditions before we attached the adpater...and a note from Mikey, the XL2 owner

"Just a heads up, the softness on the left side of the XL2 footage is fault of my camera, the left edge seems to get soft and I haven't found a solution from that ...."

2. My F1.4 50mm shows some barrel distortion..it's the lens. With a slower F/2.8 28 to 70mm zoom, there is none.

It's amazing really how much you learn about your camera, and other ones, just by analyzing footage. One thing I've seen over and over again and it's this golden rule:

When troubleshooting any adapter/lens combo, rule out the video camera and its lens first.

I've looked a lot of frame tests from just bare cameras and found barrel distortion in just about all of them, particularly at full wide. Additionally, users have reported areas that remain out of focus, edge softness and lots of other oddities. With the XL2, Mikey was setting back focus using the 51" TV, as a monitor, focusing at infinity. With a bright sky, and trees, purple fringing at 16X zoom with the bare lens was very evident...particulary as the iris was opened. I totally understand now why XL1/2 owners want a relay lens system. It simplifies life for these users.

I've posted up these grabs, knowing full well that overscan areas show a bit more zoom required (vignette), warts and all. I could have zoomed, rotated, edited etc, but these are right from the raw footage. Remember too that we are literally screwing the adapter on, figuring out macro strength (with single element macros!) and shooting. 4 cams in under 3 hours. Smart marketing? Probably not...truthfull, yes. Once the adapters get out there, with a proper achromat attached, I'm expecting some very sharp, beautiful footage.

For most cams, zooming in so the LCD/viewer looks OK, is not enough. You need to zoom in a bit more to cover overscan, and this comes with experience with you your particular cam. If your footage is destined for DVD it doesn't matter as the overscan area is hidden.

Rawfa, all the cams, except the HVX200 needed "some" macro help. Details will be posted on the cinevate site testing area.

I'll get another crack at the HVX on Saturday, equipped with the proper step down rings. I promise footage from that too.
 
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Just to complement what Dennis just said, if you take the GS400 (with no adapter), for example, put it in manual mode, focus on a close object with trees and blue sky in the background, you see very obvious blue chromatic aberration in different parts of the frame at some angles. So I’m not surprised to see what Dennis found out with the bigger cams.

I have yet to see a camera stock lens that is perfectly free of aberration or distortion throughout the zoom range. There always seems to be a compromise somewhere. And I would think that’s normal.

I still love my GS400, BTW. :-)
 
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The rail system I'm selling is the same, except the brevis support is not a hunk of stainless with a strap hanging off. It will be a CNC machined bracket...same idea though. If anything, the rails are over-engineered, but they work great.

Aram, I hear you on the achromats. Single element lenses are in my opinion disposable. As I joked earlier, my daughter will get them for science experiments...or my folks can use them for reading. That's why I'm having achromats made...to buy them in the range required is not possible..unless you buy the Century Optics. For all intensive purposes, and single element macro is just a cheap magnifying glass minus the handle.

My first spinner used a small, inexpensive 43mm achromat and it looked great through the GS400.

At $30, they're good for testing though...
 
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Brevis35 weighed in...

Brevis35 weighed in...

The production unit (batteries on board) weighs precisely 270 grams, or 9.5 ounces. To compare, my 50mm F1.4 lens weighs 250 grams....just a bit less.

I promised last week to weigh it.....
 
oooo the adapter footage with the bike looks sezki!!!!!

whens it coming out ? and how much for the adapter and the rail system? ( canon mount? )
 
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