The best 35mm adapter I've seen so far

yes ,I was on to Macgregor and he felt that the HVX which he used on 18 Seconds.- while very good - felt it wasn't as good in lower light photography (and isn't all low-budget filmmaking low light really) & had some perceived noise, more than he was expecting for the successor to the DVX.

I think people thought Similo was andromeda because of the white aesthetic which managed to convery a range of tones in the high end (where video traditionally betrays itself as you dance along the razor of the straight gamma curve) and also the "shooting straight into the sunset" stuff which also had a nice organic rolloff feel - quite a feat of photography on any video format - hats off to Macgregor. A telanted DP and colourist certainly.

Jack - enjoyed the blooper reel - you could do a "CannonBall Run/Pixar" end credits sequence for the redux. I think that would be in-keeping with the Dodgeball-style comedy of the film itself.

And they said I was no good at spotting genre.
 
Jack certainly did an amazing visualFX with that car crash shot. And considering how we shot that, inrush hour, without time, no crew and no permit, I am still wondering in my sofa how it can look so good.
 
Hey macgregor. Enjoy Apocalypto - lemmie know what you think.

I was tinkering about with your footage, Jack, using Magic Bullet (as I do with all adapter footage on the net). As below.


And considering how we shot that, inrush hour, without time, no crew and no permit

jackroadh26400011042ye6.jpg




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jamestmather said:
yes ,I was on to Macgregor and he felt that the HVX which he used on 18 Seconds.- while very good - felt it wasn't as good in lower light photography (and isn't all low-budget filmmaking low light really) & had some perceived noise, more than he was expecting for the successor to the DVX.
Perhaps try HVX B.Press and Low knee, then tweak settings from there with a calibrated monitor. B.Press seems best for low light situation and one of the least noisy scene files in any lighting conditions. I am missing the broadcast monitor part in the chain, so refined tests in due course to follow.

That said, imo, Cine-D and Cine-V, whilst more noisy, can have that slightly hazy/milky look that kind of distinguishes the image from that video look, to that film look. Kind of generalised comment, I know, depends a lot on the light conditions for the shot and the camera tweaks applied. CC takes it to the final look for me and I mostly like the dynamic range of these scene files.

Adam Wilt revisited and further explored the HVX and wrote an article for DV Magazine, after his initial report on the HVX, The Texas Shootout. Whilst B.Press might be one of the better settings to use and tweak for low light/night shoot, it may not be ideal for a well lit/day shoot. When comparing these frames B.Press, Cine-D and Cine-V, I find Cine-D and Cine-V more appealing. Granted, B.Press knee was set to Auto, and I would like to see what effect Low would have had on this setup, and perhaps stopping down a little. Cine-D and Cine-V do not have Knee control, which is a shame. I really like the dynamic range of Cine-D, as I prefer to manipulate colour in post, however the lack of Knee control makes blowing out highlights/speculars a real problem, as I learned in tests posted on my website. Anyway, B.Press is a good friend in low light, the rest is my initial observations thus far on the HVX journey.

EDIT: Timur has an amazingly good example of B.Press use with Dramafest entry Katrina.
 
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I agree - I would have though BPress and Low knee would give you the least noise/widest possible latitude for your "neg" as it were and allow you to post as you like. (assuming you have some say in the final footage). It rather depends on your circumstances. CINE D and V, to me, seem to be throwing away detail at the shooting stage which I don't like to do (Remember Kodak claim roughly 11 stops of latitude) - gather as much as you can and crush later - but also I see a lot on noise in the CINE gamma settings. BPress seems the cleanest.

Owning to telecine transfer - it seems very rarely that the TK op will let the whites "go" - they tend to walk the line to keep them from popping - the same thing video shooters must try to avoid doing in a live situation.

One of the collateral benefits of an adapter, as I see it, is the subly lowered contrast - it helps this situation somewhat.
 
When I did a test with StMad, two Brevis' setup, using a Dell 2405 & DV Rack, we could only judge focus with the Dell, the noise/crawling on the Dell was a major problem. Now using a Component to DVI converter into the Dell, I can judge for noise, however, colour is all funky and mush. I will try and rent and eventually purchase a Panasonic LT-1700, so I can really see what is going on and setup the camera, and learn, I hope. DV Rack is all calibrated, as per typical calibration method with bars, blue only, etc, so I will now have to look closer at it to assess camera tweaks in the mean time.

James, I would be interested, down the track, to see some of your B.Press sample footage and observations/settings and then post CC treatment applied, as I see that you get into the technical side of things and have many years experience with film and post.
 
hahaha. in the first few pages i found myself laughing at an image i saw in my mind of jack being twisted around in a sea of people that just don't get what he's trying to say.

i'm with jack on this one. the proof is in the images he shared with us. i wouldn't buy that adapter after watching that footage. it didnt jump out at me at all. the only thing i saw from it was some decent depth of field... but what adapter doesn't offer that? -- but that's old news in this thread. ;)
 
Hello there!
I am Ettore (at Dvinfo.net), my real name is Adriano, come from Brazil... live in Europe, do not write english very well, but understand when i have to read it. ;)
Thank you all for your comments, thanks you Rawfa!

Please take look at this larger clip in low light condition, i tried to keep the black areas in its original gama, my desktop monitor was badly calibrated.
Canon XM2, Spinning disc GG.
NEW FOOTAGE 460x384

thanks a lot!
Adriano
 
again, sharp as nail and looks great. If you make one of these to sell, I want in.

As for MacGregors images, they look great with the short-hair girl, nice and crisp - the other film with the bearded guy looks a little soft. I wonder if they are with the same adapter or camera?
 
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A lot of what makes good adapter footage is how you use the lens. Basically everyone just loves keeping that 1.4 at full wide, and with any kind of diffuser that touts efficient light transmission the bokeh and sharpness are going to suffer.

Not to start anything again (yikes! :) ) but I can't see for the life of me what all this hype is about...I was waiting to have my say until I saw bigger footage but even at the still comparatively small 460x384 it's sealed the deal for me. I've built three adapters of my own, owned two letus versions and now a Brevis and used them with the GL2 (ettore's camera) and an FX1 and all were very capable of producing images comparable to these.

In my humble opinion, Wayne's SGpro produces the *cleanest* footage from an adapter I've ever seen. Sharp image, no grain, no vignetting, no CA. A spinner design is the way to go but I just can't fall in love with it's boxy ergonomics.

Like I said, I don't want to start anything, so perhaps it's best to read this and move on :)
 
funkbomb said:
In my humble opinion, Wayne's SGpro produces the *cleanest* footage from an adapter I've ever seen. Sharp image, no grain, no vignetting, no CA. A spinner design is the way to go but I just can't fall in love with it's boxy ergonomics.
:)


Boxy or not.... it Works. its like a tank.
 
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