-Winston Vargas 70mm Adapter DVD Review-

rawfa said:
To be honest, it gives the impression that you want to make a few bucks selling dvds instead of promoting this amazing adapter of yours.
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Last I checked he wasn't selling the DVD's. He sent me one quite a while ago but I've misplaced it (I just moved to a new house). If I can find mine soon I'll be happy to post up some footage. I actually never watched it so I can't comment on the quality, but I'd be happy to put up footage. No promises, just an offer. :D Or if anyone else has footage from the DVD I'd be happy to host it. Just PM me and we can sort out the details.
 
I emailed Winston and received a dvd fairly quick. First impression was that the images have serious grain. Some shots appear as if they were shot through a screen door. Some of the other shots appear cleaner, but any movement of the camera makes the grain obvious. I have watched these forums for sometime now and I would say that there is still work to do here. I'm at work right now and I'm swamped until Friday night with editing at home so I will not be able to upload footage until Saturday, but I will try to get it done so everyone can make their own observations and conclusions. I've been reading so much about DOF adapters that I want to try and help out, but be patient with me because I haven't figured out how to upload footage yet.If anyone has any info (uploading) or specific questions (about the dvd), feel free to email/PM.
 
Strangely enough I found the DVD that I got from Winston while I was cleaning out the trunk of my car last night. I didn't have time to encode some footage, but I will do so over the weekend and post it up for everyone to watch.

First off, the comments that others have made are correct. The adapter is VERY sharp, edge to edge. No loss in brightness on the corners, no vignetting, nothing. It's really nice. Some have mentioned that there is grain issues, and actually when I saw the third or fourth shot in the video I thought the same thing. I thought "WHAT THE $!#^#^& IS THAT?!" Because there is a very obvious pattern shown on that shot. BUT, after further review of the rest of the video, I can't say that this is actually grain from the GG. Because there are MANY other shots that do not exhibit such a pattern at all. And it's not just a lighting issue or something like that. The "grain" (whatever it is) seems to appear at random and under a variety of lighting. What I think is that it is something from one of his lenses. In the letter that came with (and at the beginning of the DVD itself) he states that he shot with three different lenses of differing focal lengths and at some points used a 2X teleconverter. The shots with the teleconverter (usually present with ducks on the water) DO show a breakdown in quality but not always the same "grain" pattern that is shown in other shots. It's really strange, but at this point I am chalking it up to one of the lenses he is using rather than the GG. Maybe Winston can jump in here and try to clarify that. I'll pick out the timestamp for each shot where this "grain" appears so others can see what I mean. But the adapter looks good. Personally I wouldn't spend $695 on it, but that's my own preference. Anyway, just wanted to put an update here. Look for footage by the end of the three day weekend.
 
Send me your name and address and I will send you out a real DVD, picture quality on the web sucks so I send out DVD's and that's something that noone is doing.
 
The 70mm adapter is now on sale at www.adorama.com the store is located in New York City and the price is $749.95 you might want to check it out. It can be found by typing on the search engine on their website PRODOFA and it should come up. It's now known as the Pro Optic 645 depth of field adapter.

Thanks

Winston
 
Thanks for posting your thoughts on the adapter. The adapter has been improved, different groundglass and vibrators. It was picked up by Adorama in New York City. They are selling it under their name (Pro Optic). So it can be located on their website www.adorama.com. The store is located in New York City. Pass the word along. When you get their website type in the serach are PRODOFA, thet means Pro optic 645 depth of field adapter. I guess they found it good enough to carry it and it's in stock.

Thanks

Winston Vargas
 
The adapter has been picked up by Adorama.com under their brand (Pro Optic) It is now now known as the Pro-Optic 645 depth of field adapter. $749.95. It has been improved. We had a showing Las Vegas at the Weva show and Adorama decide to carry it. There was a lot of interest shown at the show. It was hooked up top a Sony Z1 high def and a Marshal High Def monitor, quite impressive. www.adorama.com and on the search engine type in PRODOFA, that means ProOptic 645 depth of field adapter.

Thanks

Winston
 
this whole posting three times in a row is quite the waste of space and reeks of used car dealer. Why not post a link to some HD footage here on the ol forum. Not really interested in having to wait for a DVD seeing as how its going to be standard def anyways...
 
would like to see moving footage if possible.also,i'm not sure if this is a non flipped adapter, but the majority of users now seek a flipped option.
 
dof01.jpg


Tila Tequila? :huh: lol


Your stills were ok, but hard to judge. Video would be best. Maybe look around your area for someone with an HVX so we can see HD footy!!
 
I'm very interested in this little adapter, could someone please post footage online. Red posted footage online...
 
Hey Winston, if you've made changes, all anyone is asking is to see examples of the new footage. I was one of the original 50 to get a dvd and, going strictly off that dvd, I won't buy your adapter because of grain.
 
Check Vimeo.com and you'll find HD footage. The compression is still not 100%, but if anyone out there knows how to upload on vimeo correctly let me know.

Winston
 
Logic would say if you get a certain amount of grain on a 35mm adapter, so how can you have more grain on an adapter that has a groundglass almost 3 times the size of a 35mm and using the best groundglass on the market, not one made in my kitchen..

That's like saying that 35mm tri-x has grain but the 120 tri-x film has more grain.. where's the logic?

Check out the footage on vimeo.com just search for winston vargas and show me the grain. If you look for inperfections you'll find it.

Maybe what you saw was footage shot before I had the vibrators installed. I would love to compare anyone out there with a 35mm adapter to shoot some footage without the vibrator or rotator an compare it to my adapter under the same conditions. I have already done it,. only those people that have seen the adapter at Adorama in New york can tell you because they have seen the difference. what do I know? I may be wrong..
 
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jdajda said:
this whole posting three times in a row is quite the waste of space and reeks of used car dealer. Why not post a link to some HD footage here on the ol forum. Not really interested in having to wait for a DVD seeing as how its going to be standard def anyways...
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Got to vimeo and see footage... vimeo.com search for winston vargas shot with the HV20. I haven't yet figure out how to post it correctly on vimeo, but I am looking for people that can give me some hints. I posted it but it's not 100%. Check it out.
 
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