top 10 things to know b4 buying 35mm adapter

mackfilm

mackfilm

Well-known member
Would anyone tell me what the most important things are to know before buying a 35mm adapter?

Thanks,
 
In order of importance
1) Budget for a rod support system
2) Budget for lenses
3) Budget for a follow focus
4) Budget for a 1st AC, or trick one of your friend into doing it
5) Budget for an external monitor

Note that it's all budgeting, because an adapter have huge hidden costs.
 
6) Budget for a better tripod
7) Budget for headaches
8) Budget time to learn how to use your tools, rather than expecting them to do the work for you
9) Budget devotion to reading previous threads about the good and BAD (especially) experiences with these things

Someone else better come up with the big 10, I don't have the guts.

....where's Kholi?
 
Mackfilm,

I will give you my top things to consider after using adapters for the past 2 years.

In No particular order:
1. How much light do you shoot with? You will need a bit more for some adapters, ALOT more for others. The brevis and letus vibrating adapters need less light to perform than the RR micro and SG.

2. How much DOF (shallow) do you want? The different adapters also have different amounts of this filmic characteristic. The ones that suck less light have greater depth, more light loss=shallower depth.

3. How much money do you have? Each adapter has different costs. Some come with rods others do not. All have some sort of a flip, some are extra. The flip eats more light but can improve edge to edge sharpness on some adapters (RR m2). Can you afford an external monitor to offset the need and light loss of the flip? Can you afford the lenses? Can you afford the other tricks and stuff that has been mentioned by others (follow focus etc.) The P+S technic is like 18k!!

4. Bulky? Each adapter is a different size and weight, from the incredibly bulky P+S technic to the miniscule movietube. YOU will need a strong tripod for most rigs.

5. Type of GG. All ground glass is not alike and all does not move the same, heck some does not move. Study up on this and see if you would like to be able to stop down your 35mm lens for some deep DOF at times- this is a good reason to get the spinning glass ones. If you do not care, go for the vibrating. BUT be advised that different GG will give different bokeh and different DOF and softening of the image.

6. What camera are you gonna use? Some adapters are better with certain cameras than others. Research.

7. How much time can you devote to "tricking" out the adapter? Some adapters are slap on and go. Others need almost constant tweaking. Do you like to tweak or are you someone who has never taken anything you own apart ever before.....

8. Are you a clean freak? The lenses and the adapters are in need of constant cleaning. Some need less, but all need some. Are you the kind of person who can do this? Do you have a competent AC?

9. Do you know when to pull focus? Be careful!! Most of the people I know who get an adpater are so excited they start pulling focus like crazy on every shot even when it is not called for and it in fact ruins a good shot. A motivated focus pull is awesome- a random one is lame and brings attention to the fact that the action was filmed- a NO NO in film.

10. Last and probably lamest. DO you ever intend to resell the adapter?
Some adpaters are well known and can be sold easily. Others are not too easy to sell for anywhere near what you paid for them.

Hope my list helps you.

For me the choice was the M2.
The light loss sucks- true, but I have a ton of lights.
It is a tweaker. But I like to mess around with it.
There are a million little gadgets to get too-my wife is gonna kill me if I buy one more thing.
But it shoots so pretty, and I can get either MEGA shallow depth or stop down to get more.
It is easy to resell, I got it used myself, infact there are many out there for pretty good deals.


I am considering going for a newer adapter to try out against the M2- maybe the Brevis or Letus newest offerings.
 
Last edited:
Id say be prepared for more expenses in general. Rails, Mattebox, Follow focus, Monitor, Better Tripod, Better Lights.

And I almost forgot, LENS!!
 
My Letus outfit, when all is said and done with rails, rail mount, FF, lenses, new monitor, cables, Letus Extreme, etc. came out to around $6,000.00. I bet a lot of newbies wouldn't bother with a 35mm adapter if they understood the true cost to do it right.

Dan
 
I noticed a lot of people on this form has adapters and have read different articles on it.

EDIT-XTREEM - What setup would you go with to bring the cost factor down. I'm very camera poor at the moment so will look at any other ideas/choices.

TO ANYONE - If you had two Hvx200a set up (same in scene file, color etc...) but one of the Hvx200a has an adapter with lens and both where set side by side and you were filming a scene (med shot) and when you got back to the editing room and you look at both scenes on the monitor side by side - how much better would the Hvx200a with the adapter/lens look compare to the one without? Is there enough DOF and quality to make it worth investing?
 
New_Zealand said:
TO ANYONE - If you had two Hvx200a set up (same in scene file, color etc...) but one of the Hvx200a has an adapter with lens and both where set side by side and you were filming a scene (med shot) and when you got back to the editing room and you look at both scenes on the monitor side by side - how much better would the Hvx200a with the adapter/lens look compare to the one without? Is there enough DOF and quality to make it worth investing?
Click to expand...

I just did this exact same thing two days ago in prep for tomorrow's job. You will have to adjust the HVX200 to match the 200A as far as color goes but the noise, when you get to the post room, is going to be noticeable.

Also, depending on your adapter, you'll have to soften to taste. With the Ultimate the differences in the 200A with the adapter and 200 without are very hard to distinguish. The tell-tale signs are of course field depth and I think in your case if the camera minus the adapter grabs a medium and the other wide-tight then you won't have that much of an issue so long as you tune the images to match color-wise and for softness (depending on your adapter, again.)

I'm not sure how this fairs with the Extreme + 200A or SGpro + 200A, that was my first-hand experience with the 200A + Ultimate. I think a major determining factor would be the taking lens quality (Best Nikons or whatever you can afford).

As far as investment worth, I'm of course going to say "without a doubt" but what it comes down to is what you can afford. If you can't afford to invest in it then it's not a good idea to get started because the expense goes far beyond the adapter and a lens.
 
This seems to be mostly about price considerations.

You can get away with an investment of about $4600.

You can get a used M2 with follow focus for around $1750 - 2000.

You can get a basic lens package on ebay for less than $500.
50mm- f 1.8 - $100.
85mm-f/1.8 - $150-200.
35mm- f/2.0- $ 135.

A dvd battery for continual use $ 100.

A marshall monitor HD V-R70P-HDA $1200.00 used.

A bogen/manfrotto 516 head with 515MVB legs for $1060 from BH.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top