Canon XH-A1 with 35mm Lenses

Donald Harvey

Donald Harvey

Active member
Ok I know that this has been stated over and over again, but frankly, i really am having a hard time searching throughout the forums to find exactly what I am looking for.

Maybe I am asking for to much. But could someone kind of give me technical information on what a good lens would be for the Canon XH-A1. I now know what a Flip Module is and that was a question I was previously confused about.

I looked at the graph that was created and was still a bit confused because they all still looking like they are perfect to buy, and someone told me to find the one the best suited what i was looking for. Well I want to make short films, and hopefully to make features someday. Don't all of the lenses have the purpose to make digital film look more like the real film look? So if someone could help me and tell me what each one is good for or which is the right one for me. I just want it to come down to the cheapest one that i can buy and fall short of what i need. And i just dont have enough knowledge to build my own so I am staying clear of that.

Sorry for it being so long and sorry for asking so much, im learning and what to learn it all!!! And sorry if this whole thing is just confusing...

Thanks for the help and for putting time into replying!

Harvey
 
basically the only difference between the big 4 is the diffusion and the motion (vibrating/spinning) of the GG.

diffusion -

the amount of diffusion affects three things. lightloss, texture and bokeh.

more diffusion = more light loss
less diffusion = less light loss

more diffusion = more filmic texture and bokeh
less diffusion = less filmic texture and bokeh

what is texture and bokeh?

bokeh refers to the appearance of the out of focus areas. more filmic bokeh is "blobular" or "blobby" where as less filmic bokeh is diffuse and hazy

note: when talking about bokeh in reference to adapters is different from talking about the bokeh that the lens creates. which is where the term originally comes from.

when i talk about texture i'm talking about the overall look and feel of the image. it is not about how the out of focus areas look or the depth of field. it is more akin to how the adapter renders the picture. it quite difficult to explain and not everyone is aware of it. but it's very important to the filmic quality of the picture.


motion - vibrating vs spinning.

vibrating adapters tend to be grainy. but it's not unpleasing.

also when you stop the lens down too much or use high shutter speeds the GG starts to show up and looks like a swirling grainy mess.

spinning adapters are generally thought to be better but they have their own problems.

they are bigger/heavier but not too much so.

in most circumstances you can use any aperture you want and high shutter speeds. but when you've got a bight sky in shot the GG can show up. so you need to open up your aperture and you'll be fine.

so that's it :D


here is a list of the least diffused adapter to the most diffused. the "filmicness" rating is subjective**


0. plain stock video camera (filmicness rating of 0)
1.brevis CF1 (filmicness rating of 3)
2.brevis CF2 and letus EX (filmicness rating of 5)
3.brevis CF3 and SGpro (filmicness rating if 7)
4.M2 (filmicness rating or 10)
5.real film (filmicness rating of 20)


so those are the facts... now comes the opinion.

the brevis is awesome in concept. but it's vibrating design is too limiting.

the letus EX is not diffused enough and it's vibrating..

the sgpro is awesome :D but the m2 does look prettier :D

the M2 has the prettiest picture and is awesome but it has some vignetting and edge sharpness issues - i think the flip module fixed those though... but the flip module doesn't work on all cameras...


long enough rant?
 
ON PAPER, i'm really glad to have an SGpro on the way (supposedly ships july 11).

ON PAPER, i went with the SGpro because:
1. I'd be able to stop down the lens mostly without any grain problems
2. Spinning glass reduces the likelihood of dust problems
3. To my eyes it has the best bokeh out of the 4 adapters
4. Red is my favorite color and the shoot35 website has red all over it. :grin:

I'll let you know how it goes when I actually use it with my XHA1 and Nikon 50mm 1.4 and 24mm 2.8 lenses! You should wait to see how the SGblade performs though! Wayne says its coming out in August!
 
most think the sgpro seems to have the most filmic look out of the other adapters, even more filmic looking then that of the m2.
 
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