SGPro Blade Review

el presidente said:
Just to get this thread back on subject,

If you look at the blade-ex1 footage on vimeo theres some steadicam stuff from the seafront with a 20mm fd prime on an overcast day
....no CA ... on an ex1
Is this due to different lighting cloudy vs winter low sun?
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CA usually shows in areas with extreme contrast, ie dark silhouetted branches against a burnt out sky etc, so yes this may be the case.

The CA in Phil's fopotage may or may not stem from the 17mm lens, as wide angle lenses often have problems with CA. However the Nikon 17-35mm is a very good lens so it's hard to say.

As mentioned the EX1 has problems with CA with or without an adapter so I guess we won't know until we get a more pixels-and-charts kind of review/shootout


And to Phil: Good work, as always. Thanks for the review.
 
Jay Laville said:
I was going to get a zoom lense, but then got some sound advice to stay with prime lenses when using adapter
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This it not a certain yes or no kind of question. A modern zoom lens will save you a lot of time, and it may very well be just as sharp as a prime.

There might be slight negative or positive barrel-distortion on the far ends of the zoom, and it is usually far more prone to ghosting and flares shooting into the light (because there are more lens-elements inside it).

What you need to keep in mind is that the adapter is going to loose quite a bit of the optical resolution anyway, so the neglegable difference in sharpness between good and VERY good lenses (and between average lenses and a good lenses even) are usually not noticable, let alone measurable.
 
The Bokeh is very similar to the Letus Extreme, which I have always liked. I expect the Razor 2 Bokeh will be similar to the Ultimate. I might to do a side by side comparison to see...
 
thats right, i noticed the same... the ex1 has in some light conditions problems with CA ... already without a adapter. cheers :beer:
 
K.Rimbach said:
thats right, i noticed the same... the ex1 has in some light conditions problems with CA ... already without a adapter. cheers :beer:
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I will be trying out the ex3 with the new relay and Ultimate on Wednesday, so bypassing the stock lens, the most likely cause of CA with the EX1...Wonder if I will be able to attach the blade!?
 
What you need to keep in mind is that the adapter is going to loose quite a bit of the optical resolution anyway, so the neglegable difference in sharpness between good and VERY good lenses (and between average lenses and a good lenses even) are usually not noticable, let alone measurable.[/QUOTE]


In theory this sounds logical, but in my experience you definitely can see the difference. Whether its critical is another matter. It may depend on what your shooting and what the ultimate destination is.

Re: zoom lenses in general, the top of the line f12.8 Nikons are as sharp as the primes if not even better though many of the primes are faster.

Lenny Levy
 
philip bloom said:
am certain it was from me being wide open, but i often shoot like that and to be honest the CA doesn't bother me at all...i didn't notice it until it was pointed out...

if there are any blade uk owners out there who want to get together and do some tests with various combinations let me know...
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I get mine this week and will have a go on the xh-a1. Im based in London too Phil, near Greenwich way, but to be fair I dont have enough if any experience with these to hang out with you and test. Id be that annoying geek going wow how do you do that and that and that lol, but if want to borrow the xh-a1 and have a go feel free to use mine
 
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Lenilenapi said:
What you need to keep in mind is that the adapter is going to loose quite a bit of the optical resolution anyway, so the neglegable difference in sharpness between good and VERY good lenses (and between average lenses and a good lenses even) are usually not noticable, let alone measurable.
Click to expand...


In theory this sounds logical, but in my experience you definitely can see the difference. Whether its critical is another matter. It may depend on what your shooting and what the ultimate destination is.

Re: zoom lenses in general, the top of the line f12.8 Nikons are as sharp as the primes if not even better though many of the primes are faster.

Lenny Levy[/quote]

Exactly. It's even MORE imperative that you get the BEST glass you can afford if you want the best image out of an adapter. You can definitely see which one is better if you just take the time to look.

As far as this topic: Lenny and Tim Naylor need to get their hands on Blades!
 
chagchag said:
This it not a certain yes or no kind of question. A modern zoom lens will save you a lot of time, and it may very well be just as sharp as a prime.

There might be slight negative or positive barrel-distortion on the far ends of the zoom, and it is usually far more prone to ghosting and flares shooting into the light (because there are more lens-elements inside it).

What you need to keep in mind is that the adapter is going to loose quite a bit of the optical resolution anyway, so the neglegable difference in sharpness between good and VERY good lenses (and between average lenses and a good lenses even) are usually not noticable, let alone measurable.
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you will notice on a very sharp hd camera. the EX1/3 will show soft edges through an adapter more....
 
Timur is probably right about the camera making a difference. I doubt you could tell much with a DVX for example. I've been using an Ex-1 and you can see alot.

Kholi, mine hasn't shipped yet as far as I know but I'm eager.

Phil,
I would love to see those comparisons and especially see if the Blade can work with either the Letus or the Cinevate B4 relay. Will you be gettng the Cinevate B4 relay?

Lenny Levy
 
Ok, won't start a heated debate about that here. But 1920x1080 is a resolution much lower than the lenses were made for in the first place. Just saying.
 
Shooting a wedge chart with my Ultimate/HPX170, I compared a Nikon 17-35mm ED lens to a couple of my Nikon AI manual primes and found the Nikon ED zoom to be sharper overall, with better edge to edge focus. The difference was slight, but noticeable through the Ultimate, even with an HPX170 at 720p monitoring via HD SDI onto a Panasonic 1700 17" HD LCD monitor.

I also compared a Canon EF zoom of similar focal length and found the Nikon zoom to be superior, the Canon was softer in the corners. So I believe lens quality differences and DOF adapter sharpness differences can be resolved even by pixel shifted cameras like HVX and HPX170 series.
 
That Nikon 17-35/2.8 is insane. No matter which camera I put it on I can immediately tell just how much sharper it is than its counterparts.

Same goes for Zeiss Nikon or Zeiss Contax lenses. That's what sold me on a Contax set albeit I still don't have the fastest ones!
 
I found similar results with the ED 80- 200. Maybe they were comparable but certainly the zoom was at least equal. They are not cheap lense but there is a lot of bang for the buck with a zoom.

Kholi have you compared the Nikon zooms to the Zeiss or Contax primes?
 
Lenilenapi said:
I found similar results with the ED 80- 200. Maybe they were comparable but certainly the zoom was at least equal. They are not cheap lense but there is a lot of bang for the buck with a zoom.

Kholi have you compared the Nikon zooms to the Zeiss or Contax primes?
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Oh yeah, man. You know even the 70~200 VR was so freakin' incredible when I popped it on the Extreme way back when. My eyes nearly popped out of my face. That marked the first moment where I could see, on the little LCD, the difference in sharpness and clarity between lenses.

I haven't had a chance yet. But, honestly, my thoughts are that the 17-35 outshines the 28 and 35mm Contax Zeiss Primes at least in the 2.8 flavors.

I think the 28/2 and 35/1.4 might go toe-to-toe, I'd have to get Willis' lenses to compare as those are the worthy ones.

The Nikon Zeiss (ZF) sets, though, I think I want to say that the Zeiss ZF's will edge out the 17-35 and 80-200, or at least tie them with the edge in micro-contrast going to the Zeiss lenses.
 
WOOHOO! SGBlade was just delivered!

I'm at work so I won't get a chance to set it up until this evening but I'm excited. The weather is really bad this week in So. Calif. and it will be raining off and on through the weekend so shooting outdoor examples may be difficult. Maybe I'll be able to get some indoor stuff done.
 
Lenilenapi said:
Timur is probably right about the camera making a difference. I doubt you could tell much with a DVX for example. I've been using an Ex-1 and you can see alot.

Kholi, mine hasn't shipped yet as far as I know but I'm eager.

Phil,
I would love to see those comparisons and especially see if the Blade can work with either the Letus or the Cinevate B4 relay. Will you be gettng the Cinevate B4 relay?

Lenny Levy
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Possibly. It looks terrific!
 
I have the EX3 relay for Letus now. There is no simple way to stick the Blade or any other adaptor without serious mods. It's a very nice solid piece of kit. Going to be weird to have to be properly disciplined with prime lenses again like i was with my Brevis!
 
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