Adapter 28mm wide VS stock lens at wide?

thefilmaddict

thefilmaddict

Veteran
I am shooting a short film this weekend. It's only 3 minutes long, but I have to complete it in one day. I am the only crew member (I've done it before, not ideal, but possible as many of you know).

1. Some of the interior shots are quite tight. I am debating shooting the short with or without my 35mm adapter. My widest sill lens is 28mm. How does that compare to my cameras stock lens all the way zoomed out (Which is wider)? I own an EX1 and I've never done this test.

2. I am also a little worried about light levels. I love the look of 35mm adapters, but I am worried that it will require a lot more lighting. My camera really needs to be at 5.6 to get edge to edge sharpness. This of course takes more time and more wattage.

3. I would also have to worry about follow focus (which I can also do on my own -- but I am sure to ruin some takes doing it myself). These are not pro actors and they most likely will not hit marks.

Any advice? Maybe on this project I am better without the adapter?
 
I would say do it with out. I shot a short 2 weeks ago under almost the exact same conditions and used the adapter. (Hangman-my second entry to this fest) I really shouldn't have. Focus was just impossible for me. If you watch it you'll see why.

As far the stock lens being wider than the 28mm. It is. But you can mix both. Use the adapter for CU's and ECU's and take it off for the wide stuff.
 
You wont match the footage with adapter and without it.There will be huge difference for the eye no matter CC.You only have to film it once so do it properly or go with excuses and regret later.
 
Bwwd,

I know what you mean. Mixing adapter and non adapter footage does not always look great. So what's your advice? Shoot with or withoput the adapter?
 
With, change the surroundings to fit your view ,dont change your lens just because you cant go as far as you would like to go from the subject.
Ive seen some mixed footage with adapter and non adapter takes ,non adapter footage have much more sharpness ,,requires different white balance,its motion blur is different... really i doubt that it can be matched , maybe for regular internet user and film viewer it would be convincing ,but not for people who know their job and distribute film like material.It is visible when you have and dont have adapter even if everything is in focus.You can do some CC but colour change is not enough to convince the eye and match the movement.
Just find different spot to film ,i read some guys opinions that you can match the footage but i tested some stuff and i doubt that, anyway dont listen to us , take a couple of shots with and without adapter and try to match them together so you will see yourself.
 
Shooting at the wide end of the HVX zoom looks pretty bad. There is a lot of barrel distortion. I would shoot with the adapter. And I agree with the above posts that your footage will not match.


Marco
 
Absolutely - mixing adapter footage with HVX is not gonna work. I made this mistake while shooting my latest feature. There's nothing I know about that can fix it - CC, digital diffusion, vignetting in post etc - nothing will really help. The difference is still there and it's really jarring. This is the main reason why I replaced my vibrating adapter with the rotating one - sometimes I just need more DOF and I'm not gonna shoot bare camera anymore.
 
1- First I question why you need to be at 5.6 to get edge to edge sharpness with a Letus Extreme on an HVX. My own tests indicates it should be fine wide open on the HVX, though I only tested carefully with a 50mm. ( i think I tried a wide also though.) Do you have the latest achromat? If not get it fast.

2 - I can't remember if you can get full SLR frame size with the HVX , and it may depend on how much offset your individual camera has. My own vignettes until i zoom a bit more, but my friends works fine. If you can get full SLR image, your 28mm should be just a hair less wide than the HVX at full wide.

3. Re mix and matching. I would do your own test - its easy enough. Probably dangerous to cut within the same scene, but if the shots or scenes are different enough it might be possible. May depend partly on your target screen size.
I recently corrected a Spot that had been shot with HVX and Redrock which is really soft. Interviews HVX + Redrock, B-roll HVX bare. The version I was handed looked terrible. I softened the B-roll in FCP though and found a great deal of flexibility.
My method was to duplicate the shot on V2 & V3. Add a gaussian blur on V2 and make that level composite type "screen" - This adds the blur but overexposes. Then on V3 with or without the blur ( it should be less no matter what) make composite type "Overlay" this restores the blacks. Where I could I made masks and softened the background if nothing moved across them. The match looked very good. Magic Bullet might be even easier. It doubt I would try to cut within a scene like that however the DOF alone would be strikingly different.

I was only going for the web and didn't even look at this stuff on a large monitor. Those who warned you not to even attempt matching probably have more experience going than mine, but you might want to know more details before giving up on the idea altogether.

4. Only crew member? That is going to be tough even without an adapter. You would certainly at least need a big monitor and someone you trusted to tell you if the focus is OK and the shooting and movement would have to be easy if not - shoot bare.

Lenny Levy
 
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