•• Micro 4/3 with Canon B4 Mount Lens Footage...oh the possibilities! ••

Hey Thomas,
Cool to see you on this forum, I immediately recognized your name. I enjoyed your travel programs with Boudewijn Buch on Dutch TV in the past, never missed an episode!
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Thank you RienO,
You have a great memory, that was 18 years ago!
Nice being here on the forum, great company and interesting conversation.
 
Coco, nice look! This would definitely create some interesting moods. I have an old Fujinon 9-126mm off my old Betacam I should probably hang on to. So, we need to use the 2X extender to prevent vignetting on the wide end eh?
 
OKCPicker said:
Search Ciecio7, I've heard good reviews on the build quality and price.
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taylormade said:
What type of adapter do you need to use this lens on the AF100?
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I got a B4 to Micro 4/3 adapter a few weeks back off ebay from Ciecio 7. They are in Poland. Cost $299 + $8 postage to US. Arrived in about a 10 days.

2 weeks ago at an AF100 product demo I was able to put the adapter on an AF 100 with a 6.3mm X 16 (2x) Fujinon HD lens. I didn't have a lot of time to experiment with it, but all seemed to fit fine and the image looked good.

Vignetting was about half the image until 2x was clicked in. Then it covered the 4/3" imager just fine. I don't think that there would be much left on the lens when zoomed past the vignetting without the 2x, but I didn't get to test that. They were showing the AF100 with a Zeiss 85mm 1.4. The 6.3 x16 B4 lens with the 2x in was a little less crisp than the Zeiss. (My memory is that without the 2x, the sharpness of the B-4 lens actual looked fairly similar to the Zeiss, but vignetting was extreme without the 2x.) The B4-M4/3 adapter has no glass, so no image degradation. The 2x is adding extra glass so it's normal that it should be at least somewhat softer. Some people at the demo commented that they liked the slightly less crisp look. Others just said it look slightly less sharp.

I don't know the physic with the 2x in. Does the DOF correspond to double the focal length, i.e. if the zoom was at 40mm, with the 2x, would the depth of field be like a 40mm lens or an 80mm lens? Also, loosing 2 stops with the 2x, I assume that DOF would still correspond to the f stop on the lens, not the 2 stops less with the 2x. Anyone know the physics?

The rental company at the demo had an EX 3 on hand. As expected, the depth of field of the AF100 with the b4 lens was quite a bit shallower on a similar framing, same fstop from the same distance as the EX3. And, as expected, it was not as shallow as the Zeiss opened up to 1.4 at the same distance. Need to experiment more to get more exact.

For powering the servo on the lens, you just need to get 12 volts to the short cable on the lens that normally plugs into the 2/3" camera body. I used B4 lenses on my Aaton XTR+ film camera (using a Century b4 to Aaton "Converter" (it had a 1.3x magnification to cover the S16 frame.)
I had someone make a power cable that took 12 volts off the camera and sent it to the lens. You need to get a female connector to match the male end of the lens cable and have someone that knows which pins are which to make a cable to go to whichever 12 volt power output you have.
I know that Fujinon sells the female connectors. Abel said that they could make a cable for around $200. The powering pins on the Fujinon and Canon (and other) B4 lenses are the same, so you can use the power cable with any b4 lens.

I'm planning to power my AF100 with the V-mount 12volt batteries that I already have, using a vmount adapter with a 7.2v output (IDX-P-V257.) I'm not sure this will work. Hope so. I will then use the DTap power off the battery with a quad splitter to power the lens, SmallHD monitor, and Ki Pro or Nanoflash.

Not sure about hand held with the b4 lens. To have a balanced camera, the viewfinder and LCD aren't in the right place. Will need to have a small external monitor to use as a viewfinder.

This all gets a bit convoluted, more like film days with lots of cabling and things hanging off the camera or rail system. I still plan on using my HDX 900 and HPX, (and Aaton--if that ever happens again.) But with the B4 adapter the AF 100 is a video camera with a servo zoom and with a shallower depth of field than has been available. Primes are good for many situations, but for some jobs I'm used to having a zoom to quickly change focal length and perspective. Like the DSLR cameras, the AF100 might be more of a transitional camera for people that like to use servo zooms
 
Hey Joseph,
I am planning on doing this D-tap configuration as well, except I will be using AB batteries. Eventually I will power my AF100, Nanoflash, SmallHD monitor with the quad splitter.
I am waiting for AB to finish the AB D-tap to AF100 plate, it should be available next month.
I also used a Century converter for my B4 to Aaton-it worked great. I remember having a cable with a "small cigarette-sized" transformer to allow me to power the rocker as well as roll the Aaton.
Please post or email me about Abel's solution to powering the rocker zoom. Thanks. typeamedia@gmail.com
 
You might find this interesting.

http://blog.abelcine.com/2010/12/28/hdx2-23-lenses-on-large-sensor-cameras/

Allows full use of the lens range with optics much finer than any doubler onside an ENG lens. Also corrects color frequency spectrum depth to single focal plane instead of the three-chip for which the lens was originally designed. And use of a PL mount system such as the Hotrod means a solid, well-supported mounting so you can hold the camera by the lens servo without stressing the lens mount on the camera. We'll have a complete solution for powering the servo as well as run/stop triggering from the lens. Stay tuned.
 
You're right Mitch I did find it interesting, however at a MSRP of $5,500 I also found it out of my price range. I am interested in the $200 servo cable and the quad d-tap Joseph mentioned. Do you care to comment on those?
 
The Quad D-tap is a standard item. I think it's around $50 if you're talking about the P-Tap Multi. There's also a newer item which sandwiches between the AB battery plate and the AB battery and has four fused P-Taps. Can't recal the price offhand.

We're looking into the design of the cable. Not sure where you got that price (wiring a Hirose-12 is a *****) but it may not be too far off.

We'll have all of this stuff up on our website in the coming days and people are always encouraged to cntact me, Andy or anyone else at Abel directly.
 
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