2/3 B4 mounted lens with extender?

I did open the handgrip yesterday to take a look and found a plethora of cables running that was hard to identify. The J13x9 has one 8-pin female connector on the underside and the cable has a 6-pin connector. I'm not sure it 12V is the right voltage because some internal components had 5V at the label.

I also purchased a 20x B4 zoom for a good price that'll arrive in ten days and I'm curious how it'll compare to the J13x9.
 
editman said:
I'm not sure it 12V is the right voltage because some internal components had 5V at the label.
Click to expand...

Of course, the best thing would be to find the schematic for that lens. But looking at my Fuji schematic, it appears that, other than status voltages from lens to camera, 12V is all that's supplied to the lens. But you need to know WHICH pin to provide that 12V. Think it's safe to assume that any lens using that connector will have same pinouts....

attached is my fuji schematic, so you can see another type
 

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I went out today and shot a bunch of footage which I'll upload to vimeo tonight. A couple of observations about using a J13x9 on the AF101.

Overall I think it's one beauty of a lens for the AF101. There is sharpness fall off in each corner but it also seams to be more or less depending on where you are in both zoom and focus. On some shots you clearly see the softness and on other it looks good even in the corners. There's something really organic this lens possess. Colours, contrast and sharpness feels very different than on my other SLR lenses. I have a J20 on it's way and I hope this lens also has some of the magic image to it.

To use the zoom without power zoom is great if you want to do fast zooming like you might do in a music video to add the sense of speed but to do it slow proved to be difficult. I wasn't satisfied with any of my zoom pulling action although I tried my best to do it smooth. CA was not a problem when I neared F2-2.8. These last years I've almost exclusively have been shooting with primes so to have a 13x zoom was fun. You can reach so far and I'm excited to try that 20x zoom next week or when it arrives.

These B4 lenses aren't made to be put on a m4/3 sensor camera and when using the 2x extender and getting that softness in the corners, that is the biggest turn down. I will power that zoom somehow either on the J13 or J20 depending on which of them has the best image quality. This B4/AF101 combo is getting really close to a HVX200 in many regards but with much higher image quality.

Today I had rods and a Berkey baseplate/lens support to hold the kit but tonight I made it possible without rods if I so please by taking the plate from my Manfrotto 504 head and putting two screws. One that screw into the B4 adapter and the other into the camera so that the head plate holds both and thus lens support is achieved without to much bulk.

I have an old Nikon 2x extender and if I could get hold of one of the B4 to Nikon adapters the corner softness would probably be history.

 
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Editman, I found an old Fujinon A lens with the 2x. I am going to give a try to this B4 to M3/4. Could you clarify the pin connection to power the lens zoom? You had said here to connect pins 1 to GND and 2 to +12v, but in you web site you indicate: "If you're looking to power a B4 lens with the Hirose 12 pin connector you have to wire pin no 3 with ground and no 6 with +12v to make it work." Which solution have you found out to be correct?
 
What's the widest B4 lens you've tried so far? I don't have any access to them for experimentation but loved using them in my brief news days... aside from the 40lb camera attached to them.
 
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