Brevis spinning problem (need help)

J

jefft99

Active member
There is a little spinning element showing up in my frame. I have posted the clip. It is in the triangle (made by the branches) in the center toward the top of the frame. www.jefft.org/problem5.mov

I just started using the Brevis and was curious if anyone knew how to solve this problem. I was shooting on an HVX200 at 60 FPS in 24pn mode.

Any advice you can give me on how to solve this problem, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much,

Jeff
 
It looks like you have a speck of dust on your ground glass. The motor makes the GG oscillate and the speck forms a darkened circle. Take the Brevis apart and blow compressed air at the GG until it's clean.


Marco
 
Also, you probably know this but it doesn't look like your backfocus is set correctly. This has nothing to do with the dust circle on your ground glass, but I wanted to point it out.

The best way to set your backfocus is to turn off the Brevis, stop down on your lens to f/16 (which may require you to point the lens toward a bright light so you can still get an image on the LCD), press the Focus Assist button to zoom in on the image, and focus the HVX until the grain appears sharpest. Then you can turn on the motor and open the lens aperture back to f/1.4 or whatever.


Marco
 
One of the reasons I got rid of my Brevis was this exact problem. Over and over and over again. In a month I cleaned my unit at least a dozen times and this still happened. I think that the gap between the carbon fibre tube and the end cap lets in a lot of dust. Customer service had me wash the imaging element and blow it out with compressed air to no avail. Checking their customer forums showed that this was a very common problem with this unit. I maintain my statements on other posts that for $1,200.+ these adapters had better not have this type of problem. I think that Cinevate should take some more time to fix these issues instead of working on new products. I was originally attracted to the Brevis for a number of reasons (mostly the lite weight carbon fibre construction) but poor performance like this was too much to deal with day in and day out. I'm not trying to bad rap Cinevate here only to report my problems objectively so other owners or potential buyers don't go through the same kind of experience that I had.
 
marco0782 said:
It looks like you have a speck of dust on your ground glass. The motor makes the GG oscillate and the speck forms a darkened circle. Take the Brevis apart and blow compressed air at the GG until it's clean.
Click to expand...

I don't want to start a debate, but I'd use a rocket blower instead of compressed air on the GG - or any glass/sensor. The propellents in compressed air can be nasty...visibly!
 
jbednarski said:
I maintain my statements on other posts that for $1,200.+ these adapters had better not have this type of problem.
Click to expand...

I understand your frustrations, and yes information like this should be available for potential buyers, so they do not get dissapoionted with products.

But with all that said, not to excuse it, but since we are talking about "35mm adapters" to allow our digital images to look like 35mm film images:

When shooting with film stock (emulsion), you have to constantly check and clean the film gate ('film sensor area'). Everything to do with the internals of the camera has to be free of any speckles of dust/emulsion, hairs etc...

I guess the moral to what i'm getting at is, you wanted film{look}, well you got it :happy:
 
I can put the dust, hairs, etc. back in post. This is like ordering a $400.-$1,200. Nikkor lens and having them tell me to disassemble it to clean out the dust. Totally unacceptable.
 
What's a rocket blower?

I would like to see Letus and Brevis have a couple of little holes with plugs that you can open up and insert a blower when neccessary. I don't want to have to perform surgery on the set. its a good argument for spinners in general.

Lenny Levy
 
I think dust is always likely to be an issue with any of the adapters to varying degrees, including "closed units" (although likely to a lesser degree).

I haven't had to many problems with dust in my adapter. I clean it occasionally with a can of air and haven't had the first problem regarding dust. Just like one should clean their camera lens regularly, one should also clean their adapter.

A closed unit is going to get dust as well. The advantage is that it won't happen as frequently or as often. The disadvantage is that it will be more difficult to clean when necessary.

An open unit will likely have more frequent dust issues, but will be easier to disassemble and clean. This is a tradeoff for having interchangeable imaging elements, and a modular design.

Sure, it can suck. I personally haven't really had issues with it. And, I've kind of come to expect that dust is just a part of the adapter world to one degree or another.

Some people think 1200 bucks is a lot of money and that these things had better work perfectly. I don't know... Yes, 1200 bucks is definitely a lot of money, but in my view these things are priced very aggressively for the quality that one is able to get out of them these days. So, for 1000 - 1500 bucks and the ability to achieve the results that folks can, a little dust is not too much of an issue to me... So long as the unit is not too difficult to clean when necessary. But, everyone has their own threshold as to what is acceptable and what is not. For me, a couple of screws and a can of air is hardly a burden and doesn't really take me any longer to do than it does to properly clean the lens on my 6,000 dollar camera.

All that said, whether a closed unit or an open unit, I tend to agree with Leni in that having an easy way to clean the inside of the adapter is something that should be included as standard in all adapters. Only b/c I accept dust as a part of life with adapters. Some adapters are more difficult to clean out than others.

My 2 cents.
Later,
Jason
 
jbednarski said:
One of the reasons I got rid of my Brevis was this exact problem. Over and over and over again. In a month I cleaned my unit at least a dozen times and this still happened. I think that the gap between the carbon fibre tube and the end cap lets in a lot of dust. Customer service had me wash the imaging element and blow it out with compressed air to no avail. Checking their customer forums showed that this was a very common problem with this unit. I maintain my statements on other posts that for $1,200.+ these adapters had better not have this type of problem. I think that Cinevate should take some more time to fix these issues instead of working on new products. I was originally attracted to the Brevis for a number of reasons (mostly the lite weight carbon fibre construction) but poor performance like this was too much to deal with day in and day out. I'm not trying to bad rap Cinevate here only to report my problems objectively so other owners or potential buyers don't go through the same kind of experience that I had.
Click to expand...

This is the nature of the 35mm adapter beast. That being said, I own a Brevis and only occasionally do I have to clean out the dust from the diffuser. And usually the dust gets on the outward end of the adapter so it's super easy to clean with some air. Every so often, the dust will get on the other side and that is when I have to unscrew it. It's not really a big deal.

Maybe you're shooting in particularly dusty environments? I go through great lengths to keep the dust out.


jbednarski said:
I can put the dust, hairs, etc. back in post. This is like ordering a $400.-$1,200. Nikkor lens and having them tell me to disassemble it to clean out the dust. Totally unacceptable.
Click to expand...

Those Nikkor lenses are sealed so of course you wouldn't expect that to happen. These 35mm adapter are meant to attach and unattach to the camera. You're not going to get an airtight, permanent seal. There will always be some trace amount of dust that will get in there. And this is why vibrating/spinning ground glass helps so much.
 
Honestly guys,

You pay for what you get. I mean dust is an issue to all adapters. I can tell you that all the adapters that I own so far has dust inside when they arrive new to me. Some even have finger prints on the Achromat. Nothing new. I mean, which adapter company at the moment would spend ten thousand of dollars or more to build a completely dust free room like those that they use for making intel chip processor just for to earn a few hundred dollars from one adapter .

Even the P+S 35, chances of dust getting it inside is as likely as the others when you keep changing the lens.

Its like a film camera, just take it as cleaning the gate .
 
There's comparison to film - it's apples and oranges. With film you blow out the body and the mag before you load. No big deal - a ten second operation. With the Brevis, it's a complete dismantle and assembly while everyone watches, 15-20 minutes.

Never ever had a dust problem with a PS. Changing the lenses is not where dust enters the GG. Only once had dust on my SG. Three times in one day on my Brevis (which is why I sold it.) My LE had dust before I even put it on. This was from manufacture. Since dismantling and blowing it out it hasn't returned - it's sealed much better.

"You get what you pay for". At that price it wouldn't take much to seal these units properly. How much is a silicon gasket? No one's expecting them to manufacture in dust free rooms but once it's clean - we can expect dust not to enter as easily as it does. These are optics. I pay for lenses at half the price that are better sealed.

With the Brevis the problem arises from the gap between the carbon housing and metal ring. Who knows - possibly from using carbon itself as well.

For what's now the most expensive of the low cost adaptors, what would a rubber seal take? This is huge problem and no "your getting great images so stop complaining" clap trap excuses it.
 
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My favorite flip/adapter story, although I can't find the post, but a week or so ago someone on these forums posted a pic of their new (Brevis?) flip module and there was a gap in the center seam. This was the debate about the Brevis being a stop or so faster than the other adapters/HVX. Someone (customer service maybe?) suggested either putting gaffer tape over it or filling it with putty.
 
Sealed or not, all adapters will get dust on the ground glass sooner or later. Dust is easier to ignore on spinning adapters since the dust moves so fast you can't really see it.


Marco
 
Lenilenapi said:
I would like to see Letus and Brevis have a couple of little holes with plugs that you can open up and insert a blower when neccessary.
Click to expand...

If only it were that simple. However, inserting a blower, would just blow dust around the internals, and not out of them. Hence why tedius and time consuming, but opening it up and blowing it all out is the only way.
 
All Brevis units and flip modules are assembled in our clean flow room, and previous to December, our clean flow booth (less effective). What happens to them during shipping is another discussion, but if they arrive with anything on the internal surfaces, we'd like to know about it.

A modification was made to the carbon tubes last year, so if you have a unit with holes all the way through on the rear section carbon, please contact us. Since March 2007 the tubes have been processed in a computer controlled mill/rotary stage and the new process takes care of dust entry when the tubes are re-mounted.

As to the gap reported in the flip unit, if you have that link, please pm me with it. The flip housings receive one last process, after anodizing, that renders their mating surfaces flat to better than .001". If there is a gap, then this needs to be brought to our attention, and the unit replaced.
 
You lazy bastards! Its just dust...You can survive the five minutes it will take to clean it out. Quit yer bitchin...
 
Dust - That Nasty Little Critter!!!

Dust - That Nasty Little Critter!!!

Though I'm not a current Brevis owner (but soon hope to be), I thought I'd chime in on the whole dust thing.

For many years, I processed and printed 35mm negative film at my home darkroom. Dust was definitely an issue.

The reality is that dust is something that CAN be controlled. First and foremost, one can do his/her best to keep a clean environment. Wipe things down. Don't store things in dusty environments. And don't unnecessarily expose equipment to dusty environments.

Second, one can literally wait for the "dust to settle." Assemble things in a draft free, closed environment (you can even use a car on-location). Also, before exposing things to the air, stay still for a couple minutes and then move slowly. Dust literally settles, you can see that when sunlight cuts through a room.

Just thought I'd share my experience with dust.
 
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