Canon ENG B4 Lens on GH1

14-140 lens is a very nice lens and it produces so much better pictures than these old SD B4 lenses. However, if you are mainly shooting video and you like to have FUN with your lenses like me, then maybe it is worth it for you as much as it is for me.

Otis Grapsas said:
So, this is a 18-324mm f3.6 (constant?) lens.

The superzoom is 14-140 f4.0-f5.8. It's a little more expensive (new though) and far sharper (designed for stills). Very small low light advantage at the wide end, a 2.6x ISO advantage at 140mm and it can do an extra 2.3x zoom from there (324mm). The decision is not very clear.

Also, there are not enough of these old used SD lenses to cover the Panasonic demand and the new SD B4 lenses with extender are quite expensive compared to the superzoom, costing more than the camera itself.
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One of the main advantages of using an ENG lens is that you can zoom in/out and never lose focus - that is something that is extremely rare on a still photo lens, and it is VERY useful in filmmaking situations.

Also, you obviously don't have the problem of the aperture click stops that you get when using Nikkor or FD lenses, since the aperture ring rotates smoothly.

To get these two things in a lens (other than this way) you have to get a Zeiss Compact Prime or other lens made for cinema usage, and that runs into quite a bit more money.

Well done Bumkicho!
 
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lvlinux said:
Hey Bumkicho - what kind of support/rods is that that you are using?
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That is a part of gini rig I purchased last year or so although I don't think this ebayer sells any more. Anyway I was fortunate to bid on his support rig when it first came out and no one else was bidding. I think I paid like $99 for the rod support + front handles (see below)

picture.php
 
Are these B4 to FD adapters available for purchase somewhere? I definitely interested.

Also, is there vignetting in the image if you do not use the 2x extender?
 
I do not believe any more of this adapter is available. Like I mentioned, it was the first time that the manufacturer to machine something like this and it took about a month for him to make one. Anyway, I will find out if he will make more. If so, with his permission, I will post his contact information here. Well, I need to find out his contact information first. Right now I only know the person who has the direct contact with the manufacturer.

It does show heavy vignet without 2x extender. A lens with builtin 2x extender like mine or a lens without + FD 2x extender is must.

dvbrother said:
Are these B4 to FD adapters available for purchase somewhere? I definitely interested.

Also, is there vignetting in the image if you do not use the 2x extender?
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Here's my setup

Here's my setup

Finally got a chance to take some pictures of my Canon Lens/GH1 mod.
I put a Nikon mount on two Canon ENG lenses. Both are J13x9B IRS, but one of them has (had) a B4 mount and one was a B3 mount. The B3 mount lens was the earlier version of that model of lens. The whole frame is covered at all times with the 2X extender on. There is some CA, and some unsharpness in the corners, but the center looks good and the image is totally usable.

The pictures below are of the B4 mount lens (J13x9B IRS II), and the servo box has been removed.

Shot a few test shots which I'll put on Vimeo later.


b4gh1_1.jpg

b4gh1_2.jpg


:laugh:
 
lvlinux,

Nicely done. I'll look forward to your test footages. And again, thanks for the lens!!
 
bumkicho said:
lvlinux,

Nicely done. I'll look forward to your test footages. And again, thanks for the lens!!
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My pleasure. It's people like you that I enjoy doing business with the most.

Vimeo should be done processing sometime soon.

I wonder if using a separate 2X converter would improve the corner softness...
Have to give that a shot when I get time.
 
bumkicho said:
You can find FD to M4/3 on ebay. As for the B4 to FD adapter, a person in Korea and I had to work with a manufacturer in Korea to make them for us. It took about a month and many tries from the manufacturer.
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OK thanks, so this sort of adapter is not commercially available right? Any chance to get this guy to make a few more?
 
lvlinux said:
One of the main advantages of using an ENG lens is that you can zoom in/out and never lose focus - that is something that is extremely rare on a still photo lens, and it is VERY useful in filmmaking situations.

Also, you obviously don't have the problem of the aperture click stops that you get when using Nikkor or FD lenses, since the aperture ring rotates smoothly.

To get these two things in a lens (other than this way) you have to get a Zeiss Compact Prime or other lens made for cinema usage, and that runs into quite a bit more money.

Well done Bumkicho!
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Agreed! I always wanted to adapt one of these lenses to the GH1 and he´s done it !!

Lets hope he can convince his guy to make some more B4 adapters, I want one!!!
 
By the way, I have a chance to have a couple more of the B4 to FD adapter (see pic below) made by the end of July. Please let me know before July 14th if you are interested in getting one.

picture.php


From 1:02 - 2:52 of the video below was shot with Canon ENG B4 lens.

 
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I was able to hack one of these types of lens to my GH1 as well. I machined an old lens housing to fit the back of a canon zoom lens which adapts it to my nikon to M4/3 adapter and it works!

I could not ever get a fujinon lens to work with a 2x adapter without vignetting but the canon lens with the 2x internal lenses works very well so far.
 
You will get chromatic aberration using a B4 lens on any camera that is not a 3-chip camera because it is designed to focus through the beam splitter prism of the 3-chip cameras and R, G, B beams focus at different depths.
Adapters for PL mount that optically correct this are available but they are quite expensive.
 
Well, like I said, from 1:02 - 2:52 of the video posted was shot with Canon ENG B4 lens. Whether there are chromatic aberrations or not, I will let viewers decide, but for me the lens on GH1(3) performed really well.

Razz16mm said:
You will get chromatic aberration using a B4 lens on any camera that is not a 3-chip camera because it is designed to focus through the beam splitter prism of the 3-chip cameras and R, G, B beams focus at different depths.
Adapters for PL mount that optically correct this are available but they are quite expensive.
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