DOF Lenses Help

T

Take1Media

Active member
Im sure this topic has been gone over 100 times but I am very ignorant about what type of lense options are available to get some nice depth of field shots without spending a ton of money. I am a proud owner of the HPX300 for 2 years now and I am ready to start getting a more professional look on some of my commercials. Is there a simple lens package option out there that is good for the 300? Thanks for any advice
 
What you are looking for is not cheap and really complicates the camera setup. You are looking for a 35mm adaptor, relay and 35mm lenses (cine or photo) - a basic setup is going to run you around $6k. I have a Letus and have mounted it to the 370's lens without a relay, but its not a good solution. Besides, with an adaptor the extra glass looses at least a stop and adds roughly 8" and a couple of pounds onto the front of the cam.

At those prices, you are better off getting a 7D or 5D and shoot two cameras for sound.


Jason
 
A Redrock M3 is a cheaper option than the Letus, so a working rig will probably run $4k (M3 $1300, 1/3" relay $1550, follow focus $500 or so, rails ect.)

I agree with the above though, seeing as you can get an AF100 for the same price as a typical 35mm adapter setup, the AF100 would make more sense as you'd be getting a second smaller, lighter camera that also shoots 1080p60. The only reason I see that you'd still want an adapter is to take advantage of the AVC-I codec.
 
On the cheap, SHOOT LONG! You state you've had that camera for two years, so, I'm sure know when using the stock lens you'll get much better images on the long side anyway. It takes better planning, but, it can work out very nicely.

Good luck!
 
Oh, you can certainly get narrow DoF on the long end of the lens (seeing as it's about 550mm equiv. in 35mm terms!) but you have to deal with two things: Being very far from the subject and being stuck with perspective compression. The great thing about large sensors or 35mm adapters is being able to have a narrow depth of field even if using a 24mm lens. (The 370's lens only goes as wide as 32mm for comparison, at which it has a DOF of over 20 meters @ f/2.8!)
 
Kolor-Pikker said:
A Redrock M3 is a cheaper option than the Letus, so a working rig will probably run $4k (M3 $1300, 1/3" relay $1550, follow focus $500 or so, rails ect.)

I agree with the above though, seeing as you can get an AF100 for the same price as a typical 35mm adapter setup, the AF100 would make more sense as you'd be getting a second smaller, lighter camera that also shoots 1080p60. The only reason I see that you'd still want an adapter is to take advantage of the AVC-I codec.
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Being that RRM doesn't make any Relay Lens at all I'm just wondering who's relay will work with the M2 or M3? I have a full RRM M2 rig. Have you ever seen that thing connected to a 300 series camera with the stock lens? It's almost comical.
 
The 300's lens mount is the same as the JVC HD100/HM700 series, and the same as the Sony 1/3" interchangeable lens mount, so if you find a relay for any of those, it'll work on your 300 as well.

Another option to look into is the JVC cine-lens adapter, they made a unit that connected to cine lenses and gives a 16mm field of view. Not going to be as shallow as a 35mm cine adapter, but certainly shallower than a 1/3" camera, more on par with a 2/3" camera.
 
andythefilmer said:
Wouldn't a Letus relay work for an M3? Or do they have a bayo mount on the front?
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I'd like to know this too.

Another option to look into is the JVC cine-lens adapter, they made a unit that connected to cine lenses and gives a 16mm field of view. Not going to be as shallow as a 35mm cine adapter, but certainly shallower than a 1/3" camera, more on par with a 2/3" camera.
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Unfortunately, the JVC adapter costs about as much as the other options, and uses 16mm PL-mount lenses, although it doesn't use any ground glass.
 
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Hello Take1Media,

I own both the HZCA13 JVC adapter for 16mm Pl lenses, and the P+S Technik Mini35 which both fit perfectly on the HPX371

From experience, I can support Barry's comment : the JVC adaptor has DOF characteristics of a 16mm camera, so less than the popular 35mm look, but it has NO lightloss and it is VERY sharp! Since I wanted the 35mm look and I'm not so impressed by the image quality of the Canon DSLRs, I recently got hold of a Mini-35. I cannot speak for other adapters, but this P+S Technik is a marvel : it has great edge to edge sharpness, mounts directly onto the HPX and has a record button that starts the groundglass to spin and puts the HPX in Rec mode. No hassle at all to use, and the image quality is really cinematic.
 
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