Has anyone tested a SD lens on the HPX500?

Kit Hannah

Kit Hannah

Veteran
Just wondering if anyone has tested a SD lens on the HPX500 and what they found the results to be. Would be interesting to see a comaprison, or just some standard frame grabs from that of a SD lens. I have seen numerous posts saying that SD lenses can produce very acceptable results, even on HD cameras.

ALso, with the HPX500 CAC, would this help when using a SD lens?

Thanks
Kit
 
1. I have tried an old fujinon 14x (non-IF) and it was sharper, and had more edge-shapness than the fuji 17x CAC HD lens. I am totally serious and the Letus team witnessed it. There was about 100 lines more res on a res chart over the fujinon HD lens. And if that wasnt enough, there was less CA than the fujinon with CAC!

The difference is more about Broadcast lenses vs "HD" lenses. The canon J series are great and the fujinon A series. Some might tell a difference in HD vs SD glass, and the Lens manufacturers would love to help you, but bottom line.. you clients will never tell the difference.

Mind you this old SD lens was made in the 90's and looks a bit retro.

2.The CAC function only works with designated lenses. You can download CAC files that are for NON-CAC HD lenses, but thats it. It wont help out in the process.

I am open to arguments about this subject, I would love to get to the bottom of this HD vs SD glass thing.
 
I have heard the same thing from a DOP out of Baltimore. A QUALITY SD glass he puts on the rental HPX he uses looks great, according to him.....
 
Wow - suprising, Hunter.

Through my research, it always seems to me that people just "assume" that the HD glass is going to be so much better than SD glass. But from the people that I have heard from and talked to, SD glass can yield very acceptable results. I need to get a couple cameras and don't want to sell a kidney to get into it for the time being.

I really like the fact that you are someone who has actually tested this out. I am not submitting my material for Discovery HD work and my clients will most likely not know much about HD and what it can do. I'm just looking for "acceptable" results. We're not going to show anyone any side by side footage with a super high end camera. This is all they're going to see. If it will produce a fairly clear image, that's all I am concerned with.

Hunter, if you have any other insight into how SD lenses on the HPX500 will look in final footage, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks buddy.
Kit
 
hunter richards said:
The difference is more about Broadcast lenses vs "HD" lenses. The canon J series are great and the fujinon A series. Some might tell a difference in HD vs SD glass, and the Lens manufacturers would love to help you, but bottom line.. you clients will never tell the difference.
Click to expand...

Would a "YJ" lens be almost as good or do you think it would produce unacceptable results?
Thanks
 
I've used SD Broadcast ENG lenses on my 500 successfully, primarily when shooting DVC PRO 50. I've also shot with same lenses in HD for well-lit talking head interviews - footage also looked great. Lens is usually shot almost wide-open at longer focal length w/background out-of-focus. I would hesitate shooting HD wide shots w/SD glass; I think that would be noticablely inferior, especially around the edges.

chrisli/wash. dc area
 
monkeyking said:
I've used SD Broadcast ENG lenses on my 500 successfully, primarily when shooting DVC PRO 50. I've also shot with same lenses in HD for well-lit talking head interviews - footage also looked great. Lens is usually shot almost wide-open at longer focal length w/background out-of-focus. I would hesitate shooting HD wide shots w/SD glass; I think that would be noticablely inferior, especially around the edges.

chrisli/wash. dc area
Click to expand...

May I ask what lens(es) you were using?

Also, it sure would be nice to see some HPX500/502/555 footage with a SD lens attached. If anyone is able to post some, even just some frame grabs, that would be great.

thanks
 
Not at the shop right now, but I do know there were 2 fuji and one canon. Only Canon had internal focus, but fuji lenses were high end (for their day). Very forgiving for well-lit talking head shots.
 
The canon "yj" series are the "professional" line.

So Lens makers like Canon and Fujinon have 2 lines:

The "Broadcast" line, which cost a few times more than the "Professional" line and have better coatings and optical designs to reduce breathing, CA, ect.

And the "professional" line, which are nice lenses they are just built differently for a different kind of application. You will see more CA and breathing on a "professional" lens. Also a lower "MTF"

I would not reccoment buying a YJ series for an HD camera, but who knows? Some one should test it out.

I just heard a report of someone putting a j11x4.5b (non-HD lens) on an f900, and then put the HD-Version and they said "I really cant tell the difference between the two"

hmmm...
 
Here is a jpeg of the HPX500 with a Fuji14xlens (non-IF) from the 90's. (Full wide @9mm)
1199747199.jpg

Same lens
(full telephoto)
1199835622.jpg

Its actually a bit sharper than that before I compressed it...
Pretty impressive? The detail was only set to +2. (thats what I use with my HD lens also when shooting landscapes)
 
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WOW...Impressive to say the least.... That is absolutely stunning! If you have any more images to share I would appreciate it, but this is VERY good news. Real prrof instead of just hearsay. I love it! Gettin really excited about this!
 
I am planning on buying a new "SD" Broadcast wide angle and I will post some more results then. For now here is the Fujinon "HD" 17x7.6 lens that came with my hpx500 (for comparison to the wide shot before) its also compressed into a jpeg and yes, the image was sharper before I compressed it:
1199750361.jpg

Thats sharp as it gets. (I dont have a comparison between an SD vs HD lens on this shot)

(look at the small details in this close-up vs the details in the wide shot before, you can see that the SD lens is just a bit sharper)
 
Another great picture, Hunter. But honestly, I'm looking for a short term solution until I can afford expensive glass. If that is the difference between the 2, I can definitely live with the SD image for the time being. If someone had told me the first picture was with a SD lens, I probably would have been inclined to believe them.

Hey Hunter, I see you just did a screen shot on that - could you do a few more and post those up? That would be great, just for reference on the HD lens. Thanks!
 
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mcgeedigital said:
Not bad, not bad at all....I'm going to have to take the lens off of my DSR-500 and try that.
Click to expand...

Ohh, please do, Matt. That would be wonderful. I would like to see as many pictures as possible and even some very short clips would be great. That looks like a good quality HD image to me.

BTW, thaks to everyone for taking time out of your day to post these pictures and your comments. They are VERY helpful to me in making a decision to go with the HPX500 (well 555, but that's another story for another thread). Keep 'em comin'! :dankk2:
 
What the hell is an sd lens? Arent HDlenses just a marketing ploy. My Leica's and Zeisses, and Nikons cant do HD?
I think they can...
 
bwest said:
What the hell is an sd lens? Arent HDlenses just a marketing ploy. My Leica's and Zeisses, and Nikons cant do HD?
I think they can...
Click to expand...

SD = Standard Definition
HD= High Definition

We're talking about older ENG lenses that come from Standard Definition ENG camera bodies - "supposedly" they produce terrible images on HD ENG bodies, but we're quickly finding out they can look great. The camera companies say that you NEED a HD lens, but I think they're wrong. Your lenses will be fine with HD and an adapter...Total marketing ploy. But I will admit that they have done a good job with it! More money in their pockets.
 
I always thought film was capable of 4K which I though was "Reds" biggest claim to fame with its new sensor... first to match film
 
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