Home made 35mm adapter.

Noel Evans

Noel Evans

Mod V3 New and Improved
Staff member
Well I went out on location to do a quick test shoot today... only had two hour window but was enough. Anyway arrived home and decided to test a my own home made 35mm adapter. No light loss. No added grain. Sorry all the shots were taken handheld so theres a little movement.

Take a look, just a silly clip I threw together in 5 mins but you get the idea.

http://www.scarlet-films.com/ant.mov
 
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Very nice vivid colors. How in the world does one make a 35mm adapter? I guess I don't have those skills. Anyways. I really liked the filmic look to the DOF. Well done.
Jgastelb
 
hehe sorry to dissapoint but its shot with the standard DVX lens, no adapter at all.

EDIT: home made = none :P
 
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Have to add the point to this...... I did some set shots using shallow dof at a location today and they just came out beautiful, I did a side by side with the letus flip, which you have to use a lot of zoom for anyway. And I just found with the standard DVX lens and just really thinking about composition you can get great results with the DVX, in fact enough to tell me not to use a 35mm adapter due to overall softness on a large screen.

So I shot this in 5 mins threw it together in FCP and just wanted to see, even with poor composition if the Shallow DOF came across. Usually you wouldnt do this kind of shot handheld anyway. Im just feeling lately that simplicty to many things is often the best approach.

Now I cant wait to get the A1 with its 20x zoom.
 
Yas Kassana said:
ncje, yes...well, okay you kinda proved a point, but who cares?
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Maybe no one......... but it wasnt meant for anyone else but me. EDIT: Actually I think new user could benefit from this insofar as to say I have seen many posts from new users lately jumping in ot 35mm adapter territory before they know all the possibilities.

Prodigy I live in Tokyo, there are no large spaces indoors, and my results have been just dandy.. usually means Im shooting from a wall, but I just try to use doorways etc whenever I can.. as I said you really need to think about composition.

Plus you can frame up small indoor shots rather close to a person in a two way convo. In addition you dont always need shallow DOF. So Im considering the options on my locations now to get what I feel is the best artistic approach, with the sum of all.

Another edit..... the spider web shot was shot in a 1x2 metre space.... and how cool is that song:P
 
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I knew that wasn't an adapter as soon as i saw the video. And you are right, it is possible to get great shallow depth of field out of that camera. Just not as easy.
 
I was questioning if there really was a 35 lens when the guy was riding his bike. I do see how you proved your point, though. But I do feel there is a time and place for adapters.
 
That's what I learn from building 35mm adapters for my GL1 and my DVX : You spend lots of time bulding them and little time using them. After all, you realise that you can get almost the same great dof out of the DVX without the weight and other constraints of an adapater(grain, light loss, change in colors, lcd flipping, taking the adapater on and off the camera, etc.)
 
Beautiful ncje :D. Just awesome. I love that you did all of this without a 35mm adapter. The DVX can have great shallow DOF, you just have to know how to use it. I agree that many people just go to pieces to get a 35mm adapter, without understanding the principles involved. Guess I shouldn't bash adapters too much though, as I'm attempting to sell some. :D
 
ncje said:
in fact enough to tell me not to use a 35mm adapter due to overall softness on a large screen.
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I agree that it's easier to shoot without the adapter. I have the letus 35a. However, I have to say that the softness you speak of is the filmic quality that the adpaters bestow upon the image. When people say this image is too soft or grainy then sometimes I wonder if I should say -- "go watch a film and then say is soft." Film, by nature is soft and grainy - not clean and sharp. I guess it depends on what you're going for. If you want it to look sharp then do not use the adapters. Or, increase your camera detail level. If you want it to look more filmic the adapter mulitplies your proximity to the look. I still liked your test though.
Jgastelb
 
Hey,

Nice work, I like where this is going, however I do have one objection. What you are doing here is using a mixture of aperature and focal length to achieve a shallow DOF (which is normal but focal length is more necessary on the internal DVX lens b/c it is not as fast). Since you have to be zoomed in to get a lot of these shots it does mean that you have a flattening of the foreground and background. The perspective is defenitely different than shooting with a faster lens which achieves shallow DOF based more on light gathering than focal length.
 
actually if you turn the DVX detial level down to -7, it looks soft, because there is no or little Edge enhancement hapening. the resolution is still there. It still resolves 550 lines. The 35 adapters seem to counteract the edge enhancment. All the resolution is there, its just organic, not digital. i push my DVX up to +7 Detail to get some of the snap in the picture back.
 
TimurCivan said:
actually if you turn the DVX detial level down to -7, it looks soft, because there is no or little Edge enhancement hapening. the resolution is still there. It still resolves 550 lines. The 35 adapters seem to counteract the edge enhancment. All the resolution is there, its just organic, not digital. i push my DVX up to +7 Detail to get some of the snap in the picture back.
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Are you saying that you're using an adapter and increasing the detail level that high? Does it still look somewhat soft or is it just right for you?
Jgastelb
 
I used a Letus on my music video, and I absolutely love all the footage from the adapter!

I just does something to the footage, I guess I can't really explain it. It certainly has its own qualities.

I'm gonna try and use an adapter for all my music videos now, except on extreme long shots. all those looked really nice from the dvx.
 
tjohara99 said:
I used a Letus on my music video, and I absolutely love all the footage from the adapter!

I just does something to the footage, I guess I can't really explain it. It certainly has its own qualities.

I'm gonna try and use an adapter for all my music videos now, except on extreme long shots. all those looked really nice from the dvx.
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Did you increase the detail level for that video? Hey... I know you use Vegas, right? Do you normally sharpen the image in post or soften it? Sorry to get off topic a bit.
Jgastelb
 
jgastelb said:
Did you increase the detail level for that video? Hey... I know you use Vegas, right? Do you normally sharpen the image in post or soften it? Sorry to get off topic a bit.
Jgastelb
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hmm, i don't think i messed with the detail level. although i'll be sure to do that next time. in post, i didn't sharpen or soften anything either. that video is a mix of stock dvx and letus footage, so you can pretty much see the differences.
 
jgastelb said:
Are you saying that you're using an adapter and increasing the detail level that high? Does it still look somewhat soft or is it just right for you?
Jgastelb
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Yea i've used almost every adapter out there. Letus, Go35, Sgpro, Brevis35, Soon an M2...

Turnign the Detial to +7 will give you a sharper looking picture. without it looking too edge enhanced.
1155406668.jpg

1153854238.jpg

this is from an SGpro. ( my adapter of choice)

The image on top, is straightform the Camera with Detail at +7.

After CC, with a little tiny bit of edge enhancing sharpening, the image on the bottom is whatit can look like. The resolution is there, its just that most of what we percieve in video as "sharpness" is actually edge enhancement, and contrast.
 
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