New 35 PICS

Won't have footage for a few weeks cos I broke the gg trying to cut it. The parts to build an oscillator don't cost much, but it does take a lot of time and effort to build. I made mine out of pvc pipe and fittings using hand tools, the parts can be had for under $150 probably.

Yep the oscillation amplitude and speed will determine what grain you can hide. That's the tricky bit tuning your oscillator, adjusting motor speed, adjusting the natural frequency of the mount by the weight of the gg and the stiffness of the legs. I couldn't go above 1/50 shutter before grain starts to show, stopping down also starts to show the grain but not a big deal cos I'm not bothered about going past f4.

That's the advantage of the bearing spinner design, you can you to high shutter or low aperture. The price is a very heavy noisy adapter. It's all trade offs.
 
PaPa said:
what can you sotp the dvx down to before grai nis extemely apparent?
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You can leave the 35mm lens at or below F2 and stop down the camcorder or use ND filters to reduce the light coming in. But the general consensus about 35mm lenses is that they are at their best (sharpest) at around F4/F5.6, so you may want to have the ability to use them at these aperture settings, even through a GG.

I should add that being able to stop down the 35mm lens gives you control over DOF. As you stop it down, you get a deeper field. That’s a nice possibility to have.
 
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petri63 said:
You can leave the 35mm lens at or below F2 and stop down the camcorder or use ND filters to reduce the light coming in. But the general consensus about 35mm lenses is that they are at their best (sharpest) at around F4/F5.6, so you may want to have the ability to use them at these aperture settings, even through a GG.

I should add that being able to stop down the 35mm lens gives you control over DOF. As you stop it down, you get a deeper field. That’s a nice possibility to have.
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Yes, that's true. But the problem with most of these adapters is that you can't stop down hardly at all before the image becomes very dark or the grain shows up. That's one of the largest limitations of any of the adapters so far. I have a 50mm f/1.8 that I would love to use for many shots, but I can't stop it down for deeper DOF so I'm limited in that. :( Oh well. At least they are a fun tool.
 
For static adapters, I would say it is almost impossible to have a reasonable bokeh and grainless DOF control at the same time (by "reasonable", I mean diffusion good enough for my own taste).

Among the commercial dynamic adapters, from what I have seen and read, I believe the Brevis, MPIC, SG35 and Redrock M2 all give you more range when it comes to stopping down the 35mm lens.
 
petri63 said:
For static adapters, I would say it is almost impossible to have a reasonable bokeh and grainless DOF control at the same time (by "reasonable", I mean diffusion good enough for my own taste).
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It depends on what you mean by "grainless" and how much and what kind of light you've got. The more light, and the more directional it is, the less grain (even at f/11) with the right diffuser.
 
Well, to me, grainless means grainless down to F8, whatever the light type or direction.

One test that I have often heard of and tried a few times myself is shooting a bright blue sky and then stop down the 35mm lens. But I have not done it consistently and with a wide array of diffusers to be able to say with certainty that it is 100% reliable.
 
That's interesting, because I've found in my own tests with the Go35Pro beta that the "blue sky test" is never an issue -- down to f/16. It's flat or underexposed mid-tone colors that "give away" the grain under lower light conditions. Once the production units are ready to go, I'll show off more stuff like this.

I'd bet it's the same or nearly so for twocik's adapter.
 
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Holy !@#$@#$ Jim! You mean you can stop down the 35mm lens that far without seeing grain?! That is amazing! I've had faith in the adapter all along, but if it can go that far then man! I'm really sold! Even more so than before.
 
On a sunny day, you sure can. It's always having to treat shooting with the adapter like you would shooting film -- you have to work with it instead of approaching it like "Well, it should require no planning from me whatsoever."

A good film DP will look at the sky or available interior light, consider the details of the scene they need to capture, and figure out a way to bridge the gap between the two. They'd take into account their lenses (FL and speed) and film stock and anticipate what to expect accordingly.

There's no way you'd shoot with a slow lens stopped to f/8 on an overcast day with a 200ASA stock and expect the footage to look properly exposed. You'd reschedule to a day when the weather's friendly, or bring light to the scene, and shoot with a faster stock. Insisting that 'x' lens and 'y' filmstock render "proper exposure at f/8" under any condition is simply unrealistic.

Well, the same goes for any adapter when considering their "graininess," which, with the right diffuser, is just another variable in the exposure chain. The more light you have, the more freedom you have to make creative choices and stop down and not see any grain, or use a slower lens and get deeper DOF with no grain.

More on this topic over here...
 
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You’re right, my statement was not clear. Of course you would not stop down to F/8 in overcast conditions, unless you’re going after a special effect. The idea, or the challenge I should say, is to have grainless performance from the adapter in different lighting conditions – with the aperture set to get proper exposure – and be able to stop down an F/1.4 lens to F/8 in bright conditions, again without seeing grain.
 
You're right. I just thought your comment needed qualification.

I'm going to move some of the above post over to my thread -- I hate to think I've hijacked things here. Sorry twocik.
 
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"I'm going to move some of the above post over to my thread -- I hate to think I've hijacked things here. Sorry twocik."




No problem, it's a open thread to everyone and I hope it's both ways. I like to think that all of us here are working together, to make the best adapter.



PS: I've been out of town for the last few days, for the guys that have been trying to get a hold of me. I just shot a new MV with the new ifocus and very impressive results, I be posting soon.
 
In general, how would you expect to get the most film-like bokeh (the hard edged light disc) without incresing the grain above what is acceptable (perhaps none is the only thing accpetable :) but you get what im saying)

:) or perhaps another way to word it is, what controls the bokeh, and what is the trade off?
 
The bokeh is controlled by the amount of diffusion (diffusion angle) of the gg. Generally speaking the low diffusion angle/high diffusion angle trade offs are

Low diffusion angle--------high diffusion angle
Bad (hazy) bokeh----------good (hard) bokeh
Less light loss--------more light loss
Less grain--------more grain
Sharper image--------softer image
Deep dof-------------shallow dof


20 degrees is a good amount of diffusion IMO.

The main trade off is usually light loss. To get good bokeh without grain you're pretty much going to have to move the gg and take a hit on the light loss. With an oscillating design you can't hide as much grain as you can with a spinner. Different materials have different grain and light loss/diffusion ratio.
 
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"That was an impressive video. Very impressive. A bit soft, great music as well."



Thank you. Yes a few shots were out of focus, this guy just couldn't stay still. hehe lol

It's kind of hard to keep movements like this in focus with a 50mm lens. I'm waiting for my 35mm and 28mm lenses to show up, this should make it a little easier.
 
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