New 35mm adapter

I'm in a sort of holding pattern at the moment. Machinist claims to have shipped the prototype Canon FD mount with the first 100 Nikon F mounts, but it's nowhere to be found. So, he needs to bang out another and send it to me for testing.

Waiting on two optics pieces (two different achromats) to test this week, along with a quote for how much it will cost to have them housed in a custom threaded/anodized housing. Once tested and approved, I will then have them manufactured for me in a short run of 20-50, and either have them pre-mounted or have the above mentioned machinist make me a housing.

The website is all but done, save for pics of the adapter -- kind of a small yet major part of the site, but it has to wait for the above two steps to be complete first.

This is all taking much longer than I had hoped, but it's the right way of getting it done.

Other than that, there's not much else to report -- I have all the packing/shipping supplies here, as well as the first 100 Nikon F mounts, optical tubes, end caps, step-down rings, dust shields, GG components, magnets, etc.

You will all know as soon as I do what progress is being made.

- jim
 
Im testing the FD mount right Jim? ;) iiiiii haaaavvveee 6 FD lensssessssssss........... (n that ltle kid voice)
 
I wonder if any progress has been made. Haven't seen Jim online for a while...

Lets hope Go35 won't go G35 :(
 
Mtech said:
I wonder if any progress has been made. Haven't seen Jim online for a while...

Lets hope Go35 won't go G35 :(

haha, i'm still #1 on the G35 wait list...i'm kinda glad they've been taking forever because I don't have the money at the moment :)
 
Heya...

No, the Go35 isn't disappearing, it's just on hold. I have a series of stock achromats here but after spending some time discussing the device with an optics manufacturer, they have suggested designing a custom lens element to make chromatic aberration and edge distortion unquestionably gone from the final unit.

They are assembling both a custom optical element and a retaining black anodized cell for the optics. The final price of this achromat should be around $135. It will not change the cost of the Go35Pro, but that gives you an idea of what it will cost to add it to the SD.

Just understand that this is a laborious and expensive process. I've to date purchased 4 different grades of achromats, from $75 to $175 in price, all from different manufacturers to find what performs best. After testing them a bit, I've actually sent a few of the optics off to a company that will take the best elements of each and engineer a new solution.

They will have the optics in hand tomorrow, and it will take about a week from there to finalize a design. From there it's five weeks to pull the first run of optics out of production and ship them to me.

So you can see that, as deadlines slip once again (for good reason), this is why I'm reluctant to post -- nothing really new to report. It's a bit of a drag for me :(
 
Well, as long as the results are the best possible...

When do you think we get to see more beta footage?
 
Just emailed you today PaPa (yesterday? they're running a bit together lately). I'm sorry if I missed your email but I have no way of knowing if I've written you because I don't know your real name and didn't see an email address or sig that looked like a PaPa was involved in the mails I do have.
 
This is the latter part of a post I'd made in another thread, about trying to find the exposure "sweet spot" of the adapter:

The "CAT" footage was a blazing bright day. I think it was like 70+ degrees out that day, very sunny, and we shot with the DVX stopped down (and at times the internal ND on), and the SLR from f/2.0 on up to f/16, with no grain. But note, and this is the important part -- you need to adjust the camera's internal exposure controls according to the available light, and keep a balance between it and the SLR's settings at all times (this is partly why a larger LCD or field monitor is a good investment). Underexposing the DVX, even with a 1:1.4 SLR lens wide open on a super bright day, and you're putting yourself in danger of seeing grain.

The most recent footage at Union Square was the opposite kind of shoot -- really the worst case scenario. Flat, uninteresting grey overcast kind of day. I would say it was 1/2 or less the available light of the CAT day. Same lens, same diffuser, same cam, and now you're having problems shooting with the DVX wide open and the SLR lens at f/4. As the clip progresses, and we got into the cab, you can see the day got a little brighter, and suddenly the spot where grain begins to show up moves down the line to f/5.6 or f/8 -- so at f/2.8 things look fantastic. Spots within the frame that are highlights or blowouts exhibit no grain because in these spots the lens is bringing in enough light to get a good exposure, and moving to fairly lit interiors (inside B&H), the grain again disappears completely.

When the units finally ship, I will write up a guide to getting the right shot under varied circumstances -- sort of a DP's primer. Maybe make it a vid guide and put it on a mini CDR :)
 
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I'll help you with that Jim.

People still dont get the Dual Iris thing.

infact i should write up an over arching version for all adapters. cause im getting PM 's like crazy people asking me how these things work.
 
OK, so i shouldn't underexpose with my cam. How about my SLR? Iif I set my cam to f 2.0 for example during a fairly bright day and then stop the SLR real down to f 16 for example. How about that then? Would it be same as having my cam in f16 ja SLR in f2.0 when it comes to grain?

I would believe it's the same thing as underexposing my cam but I wan't to hear an oficial statement about it!

It would be great to just lock my cam to f. 2.0 for example, keep it there and do all the exposure control with shutter and SLR. Like real film cam where film is replaced by a camcorder.
 
Mtech said:
It would be great to just lock my cam to f. 2.0 for example, keep it there and do all the exposure control with shutter and SLR. Like real film cam where film is replaced by a camcorder.

Yes, as a general idea that works just fine.
 
Man... I just spent some time watching the demos on the Movietube site and boy do some of those camera ops love their vignetting :D
 
In bright, sunny conditions, I would advocate setting the 35mm lens to the aperture setting corresponding to the DOF you want, and then use ND filters on the 35mm lens instead of stepping down the camcorder iris.
 
well no not really.

You can adjust the 35mm lens t some degree, but remeber yor trying to keep the lightlevel reaching the GG at a certain level. so figure, over expose the gg 1 or 2 stops to Totally eliminate the Grain. then adjust the remainder with the DVX iris.

usually this means on sunny day, 35mm lens at F4 - 8 DVX at F 5.6 -16.

you CANT undersexpose the GG. thats when things get screwy.
 
I don’t agree. Or, rather it depends on how much grain your adapter displays and how much light it needs...

In bright, sunny conditions, there should be plenty of light hitting the diffuser, even if your adapter loses 2 stops. If your adapter is reasonably good, you can and should IMO add ND filters to avoid stopping down the camcorder.
 
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