The good old days (Eclair NPR, Aaton 7, Arri SR 1) ...I owned and loved these cameras even with their little quirks. One thing I did not enjoy was shimming every zoom lens to each camera body on an optical bench every time the camera or lens got knocked around a bit. This meant a trip to NYC with camera and EACH lens to be columnated to a specific body. But that was the nature of the film world....Suddenly, the world changes. Now, we are all shooting video and adjusting the back focus of zoom lenses in the B-4 mount...HD cameras arrive, but it is still the adjustable B-4 mount..All was good unless...Er...I forgot to back focus....World changes again with big chip cameras. I am really looking forward to my AF100, but I am not looking forward to shimming each zoom lens to the camera. Is there a back focus system in the AF 100 (software, mechanical tweak) that will let me adjust for each zoom lens, or will I have to go to NYC to get my lenses adjusted? Wait...I love trips to NYC...Abel Cine Tech is a wonderful place with interesting people...And while they are working on the lenses, I'll be having a Vino Rosso at the local watering hole jabbering with my NYC pals about the good old days.
Nostalgia
- Thread starter sully
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Steve Kahn
Well-known member
There is NO backfocus adjustment on the body of the camera but you can shim the lenses as with film cameras.
I don't love the zoom aesthetic in shooting film but I understand the desire to zoom in, lock focus, then zoom out and shoot. The AF100 has some pretty nice focus assists (though nothing is as nice as zooming in to focus).
My solution will be to shoot only primes and I'll be plenty happy with that.
I don't love the zoom aesthetic in shooting film but I understand the desire to zoom in, lock focus, then zoom out and shoot. The AF100 has some pretty nice focus assists (though nothing is as nice as zooming in to focus).
My solution will be to shoot only primes and I'll be plenty happy with that.
This is a serious question that has occurred to me as well...
As one who still owns a super16 Aaton, and pulls it out of the closet now and then to admire it's incomparable design, let me remind you that primes need back focus adjustment too. If you've got 5 primes, that's five lenses that you will need to collimate, or at least check. Now, admittedly, it's unlikely that primes will shift much after they've been tweaked (unless dropped or sent through luggage on a airline - different terminology for the same thing). Older lenses will certainly need attention. I have a beautiful (looking) Cooke 9.5mm that a friend gave me years ago that I've never been able to get right.
As for zooms, I somehow doubt that the Olympus (for example) 4/3 lenses have much sophistication in terms of back focus adjustment (I could be wrong because I'm just guessing). It might require actually trying several different lenses before buying.
As one who still owns a super16 Aaton, and pulls it out of the closet now and then to admire it's incomparable design, let me remind you that primes need back focus adjustment too. If you've got 5 primes, that's five lenses that you will need to collimate, or at least check. Now, admittedly, it's unlikely that primes will shift much after they've been tweaked (unless dropped or sent through luggage on a airline - different terminology for the same thing). Older lenses will certainly need attention. I have a beautiful (looking) Cooke 9.5mm that a friend gave me years ago that I've never been able to get right.
As for zooms, I somehow doubt that the Olympus (for example) 4/3 lenses have much sophistication in terms of back focus adjustment (I could be wrong because I'm just guessing). It might require actually trying several different lenses before buying.
Well to be perfectly honest this is an issue we are running into on " A Verse before Dying".... The third party m4/3 to Nikon adapters dont quite hold focus marks properly.
Steve Kahn
Well-known member
What's exactly going on when you say it doesn't hold focus marks properly, Timur?
Meaning the distance mark on the lens or infinity mark is not jiving with reality?. What type are you using; Voightlander, Novoflex?. Thanks for the hands on, in the field feedback.
Taylor Rudd
Veteran
Interesting - the 25mm ZF prime Mikko used on Day 1 was accurate, using the Voigtlander Nikon -> m43 adapter. He set the lens to 12", I pulled tape to 12" and it was spot on. Did mcgee's Howitzer lose focus during a zoom?
plasmasmp
Well-known member
If you find one that does, that might be the first adapter actually worth more than $50!!
john deaver
Well-known member
this brings up a question i had
If a lens adapter is allowing focus beyond infinity, in my case a rainbow imaging minolta MD/MC unit, does that mean the adapter is too wide (putting the lens too far from the sensor) or too short (lens too close to the sensor)
it would have to be too far away right?
thanks
John
If a lens adapter is allowing focus beyond infinity, in my case a rainbow imaging minolta MD/MC unit, does that mean the adapter is too wide (putting the lens too far from the sensor) or too short (lens too close to the sensor)
it would have to be too far away right?
thanks
John
When a lens focuses past infinity, it is too close to the film/sensor. Remember that lens extension brings focus closer in.