Rick Young of Macvideo test drives the F3 with Canon glass using the Adaptimax.

Very good video. Impressed by the countryside footage he shot (viewable at the end). Not so impressed with his choice of music, but some say I'm very picky.
One small impression though: I would really like to know why does the image in certain shots softens on the edges, a bit like when using 35mm adapters. I know he's shootng wide open but can it be a back focus problem ?
 
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Controlling exposure on some of those stills lenses with a combination of ND settings and shutter?
Yikes...
 
i'm sorry but if there is no way of actually stopping down, it's a very poor choice. you T/F stop is a whole part of the look of the piece. if you've got a 85 mm 1.2 on there and you can't stop down to try to get some deep DOF when you REALLY need it, it's NG.
 
SPZ said:
Very good video. Impressed by the countryside footage he shot (viewable at the end). Not so impressed with his choice of music, but some say I'm very picky.
One small impression though: I would really like to know why does the image in certain shots softens on the edges, a bit like when using 35mm adapters. I know he's shootng wide open but can it be a back focus problem ?
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Fader ND.

You are essentially double polarizing the image. causes odd image quirks.
 
So in order to get a good picture with a wide open aperture from, say, a 85mm 1.2 (for an extreme shallow DOF look), would you suggest not going internal ND but external? How to do it?
 
Last time I checked, cranking up the shutter to get your exposure right is a no no. He does however admit that it's not the greatest but it does work. That would be pretty sick if they came out with one that controls the lens though!
 
it's till the fact that none of these methods of controlling your exposure allows you to control your depth of field and other lens properties. you'll always be wide open, ultra shallow, and you are technically at the softest point of the lens image wise. most lenses don't get to their sharpest point until a 2.8-4
 
You can always bring a cheap EOS body with you for changing aperture... Not practical, but does the job. I really would like to know how to solve the edge softness problem from Mac Video's, er... video. If I purchase this cam, I need to know I can use my fast lenses wide open and get similar edge to edge sharpness as on a DSLR...
 
One very important thing to remember about the Canon 85mm f/1.2 L is that focus control is fly-by-wire / electronic, so a dumb adapter is no good, and until a powered / intelligent adapter comes out (i.e. Birger), this lens is basically useless on anything other than a Canon DSLR.
 
To adjust aperture you use a Canon EOS. Set aperture, hold down the depth of field button, remove lens and pop it onto the F3. very simple and it works, though of course there's no denying it's fiddly until you get the hang of it.

Considering we currently are struggling to keep up with demand on the Adaptimax Canon EF to F3, it seems many guys are happy to work this method.
 
TimurCivan said:
Fader ND.

You are essentially double polarizing the image. causes odd image quirks.
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I use mine to keep my f stop at 2.8 all the time and I haven't seen any negative results and I use an Apple 27" LED with 2560 x 1440 resolution and a Panasonic 42" LED 1080p for monitoring.
 
Steve Shovlar said:
Considering we currently are struggling to keep up with demand on the Adaptimax Canon EF to F3, it seems many guys are happy to work this method.
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Hi Steve,

Just got my EF Adaptimax for the F3 and quite disappointed. I've got a lot of Canon L series glass and I realise it's not designed to be parfocal, but most of it is usable on the 5D. When I fit these lenses to the F3 with your adaptor the tracking goes way out... not even close to being usable without a lot of focus pulling each time I change focal length. I realise some adjustment to focus will be required but we're talking bucket-loads!!! Is this normal? Makes it very difficult to use.

P.S. Anyone want to buy an only used once adaptor for their F3?
 
It has nothing to do with the Adaptimax, and everything to do with the Canon lenses. Get the blame on the right piece of kit please.

The Canon lenses are stills lenses and are NOT designed for videography. They work great when you set focal length, focus and use, but if you are using zoom you will encounter problems with the lenses on any camcorder. Of course they wil work fine on a 5D, as they are designed to work on that camera.
 
Steve Shovlar said:
It has nothing to do with the Adaptimax, and everything to do with the Canon lenses. Get the blame on the right piece of kit please.

The Canon lenses are stills lenses and are NOT designed for videography. They work great when you set focal length, focus and use, but if you are using zoom you will encounter problems with the lenses on any camcorder. Of course they wil work fine on a 5D, as they are designed to work on that camera.
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I did say that I realised these "L" series lenses are NOT parfocal, but this adaptor appears to be making the situation considerably worse? We're not talking a little focus here... we're talking a lot!

In your reply you seemed to assume I was hoping to change focal length on shot... I didn't expect that sort of accuracy and it's not what I meant at all. The problem is that the focus now goes so far out that actually refocussing is taking too long. Maybe my shooting days are too short!

So are you saying it's impossible to get the back focus distance correct with this adaptor? I'm confused because these lenses track very well on not just the 5D but also the AF101. I also have an FD to F3 adaptor and this tracks perfectly with old FD zooms?

If it's impossible to get the correct rear element to chip distance right with this adaptor, shouldn't you be telling people? Or maybe I've just got a duff one?
 
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PaulReam said:
Hi Steve,

Just got my EF Adaptimax for the F3 and quite disappointed. I've got a lot of Canon L series glass and I realise it's not designed to be parfocal, but most of it is usable on the 5D. When I fit these lenses to the F3 with your adaptor the tracking goes way out... not even close to being usable without a lot of focus pulling each time I change focal length. I realise some adjustment to focus will be required but we're talking bucket-loads!!! Is this normal? Makes it very difficult to use.

P.S. Anyone want to buy an only used once adaptor for their F3?
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You have a back focus problem with the adapter. I was reading the F3 instructions and I think that you can correct the back focus. There is an allen range bolt on the left side of the F mount. (page 30 of the instructions) I don't recommend doing it unless you only use lenses with that lens adapter.
 
I think you're right Douglas, I'm reluctant to alter the back focus on the F3 as it tracks perfectly with the couple of PL Zooms I have. I don't mind it a little off with an adaptor, indeed I expected that, what's odd is the amount it's off by? I doubt there'd be enough adjustment on the F3 anyway!

It's probably best if I post a video to demonstrate... I'll try to get it done this weekend as soon as I have a mo.

Thank you.
 
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