Smallest moving GG solution yet???

Rawf, the prototype, rails etc are out of my hands until Wednesday...so no new footage etc. until after that. In fact, the next footage you see will be from the production adapter, new diffusor etc. I know the wait is killing you, but imagine my angst.

I'll tell you this. A venture like this is incredibly time consuming. I've spent a solid two hours on the phone and several hundred dollars, just getting the right flipping toggle switches for this thing. And that's not even touching the rest of the electronics!

I have an XL2 and XL1s test lined up ... and I promise new footage from both. They won't be movie shoots btw, just clinical stuff.
 
Don't seat it, D. April 6 is right around the corner. The footage I've seen so far had me sold. If you say the new footage is even better...kick ass! Keep up the good work.
 
briceman said:
Will this lens work with the adapter?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7596611749
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Man don't buy that adapter if you can afford something a bit better. It's an old series..I have it and it doesn't produce the best pictures. You should be able to get that lens for about 30 bucks at a pawn shop. The nice thing about it is that it is manual..I will say though for depth of field you'd be better off getting a 1.8
 
Yes, I think a 50mm F1.2 or F1.4 should be a standard first lens. Having said that, the Brevis is only showing .5 to .7 stops loss with a 50mm F1.4 attached...so you could get away with a slower lens.

Because I'm pushing the frame size envelope, lenses with the widest rear aperture possible (F1.4, F1.2) will allow you to frame up to max GG dimensions without any light fall off.
 
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guskersthecat said:
Thanks AV. The final pricing on the production version:
  • .5 to .7 F/stops light loss with 50mm F1.4 attached
  • custom manufactured engineered diffusor
  • interchangeable lens mounts (Nikon/Canon FD, more coming)
  • carbon fibre/CNC machined aluminum parts
  • internal power with external AC or DC options.
  • CPU controlled charging system
  • 20 hours run time
  • fore and aft fully coated dust shields.
  • "bulletproof" case.
I'm trying very hard to keep the package under $700 US. The CNC machined rail/mount system would add about $120 US. I should have pics by mid next week of the production model. The sweet new PHP web site, compliments of Joshua, aka Viruum, and online purchase system will be unveiled at the same time. It's safe to say there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of hours expended collectively on this project.
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OK 700 $ sounds good for me. Where do you plan to start the production of your adapter? How can I purchase it? can I ordered with a M42 mount? thanks
 
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guskersthecat said:
Yes, I think a 50mm F1.2 or F1.4 should be a standard first lens. Having said that, the Brevis is only showing .5 to .7 stops loss with a 50mm F1.4 attached...so you could get away with a faster lens.

Because I'm pushing the frame size envelope, lenses with the widest rear aperture possible (F1.4, F1.2) will allow you to frame up to max GG dimensions without any light fall off.
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Cool, I'll be looking for one of those lenses!
 
AVR, M42 is doable, but will take a bit longer. April 6th is the planned ship date..at least for the Nikon mounts. Canon FD's should go out the week after. I replied to your email.

It's a very tight schedule..but so far so good.

Briceman, good hunting.
 
bklyndv said:
I'd say get a 1.4 over a 1.8 any day.
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Ya so would I. And I have 2 of them. The thing is though, 1.4 will not produce as good depth of field. You do have the lack of light loss though. It's a toss up.
That lens I was referring too really is a piece of crap. If you have some extra coin, invest in something better. I know they aren't cheap.
 
Technically, the incident angle increase with larger rear apertures (faster lenses), should give you a smaller circle of confusion, thus shallower DOF. In fact, at close range, like the mountain bike/crane stuff, the shallow DOF with an F1.4 is a PITA. You really need to be using F4-8 or so for this kind of work. Fortunately, the Brevis is quite happy at F8 :-)
 
All I really know is that working at Science North sucks!lol
I was there for about 2 years as an assitant editor graphic artist..what were you doing for them? It actually was a good place to work..no pay though.
 
guskersthecat said:
AVR, M42 is doable, but will take a bit longer. April 6th is the planned ship date..at least for the Nikon mounts. Canon FD's should go out the week after. I replied to your email.

It's a very tight schedule..but so far so good.

Briceman, good hunting.
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Thanks! So, since I am getting the Nikon it'll be shipping on April 6th?
 
April 6th is still the target date. Everything at this point depends on how quickly the CNC work can get done. They are the only variable at this point, other than the Canon mounts which will delay those adapters at least a week.
 
New web site unveiled

New web site unveiled

Well, I just couldn't take the old site any longer, so I've posted up the new site with the ecommerce client, forum, and Joshua Nitschke's (you know and love him as "Viruum") fancy pants PHP coding. Joshua put many hours into redoing the site after taking pity on my somewhat feeble html attempts with the original site.

I'll be updating all the pics within the next week or so to get rid of the prototype shots. I've set a production price, but not to worry, the beta group deal doesn't change.
 
Hey guys I thought I'd talk about lens for a second. I'm not sure how many of you are photographers so I thought I'd throw in my two cents.

Before you buy a lens, research it. I know everybody is all about the 50mm lens because probably they see them for dirt cheap on ebay. There are better ranges to choose from and the glass on certain series (like the one mentioned above) is very bad. I guess what it comes down to is your financial situation and how much light loss you want to give away. If this is just for fun or your hobby, then I wouldn't worry too much about it. I would try and obtain the best glass I could though..it does make a big difference..just costs a lot more unfortunatly. IF you do decide to get an old substandard lens, make sure the thing doesn't have fungus in it or massive amounts of dust particles. Some are okay, but too many and you'll be getting it cleaned and it'll cost you more than you payed for the junker.

If you are interested in learning about nikon lens, check out something like Ken Rockwells reviews. The guy is a bit of a dick, but I think his opinions on a lot of the lens are pretty accurate.

I guess the bottom line is you're going to get what you pay for.

I would like to know what McGregor uses for a 50mm.
 
Gusker the new site looks cool. When are you going to put in the Apple fonts and steal apples look like Cinemek did? Lol..just kidding. I think your site looks nice and clean.:)
 
Ang, love that signature. If we could aspire to 5% of Mahatma's deeds, the world would be a much cooler place to live.

Props to Joshua on the site design. I like the simple clean look. Busy sites drive me batty.

The lens issue is well put. It's not a bad idea to google them once you source them for reviews. Fortunately for us, video is nowhere near the quality of a 35mm film still, so often poor lenses go somewhat unnoticed. There are many reviews, and surprising differences between bokeh, sharpness, colour rendering etc. amongst the lenses.

For example, I have an inexpensive 28-70 MD mount zoom. Had I read the reviews, I would have known that the lens "breathes" like crazy when racking focus, and the zoom will self-actuate (gravity) when the lens is tilted down. It's useless for anything but still shots with no focus racking...basically a complete waste of cash. A high quality set of primes (no zoom) would be ideal.

When testing adapter designs I learned two major things. If something looks strange...make sure it's not the video camera itself! Many of them show significant barrel distortion at full wide, DVX included, edge softness, colour blooming etc. If you don't have a reference, prepare to go crazy. I've also seen noticeable differences with different primes mounted up...so you need to try several if you're trouble shooting. Seems basic, but I think those two points are consistently missed when tuning adapters.
 
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