-Winston Vargas 70mm Adapter DVD Review-

Enough already with the Adorama plug. We get it.

Set up an FTP site, compress it to a huge HD file and upload. If anyone's serious about buying it, they'll wait for an HD download. Takes less time (and your money) than sending out DVD's. Also, if you encode properly, H.264 encodes will look miles better than an SD DVD.

Also, do yourself a huge favor and give away at least five or six units to be properly Beta tested in the field by real cameramen. If you let the consumer be your guinea pig be prepared to be slaughtered publicly on the backlash. It'll cost more than than Beta tested units. Any persistent issues it has will be a public forum.

At least issues like grain, build, durability, edge t ooedge , etc can be taken care of before it goes to market and get reviewed. I can't tell you how many adaptors have been prematurely released, where the only Beta testing seemed to be someone's workbench and garage. Then issues come up shortly after release, not only costing the manufacturer headaches and money for replacements, returns and shipping but also creates alot of mistrust with the consumer.

Good luck. I love the idea - hate the approach to selling it.

Tim Naylor - Cinematographer
www.timnaylor.com
 
This Adorama plugging is for sure IMO viloating some frigging rules here. I mean crap has been cut off from DVX for far less, however this endless promotion of the adapter that is marketed as being some sort of second coming with not a single thread of good HD footage quality has got to stop. Even DIY 35mm adpt guys selling from their garage load up full res footage. I mean even the still frames look like Sh*&. For god sakes the HV20 will take full frame stills straight to memory card from HDV tape. Why not even this?


My 2 cents
 
I feel so sad that my first post have to be under this ongoing tirade from some of the so called “professionals” acting like total I do not know what. GIVE Winston a break for Gods sake. I myself purchased the adapter and it works great. I was one of the first ones to buy it from him at the store I not dare to name because I might be breaking some sort of rules or something. I used it and works mighty fine. At the moment I do not want to share any of my work under this thread, in the future I will somewhere else. It is taking a little bit of time for Winston to figure out the inner workings of posting footage but eventually he will, after all he has been in the PROFESSIONAL VIDEO BUSINESS WORKING FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS WITH VERY BIG NAMES IN THE CAPITAL OF THE ENTERTAINMENT WORLD: NEW YORK CITY!
Regards to all.

John Caballero
 
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Yup, I second John's post. I've met Winston. Seems to be a very knowledgeable and down to earth guy. He doesn't wear his accomplishments on his sleeve.

Clearly he has a proprietary interest in the adapter he's developed, and that Adorama sells. He has no marketing or production budget other than what he does on his own time. Believe me, neither Winston or Adorama is making much $$ on this item....but if he could, well that would be great. This is, after all America....

Considering how many plugs there are for other retail outlets beyond here Adorama...like B and H, AbelCine, RedRock, Letus and Cinevate, etc....the animus he gets seems dis-proportionate.

...Now I gather neither WInston or Adorama is a sponsor to this site, but Winston is simply a regular guy who develped his own adapter, and Adorama is doing him more a favor than anything else by helping him sell it.

I saw the adapter and didn't care for the build quality or the compatible lenses, and I opted for the Letus. However, I give him credit for making an effort and contribution to the art.
 
moe52 said:
4 straight post of pushing your product but no footage.Maybe if you show some footage it will sell itself..
Click to expand...

you'll find it on vimeo.com/847176 I haven't been able to post it in full HD I am still trying to figure out how to do it.

Winston
 
jdajda said:
this whole posting three times in a row is quite the waste of space and reeks of used car dealer. Why not post a link to some HD footage here on the ol forum. Not really interested in having to wait for a DVD seeing as how its going to be standard def anyways...
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Would be glad to do it if someone could tell me exactly how to post it in HD. I posted some footage on Vimeo,com/847176 but not it's not the quality that I am looking for but there it is...

winston

You can see footage shot with the Prodofa medium format adapter at
www.monstarfilms.com

shot with the HVX200
 
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Finally, Winston made his Vimeo sample public for all to see at www.vimeo.com/847176. It is still sd but it gives you something to see for now. He will eventually learn the HD thing, and then you will probably have a flood of video, I hope. I guess some will like the sample some will criticize it to death but, like inoclast6 said, this is after all America.

Be well.

JC
 
Winston,

At this point in the game, with several established adapters out there, buyers and adapter users know already the concept and are looking more critically at footage to compare between adapters for use in mid to high end cameras.

Posting on youtube and vimeo is not the way to sell and show footage for critical review.

Allow users access to :

A "beautifully" shot material cinematography and content wise.

Full res footage that we can download.

Footage shot by higher end cameras, NOT just hv20.

Resolution chart tests and the like to back up claims on better grain handling and chromatic abberation handling.

Ted
 
John Caballero said:
Finally, Winston made his Vimeo sample public for all to see at www.vimeo.com/847176. It is still sd but it gives you something to see for now. He will eventually learn the HD thing, and then you will probably have a flood of video, I hope. I guess some will like the sample some will criticize it to death but, like inoclast6 said, this is after all America.

Be well.

JC
Click to expand...

John, Nikon just put out a great digital camera the (D-3) It's $5,000.00 you think they can send me one so I can test it ? You have contacts there, see what you can do for me.
 
Winston Vargas said:
John, Nikon just put out a great digital camera the (D-3) It's $5,000.00 you think they can send me one so I can test it ? You have contacts there, see what you can do for me.
Click to expand...


Is this sarcasm at Tim Naylor's comment that you should send out beta units of your adapter for testing by DPs? If not, then my mistake.
 
Winston, they actually do have beta testing groups. Not to the general public because Nikon can afford a staff of people to test their product. Seeing how you don't have the financial stability to pay people to test your product, you find people who will test it for you. All these people are saying, that they have been around the adapters and boards a long time; from an independent business standpoint, you're not helping the sale of your product. If you expect people to go out of their way to pay for something and it doesn't have beneficial tests, then you're not going to get your product far. You're not "advertising" anything except you have yet another adapter for people to buy. Imagine if microsoft not having any demo's for the 360. Or sony not having being at NAB. Think about it.

You have a website, up load a link to some footage. I'm sure it has a maximum upload of at least 50mb.
That's plenty for SD.

And you know how many people alone wanted a G35 because they seen MacGregor shooting with it? Market your adapter right.
 
And like Nikon doesnt send out free models to get reviewed? Just getting your product into a sotrefront and repeatedly plugging it really does nothing for me. Actually its a huge turnoff. Heck the G35 barely exists and its got people wanting one. Now thats marketing. This my friend is not.
 
davide said:
Is this sarcasm at Tim Naylor's comment that you should send out beta units of your adapter for testing by DPs? If not, then my mistake.
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Not really.. Where I work we do get merchandise to test, but the availability of the D3 is very limited and we haven't had luck in getting a unit.
 
Well the problem is production.. It's out there but I can only produce so many. Just got the Popular Photography Editors choice award in August.

Thanks
 
So you produced some a while back and are going to stop selling once you run out? Or they are selling so well that you don't have a surplus stock?

Yeah - I saw the Editors Choice Award. When are we going to see some uncompressed footage?
 
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