Quenell Jones Posted May 10, 2004 Posted May 10, 2004 I'm curious to know the best way to test a 16mm lens? Also..... Could you use a 35mm stills camera lens for a S16 camera? Will you have the coverage?
Nate Downes Posted May 10, 2004 Posted May 10, 2004 best way, get some short-ends and shoot some test footage. And there is an adaptor that will allow a 35mm SLR lens to fit to a 16 or S16 camera.
Jeff Tanner Posted May 10, 2004 Posted May 10, 2004 What type of test? Exposure? Focus? Flaring? Are you testing a lens that you would like to purchase or is it a lens that has recently been on the workbench? Shooting some footage with the lens will answer some questions but if you are testing for specific things, you need specific tests. For instance... If you are testing the focus/sharpness of a lens, you need a chart with a seimans star and you need to shoot it at varying distances. More information will help you get more specific answers. Jeff Tanner
Premium Member Adam Frisch FSF Posted May 10, 2004 Premium Member Posted May 10, 2004 Might I suggest a DIY way? Get a film frame, preferrably of a mesh or lines or something "busy" (ideally a start lead from a lab or a good quality chart), cut it out and tape it to the gate of your camera snugly (make sure it's flat - I stuck the film frame to one of those little glass squares labs use in microscopes) use and stick a powerful light (Mag Lite usually adequate) behind it. Turn the lights out and focus the lens on the wall and your camera will now be a projector. Change lenses and subjectively compare sharpness, color rendition, contrast and so on at the same aperture. Surprisingly simple and surprisingly useful. And exactly how the "big boys" do it, albeit with more snazzy gear, on their MTF benches.
Quenell Jones Posted May 11, 2004 Author Posted May 11, 2004 the test is more for the focus and sharpness...and i just recently bought the lens... what type of adaptor for the SLR 35mm to S16 and will the 35mm lens be enough to cover S16...I'm assuming yes...
Sam Wells Posted May 11, 2004 Posted May 11, 2004 Best to test it (them) on the camera you will be using. If you have the lens - on the camera - checked on an autocollimator, you can see if rear focus, flange focal depth are correct and have that corrected if need be. (If that's off, your lens will not perform as it should regardless of how good it is). You can tell some things from the collimator, but a lens test projector will give you a better picture so to speak of how the lens is performing. But really what I'd be inclined to do is simply shoot thekinds of things you intend to shoot with the lens, make a daily print project and look at it. You want to see how it performs at its maximum aperature especially, if a zoom how it performs throughout its zoom range. If you like to shoot into light sources, for instance, do that, see how it flares etc. (I'd try to induce flare, see what you can get away with). You can shoot from a shadoy room out a window to a bright sky, see if this causes veiling in shadows or do they remain black. And so on. -Sm
Mitch Gross Posted May 12, 2004 Posted May 12, 2004 Check the archives. I explained the process in depth last year.
Quenell Jones Posted May 18, 2004 Author Posted May 18, 2004 Under what heading..I was looking for the article but wasn't able to find it....
Mitch Gross Posted May 18, 2004 Posted May 18, 2004 Probably under buying a 16mm camera package, which is a subject I find myself endlessly spouting off upon.
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