35mm adapters:

[Adrian Barry]

As i have mentioned in my previous post I am new to shooting with mid level HD cameras so please excuse my ignorance. Normally I would opt to perform tests in order to find answers but due to time and money restraints this is not as much of an option.

 

I have a few questions in regards to using 35mm adapters.

 

 

 

1. What are the cons, or problems that can occur when using 35mm adapters on HD cameras.

 

2. What are the best 35mm adapters available at the moment? Judging from previous posts movietube is often talked about, but is there many alternatives?

 

3. Although I haven't used the movie tube i saw one set up in panavision and the diagram on the website shows it to be quite bulky, this i presume is down to the volume of glass that is inside the adapter. Does this mean that an exposure compensation needs to be made? Or will the t-stop change, as the light has to travel through extra glass?

 

4. Finally I would be greatly interested in any ones thoughts or views on the subject or possible factors i may have missed.

 

Many Many thanks

[Adrian Sierkowski]

This has been discussed many many times; try searching "lens adapters," on here, and I'm pretty sure stuff will pop up.

[Mike Simpson]

1. Cons are pretty numerous. The out of focus area tends to look a bit grainy and wierd. Overall softness and more extreme softness around the edges. Vignetting. Noise. Light loss. Overall dirty look from the artificial grain the adapters try to create.

 

2. I think the P&S adapter is hands down the best. The letus is decent, and the newer brevis is also decent. I wouldnt touch the redrock or movietube with a stick.

 

3. There is definitely a light loss. Im not really sure why the movietube is so big and ridiculous, the brevis and redrock are more simple designs.

 

4. 35 adapters can actually look good, but the final destination of your film should play an important decision on if you decide to use one. When blown up it looks like someone dragged the film through the mud to me. The image just doesnt hold up. If you are showing on web or SD I doubt too many people will notice. Ive had alot of people ask if the adapter stuff on my reel is 35 and vice versa when the see it on the internets =p

 

And yeah, search if you want more information.

[Adrian Barry]

Thank you for your responses,

 

I have been researching these forums and others on the net, it was however very useful to get the answers to my questions directly. I'm interested Mike that you said you wouldn't touch the movietube with a stick as I have read quite a few reviews on here that say it is the best or that it comes highly recommended. I will also definitely look into the P&S adapter.

 

From your experience would the adapters hinder the image enough to make it NOT suitable for television broadcast?

 

Also are the image defects found even in the more expensive adapters?

 

It seems that the price of creating a shallow depth of field on lower spec HD cameras is high. Ideally i would like to rule this whole process out and just opt for the D20 or D21 but alas they are to expensive.

[Mike Simpson]

Well the movietube is just a nightmare to work with because of its design, and I wasnt overly happy with the results. Ive seen pretty much all the "defects" in the adapters ive mentioned, but the P&S mini35 adapter was the least noticable. But I was also shooting with a really well maintained set of superspeeds, which probably had alot to do with it. i

 

If your production is ebaying 50 dollar nikon lenses you might want to think twice, but if you can find some nice glass and get one of the better adapters you should be fine.

 

You can always look into a red too. The Red market is getting pretty saturated at this point and rental prices seem to be dropping =p