P+S Teknik

DavidSloan · February 9, 2005

A few "ignant" questions regarding this funky looking gadget:

1) Does it improve image quality since I'm using a 35mm lens, does the image remain the same, or does it get worse since I'm shooting a projection of an image?

2) How do you deal with the image on the LCD screen being flipped?

3) I understand that it gives me a film DOF but how do I focus, now: by eye like before or by taking measurements? Also, do we turn the focus ring on the cine lens, or the DVX?

4) Are there any caveats regarding this contraption?

Thanks

Rik Andino · February 9, 2005

I never used the Mini-35 on a DVX-100, so I'm not an expert

But I shot with the Mini-35 on an XL1

You focus the cini lenses and yeah you can measure the focus just like 35mm

Which I think is totally cool!!

Also the lenses have the same field of view as in 35 which is pretty cool.

I dunno if for the DVX you'll have to also focus the DVX's lens

I'd suggest you test it out and see what happens.

From what I heard the image quality improves slightly but not much

From what I've seen with the XL1 it's true...image quality is slightly improved

But don't expect miracles sometimes it might not even be noticeable

And of course you gotta light it well (as always)

I feel DV looks best with lots of contrast but that's just me.

Now for the cons I've got a few

I feel it's not production ready--at least for the standard location shoot

It's too clunky difficult for handheld and loses calibration quickly

It might be very suitable for studio work but not that suitable for location shoot

It can't really handle the rigors of a normal production.

My other con is that it's overpriced for what it does

Basically it's used for 2 things mainly

One to have shallow depth of field using Cine lenses

Two to allow folks who only know 35 to shoot in MiniDV (and that rarely happens)

With the facility of having the same focal lenghts and same lens.

Other than this there's no real benefit to the Mini 35 adapter

But check out see if you like it--you might. :)

Kevin Zanit · February 9, 2005

Well the thing is, you won?t really get "better" image quality, you will get different image quality.

Essentially you are photographing a ground glass, so that inherently is going to cause a loss in sharpness and resolution (I am not really speaking in scientific terms, in other words, I know that sharpness and resolution are more complicated than I am alluding to, but the terminology helps make my point).

The big problem is that there is a several stop light compensation. No big deal on a day EXT, but try some night EXT (like I have coming up with the adapter). You go from a modest package, to pulling out larger units (such as 12k HMIs) just to make up for the stop loss (which is why I urged production to go another direction than this adapter).

Also, most people that are shooting with this thing are doing it because they can?t afford to shoot film, but want the DOF, angle of view, etc of 35mm film lenses. Problem is, if they can?t afford film, they probably can?t afford a decent set of primes either. Most of these shows don?t go out with S4s . . .

But, test this thing and determine if its characteristics suit your needs (because it does have its own "characteristics" aka artifacts).

Kevin Zanit