Raymond Zrike

Emailed you about the lenses.

Thanks! Great explanation.

A number of the best super-16 zooms have a ramping maximum T-stop. For instance, the Angenieux 7-81mm is T2.4 until around 50mm when it becomes T3.4 (as marked on the lens itself). The Canon 6.6-66mm is similar.

My question—if I were to shoot the Angenieux at T3.4 or slower, and I zoomed from 7mm to 81mm, would I see the exposure drop after 50mm? Or would it stay the same (i.e. the exposure drop would only occur if the lens is set to T3.3 or faster)?

What is causing this drop in T-stop?

Anecdotally, has anyone noticed a drop in exposure during a shot when zooming a lens like that?

I assume a ramping maximum T-stop is not equivalent to a ramping f/stop? As in, I assume it only affects light transmission rather than depth of field.

On 5/11/2022 at 7:31 AM, Ville Piippo said:

Canon S16mm T2.4 8-64mm zoom lens with PL mount

Still available? Interested—will DM you.

Not really sure what the problem here is? Just let the buyer return the product to you for a refund. It's unfortunate when you have to eat the shipping costs as a seller, but it it doesn't happen often, especially if you cover all your ground regarding the condition in the listing.

I've sold tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and other items on eBay in the last few years and have had very few issues. The only annoying bit is the big fee, but that's the tradeoff for all the traffic they generate for your item (I've listed quite a few things on this forum and elsewhere online that got no traction but then sold quickly once I listed it on eBay). 

I’ve only seen the Optex and Century lenses go for $5k+ while the Digiprimes regularly sell for less than $1k, so that’s mainly why I was hunting for it. It would obviously be more expensive than the other Digiprimes, but I’d expect someone who understands the market to put it up for around $2k.

The HDx1.4 and Abakus adapters don’t really add CA or softness if their own; they obviously enhance the CA already present from the lenses, but it’s not much of an issue given the Digiprimes are already so heavily corrected. I have the HDx1.4 (it actually extends the focal length 1.35x according to the spec sheet) already and I’ve got the Abakus coming in in a few days, so I should be able to do some further tests. 

Great find! Crossing my fingers it’ll end up on eBay or this forum. I can never seem to be able to find these auctions until after the fact.

I’ve seen the 3.9mm in the brochures and mentioned in various forum threads, but I can’t find any sort of trace of it having been sold anywhere. Has anyone seen it in the flesh? I would love to get my hands on one—would be pretty neat for super-16 with an Abakus adapter.

3 hours ago, Mikey Collins said:

what lens could you not do without?

If you're wanting one single lens to start off at $1k, I'd wait around for a good deal on a 16mm Super Speed MkI (which most consider normal on super-16). Then you can pick up the 12mm and 25mm at some point. I don't really recommend the 9.5mm though. It's pretty soft until f/2.8.

It's kinda hard to give recommendations without being given a budget. Have all the money in the world? Get the Zeiss Ultra16s or Cooke sk4s. Have a mid-budget? Get Zeiss Super Speeds or Optar Illuminas. Have no money? Adapt still lenses to c-mount (although unfortunately you'll be stuck to mostly long lenses). As for zooms, if they actually cover super-16 (a lot of the eBay listings lie about that), they usually hover around $3k-6k (your Canon 8-64mm, Zeiss 11-110mm, etc). You could alternatively get a full frame zoom, but the only one that goes down to a normal focal length on super 16 that is not wildly expensive is the Tokina 11-20mm T2.9. That is also an incredibly shoot zoom range. The Sigma 18-35mm T2 isn't a bad choice, but at $4k, you might as well get a legit super-16 zoom.

As someone who isn't loaded, I've got the following for my ACL (which has a similar mount to your NPR): 16mm Optar Illumina PL, Zeiss 25mm Super Speed MK2 PL, Zeiss 55mm Otus F-mount, and a Zeiss Digizoom 6-24mm B4 with an IBE adapter. The key is regularly checking for good listings on eBay and on this forum.

3 hours ago, Mikey Collins said:

Anyone have any sources that show framing of different focal lengths for super 16 of say, a mid-shot?

Do you mean visualizing what different focal lengths look like on super-16? There are a couple good director's viewfinder apps. I quite like Artemis Pro.

Curious what lens that is in the first picture?

I believe 3D printing services are a bit different than a metal shop—from my little bit of research, it seems you can get a small quantity or even just one printed. I was looking at one printing service and they quoted $12 for an aluminum print.

I have another part that I want printed for my Eclair ACL anyways, so I’m going to get that made first and see how it goes. Then maybe will do the c-mount to m4/3 mount!

Very interesting. If it’s that simple, maybe I could just smoosh together a m4/3 mount and a c-mount in Blender or something and send it off to a 3D printer. I’d have to learn Blender first lol, but anything for art!

I’ll give your method a shot first though. I think the difficult part would be maintaining the accuracy of the focus scale, but personally I just focus through the viewfinder, so this could be viable for some shooting situations.

Wow this was more complicated than I thought it was. Thanks for everyone's input. Lots to chew on.

On 4/29/2022 at 9:34 PM, David Mullen ASC said:

Don’t you want to first match field of view and then figure out how much to adjust to match depth of field? Otherwise you’re talking about two different image compositions / sizes.

I have a Zeiss Digizoom (made for 2/3") that I am using on super-16 with an IBE B4 to PL adapter. The adapter essentially keeps the field of view that the lens had on 2/3" by magnifying the focal length by around 1.35x. Drawback is that it takes away a stop of light and that the maximum input is T1.9.

I was considering getting a Zeiss Digiprime 10mm T1.6 that I saw on sale and wanted to see what it could take the place of in my super-16 rig (at least when it comes to depth of field and FOV, not lens speed).

On 4/29/2022 at 9:56 PM, Dom Jaeger said:

Using that calculator and the automatic CoC values, an equivalent lens to match the field of view and DOF of a 2/3” 10mm T1.6 lens on S16 would be around 13mm at T2.1.

Thanks! That's about what I was thinking. So the Zeiss Digiprime 10mm with the IBE adapter would essentially be a 13mm T2.1 when it comes to depth of field and a 13mm T2.7 when it comes to speed (given the adapter's max light input). I contacted IBE, and they said there shouldn't be any issues using the adapter with a lens faster than T1.9; the exposure just won't change at anything faster than that T-stop.

Those results look fantastic! Not sure why I had never seen this thread before you mentioned it elsewhere.

On 9/18/2021 at 8:53 PM, Allyn Iwatsuru said:

Sorry I never got back to this question. Here are the links to the adapters.

What process did you take to combine the C-to-M4/3 adapter and the extension tube? Did you manage to keep infinity focus (although that isn't much of a concern for something so wide)?

Changing sensor/film size (while distance, T-stop, and focal length stay the same) shouldn’t change the total depth of field, right? These online calculators say otherwise: https://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html, https://dofsimulator.net/en/. Try just changing the sensor size and you’ll see it affects their depth of field readings. Am I wrong or are they wrong?

I’m trying to figure out what super-16 lens would get an equivalent depth of field for 10mm T1.6 on a 2/3” sensor.

PM'd.

Anybody got any Cooke zooms they’re looking to sell? Either super-16 or 35 (not regular 16). Curious what’s out there.

Good point. I just wish he'd give me some sort of timeline like "that'll take six months" or something. Will try my luck again.

2 hours ago, Heikki Repo said:

I contacted Les

You actually got in touch with him? Phone or email?

Great looking camera package btw!

On 4/9/2022 at 6:02 AM, Gregg MacPherson said:

You can now place wanted adds on eBay. Don't know if it costs.

I don't think eBay has had wanted ads for about 10 years now, but somewhat similarly you can save a search and get notified via email if something is listed.

4 hours ago, Gregg MacPherson said:

Limit the number of emails or calls,

I agree in general, but I don’t think anybody is going to get in contact with Les unless you keep trying to contact him repeatedly over time. Du-All picked up the phone immediately when I called—which I respect!

I definitely should have gotten his name. I believe he mentioned he was the son of the guy who started the place, so maybe that’s helpful.

4 hours ago, Gregg MacPherson said:

Both (he) and Andrzej at AZ-Spectrum will work on Eclair bits up to & including conversions however (it will) always come behind equipment sales and can unfortunately sit on the shelf for months before completion."

That’s essentially what Du-All told me also. Very reluctant to work on an ACL given other obligations. But I just consistently said the check-up probably wouldn’t be too complicated since the camera is already in good shape, and he seemed more open to that.

I think another key thing to say is that you’re fine with hitting a dead end if it requires a part that doesn’t exist. He seemed worried that he’d hit a roadblock regarding parts availability and then I wouldn’t pay him for his time. I essentially assured him that wasn’t the case (and that my camera wouldn’t likely need any parts). Probably best to have a donor for-parts camera with you to really do it right though! 

Just talked to Du-All. He’s hesitant to take on another ACL (says that he has one that he’s working on that’s been sitting on his desk for a while) because of the lack of parts/support. But since my camera is in pretty great condition already and really just needs to have the mount put back in spec and that sort of thing, he said I could drop in sometime and he’ll check it out. So I don’t think he’ll be working on ACL motors or anything super complicated like that anytime soon, but a general check-up is a possibility.

He also wasn’t aware of anybody in the US who services ACLs. I mentioned Visual Products, and he said that Du-All was actually who trained them on servicing ACLs back in the day (he is unaware of if they still service them).

Also mentioned that I think the previous owner had Super 16 Inc service my camera a few years ago, and he acted like that was bad news ? . I guess Bernie started making mistakes toward the end? Or maybe just a bit of a repairman rivalry. Not sure.

On 4/13/2022 at 5:10 PM, Gregg MacPherson said:

I offered him the parts drawings (of course)?

Anything I should bring with me besides the camera? What’s the parts drawing?

That’s good to hear. I’ll just pepper him with emails and calls every so often and will hopefully get a response at some point.

Do you know for sure that Les Bosher still makes mount adapters for the ACL? I’d love to get ones for EF and Leica M (I have his PL mount), but I’ve tried contacting him so many times over the last six months with no response (phone and email). Has anyone else had better luck?

I also intend to try pursuing Du-All to see if they could do collimation. They’ve never answered my various emails (haven’t tried calling yet). What’s with these repair places not answer emails? Lol.

New Jersey is a lot more convenient than Ohio for me (I’m in NY), so I’m crossing my fingers for Du-All, but I’m also thinking about just going out to Visual Products, dropping my camera off, and then maybe visiting some family in Indiana.