New moving ground glass mechanism

[Harikrishnan Ponnurangam]

Dan,

A short and precise question. Will you do the FF on and other modifications on DVX100a?

Yes or NO

Don't want to waste your precious time.

Thank you
Hari

[Dan Diaconu]

I don't understand the Q.
The FF works on DVX if you have a gear on the focus barrel of the camcorder or if you have an image converter taking SLR lenses. As for modifying cameras....at this point in time, I'd fire death if knocking at my door (I might get back to play with cameras and such when things get rolling...) will this do?

How come it says 9am (for my post) and is 2am here. Where are you guys?

[John Colette]

Obin - I have Dan's FF and it's **great**! Really innovative design and super quick to flip, remount, reverse - whatever. No backlash & pulls great focus.

Also has internal LED backlighting / lens lighting for dark shoots. It's miles in front of many "name" brands. Also works great with Dan's lens gears - i am currently gearing quite a few lenses with these, and from the prototype I have installed - they are also not-to-be-missed for serious adapter work.

I have the mini 35 - so unlike may people on the forum price is not my issue - my business does very well and I have been shooting professionally for 22 years - so these tools are really, IMHO the right things for the job. They work, and are **very** reasonably priced for what you get.

-john

[Bill Porter]

Originally Posted by John Colette

Obin - I have Dan's FF and it's **great**! Really innovative design and super quick to flip, remount, reverse - whatever. No backlash & pulls great focus.

Also has internal LED backlighting / lens lighting for dark shoots. It's miles in front of many "name" brands. Also works great with Dan's lens gears - i am currently gearing quite a few lenses with these, and from the prototype I have installed - they are also not-to-be-missed for serious adapter work.

I have the mini 35 - so unlike may people on the forum price is not my issue - my business does very well and I have been shooting professionally for 22 years - so these tools are really, IMHO the right things for the job. They work, and are **very** reasonably priced for what you get.

-john

Stop bragging. You know Obin got himself banned from Dan's demesne. No soup for you!! :-)

[Dan Diaconu]

John, thank you for the FB. I'll send you the rest of the "toys" in a few days.
Bill, Obin is not banned. Nobody is!(who am I to do that anyway). I did worse than he did and I didn't get banned, so I return the courtesy. Obin, if you "need" a FF, just place an order instead of asking questions that have no answers. Is that easy. Better yet, wait another week or two; Redrock is going to release a FF as well (same price range) and they might just send you a demo unit, who knows?

[Bill Porter]

See that, Obin? You owe me one.

[Dan Diaconu]

One year old thread. Same old MPIC for one year (new rods mount though)....
G35, Micro35, Letus, My35, SG35, Indie35 (sorry if I missed anyone) all...demonstrating the sustained and growing interest in a better video image.

Having a few enterprises taking off during the same year means something. It actually means a lot!

Light loss, grain, vigneting and chromatic aberrations. We all know them, we see them and we fight them. Size, weight, convenience, dust, noise level, resolution charts, sample footage and frames from the footage were captured and made public to support one device or another.

The interest IS there. The results... also (in different flavors) subject to the level of commitment commensurate with experience and funds available.

Spinning and shaking a GG plus the static solution from G35. Oscar as one of the masters of wax technique and other followers have somewhat demonstrated the "impossible" is possible. Hard to reproduce? We all know it.
Jonathan is taking the same route to a commercial level (hopefully rather sooner than latter) Unhappy with his price? DIY! take if from Oscar and do it if you can.
Spin a GG! Grind a gg. Optosigma... try them all and keep questioning the prices while spending money ($10 at a time, no more!) on your personal attempts. Someone asked a while ago on this thread: c’mmon Dan, how much do you want to charge for a “shake”
Well, it seems to go well for $300. Why don’t I sell at that price? I may withdraw the offer altogether.
The MPIC is nothing but a time black hole. I have to hold breath for about ten days to make on. One mistake at any point I time and previous work is down the drain.

Let's talk price if you will (no sarcasm involved) but no offences either and like Chris just pointed out this morning: don’t like, don’t buy!

[Leo Mandy]

There is alot of truth in what Dan says - the time and effort to create one and create one right - 'the black hole' as he calls it. My original device needed alot of attention (about 8 months and I still don't have it right!), the Letus35a needs constant cleaning for lens and dust particles - and if Dan's MPIC is a sealed unit, there can be NO dust or anything in that device, that probably means a vacuum seal. Not cheap and not easy.

[Ben Winter]

I don't know about a vacuum seal. That seems like overkill when you can simply clean out the unit and make sure the casing is tight. Besides, a unit can be vacuum sealed but it wouldn't do much if there was a loose particle inside. The Letus suffers from dust because the plastic gets scraped off into particles when the macro part gets pushed inside the aluminum tube. Someone mentioned lining the inside with the soft side of Velcro, and it seems like a viable idea.

But Dan--since he's the only one who can answer that--is the unit vacuum sealed? And what's this $8000/$2000 business? If I ordered an MPIC today would I really be paying $8000?

[Dan Diaconu]

The 2K was a promotion. The current 8K was "I need a break to see if is worth my time". The price (as of today) is 4500 with a FF and a set of gears or 3600 just for MPIC (rods system included). I am not planning to make them forever and I could withdraw this offer any time. (sorry.. too much breath holding to make one... I need some fresh air)
There is no vacuum inside, but the unit is watertight (NOT WATER PROOF)
You can splash it but not submerge it under water!!!!!!!! (no need for any of those anyway!) It should be treated like any other optical instrument.
I don't use Velcro; I use something else for that job.
If anyone wants any of it, let me know now before I get carried away with something else. This one is not new to me anymore.

[Joel Aaron]

Originally Posted by Dan Diaconu

The 2K was a promotion. The current 8K was "I need a break to see if is worth my time". The price (as of today) is 4500 with a FF and a set of gears or 3600 just for MPIC (rods system included).

Hey Dan, have you ever put together a Demo DVD with any footage?

What's the max F-Stop on the lens that works without vignetting etc.?

What happens if the motor dies or it otherwise breaks? Can we repair it ourselves or do we have to send it to you?

Is the HVX200 version any different or the same?

Thanks!

[Dan Diaconu]

>>> have you ever put together a Demo DVD with any footage?<<<

Yes! Shipping with each gear or FF. Steev? Greg? John? Others? Comments on the footage? Felix hair sharp enough on 7ft projected screen?

>>>What's the max F-Stop on the lens that works without vigneting etc.?<<<

Vigneting has nothing to with f-stops (in this case!). Grain has. Subject to light available, I had a relatively clean (somewhat "darker" or... a different look with a "different" contrast) image at 22. Grain still "blends in the motion" but the light level being reduced a lot, it looks different (similar to busting the gain in low light!). This is just if the avail light is not enough for the camcorder (which on a sunny day should not be a problem)

<<<What happens if the motor dies or it otherwise breaks?>>>>

A $50 Swiss made motor "dies hard" (specially when doesn't have much to do!!!)
I had some for 7 (SEVEN) years working (in other applications). Not one problem. (In Swiss we trust!)

<<<<Can we repair it ourselves or do we have to send it to you?>>>>

I would not open one of them again. No point. Replace (if EVER need be)
I would only guess I am more efficient to do that job and you could make more money in your field instead of "exploring" and risking in the same amount of time. Nevertheless, if you want, you can open, look, change, replace at your own pace, but.. if you send it back, you may have to pay a lot more.

<<<Is the HVX200 version any different or the same?>>>

Same thing. Mounting distance to lens subject to camcorder lens (none? one? two empty filters?). Steev should be the first one to find out. Here it is:
http://www.care2.com/c2c/photos/view...4_001.jpg.html

[Steev Dinkins]

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

have you ever put together a Demo DVD with any footage?

On the DVD there are instructions on how to gear your lenses, and how to use the Follow Focus. There is also example MPIC footage that ranges from good to spectacular. There's not a lot of 24p, but not a big deal. I'll be making enough 24p or 30p footage on my own. :)

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

What's the max F-Stop on the lens that works without vigneting etc.?

I'll echo what Dan said. F-stop doesn't have anything to do with Vignetting as far as I can tell. I would definitely advise not stopping the 35mm lens down very far - use filters instead. And don't stop your video camera's iris down too far either - use the built in ND filters if need be.

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

What happens if the motor dies or it otherwise breaks?

By the time it breaks, I would assume I will have either shot a ton of stuff already with it and made my money back plus profit, or there will be 35mm sized sensor HD cams within reach. Don't sweat it.

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

Can we repair it ourselves or do we have to send it to you?

I sure wouldn't try. Worst case, use it without the vibration - the screen is plenty good enough - refer to my U35A footage to see what I'm talking about.

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

Is the HVX200 version any different or the same?

Same unit should work on the HVX200. I already have a step ring ready to adapt 72mm to 82mm. I may need to take out my spacer, or leave it in, but I'm not too worried about it. At this point I'm getting really used to taking leaps of faith, and I haven't been bit in the ass yet. It also pays to trust who you're buying stuff from. Here's a short list - Dan, Panasonic, Apple, Seritek, Hitachi, Bogen Manfrotto, B&H Photo, etc. A lot of speculative purchases. So far so good. ;)

[Joel Aaron]

Originally Posted by Steev Dinkins

On the DVD there are instructions on how to gear your lenses, and how to use the Follow Focus.

So the gearing is something you do yourself?

I'll echo what Dan said. F-stop doesn't have anything to do with Vignetting as far as I can tell. I would definitely advise not stopping the 35mm lens down very far - use filters instead. And don't stop your video camera's iris down too far either - use the built in ND filters if need be.

I guess I'm more thinking about increased DOF. If you've got a 50mm focused at 6 ft you need to get to F8 in order for 5 to 7 feet to be in focus. Not a huge range if the camera or actors are moving. Which leads me to the idea that a 28 or 35mm lens might be better for a lot of situations depending on how sharp they come in. Have you tested those yet?

Thanks for the great response!

[Ben Winter]

So the gearing is something you do yourself?

Gearing lenses seems like a pretty trivial job--I think in an earlier post Dan mentioned that it takes maybe five minutes per lens for an unseasoned "gearer." I think you simply buy the gears from Dan, they come with your FF unit, and you turn the screws yourself. Not something you'd need Dan for, i think :)

I agree with you on the DOF and aperture thing. A lot of people keep saying "Just use ND's" when I mention it but I'm always referring to the change in depth of field, which not many people seem to take into account for some reason :(. With these adapters, I never consider stopping down the lens for actual light control, only to change DOF. I got good results at high numbers with the Letus and therefore I can't see how Dan's could be any worse...try using big lenses maybe. I've got a 135mm on the way.