Adapter for 37 mm Sony HDR-HC1

[Fredrik-Larsson]

I was out recording a bit yesterday but I found a lot of the pictures have a black line on the upper side of the picture. I hadn't zoomed in enough so I got that effect. It's way passed bedtime here now but I will upload some movie tomorrow and post it here.

[Fredrik-Larsson]

Here is a new video (12 mb):

http://www.apollologic.com/movies/00...35hc1test2.wmv

I am using a tripod but these pictures are quite shaky when i zoom. I think it's because I rest my hand's weight on the lense and the connector between the Letus and the HC1 is like a thin point so it wiggles a little bit. Since it's zoomed in it's more sensitive for movements. The HC1 zoom is zoomed to more than 50 % to get rid of the black edges.

Anyway I need a lot of more playtime to get better results. Also note that this was recorded around 4 pm in good weather condition but it looses a lot of light...

[Frank Vrionis]

I take it it's Autumn in the northern hemisphere. We are just about to get summer here in Australia but that diffused light you have looks nice.

Apart from the encoding quality it looked alright. Did you get much detail loss? I suspect zooming in that much with the HC1 you would lose more and more of the original picture thus less detail [?].

I ordered the Letus for an HC1 that I have access to. Looks like I need 2 step up rings to get to 58mm. do you think it will pose a problem?

[Quyen Le]

Fredrik-Larsson

Where do you see the black edge? top/ bottom/ left/ right? You can align it to the center by the screw and the macro lens. Please let me know if you can fix it or not. The video looks nice. What lens do you use? Thanks.

Quyen

[Fredrik-Larsson]

Originally Posted by Frank Vrionis

I take it it's Autumn in the northern hemisphere. We are just about to get summer here in Australia but that diffused light you have looks nice.

Apart from the encoding quality it looked alright. Did you get much detail loss? I suspect zooming in that much with the HC1 you would lose more and more of the original picture thus less detail [?].

I ordered the Letus for an HC1 that I have access to. Looks like I need 2 step up rings to get to 58mm. do you think it will pose a problem?

Yes, it's getting autumn over here. Though it was a very nice sunday when I took the pictures. I had a slight hangover though.

I haven't really though of any loss. I think it looks okay and that the shallow DOF effect is there.

I don't think that will be a problem and that was the route I was going to take.

[Fredrik-Larsson]

Originally Posted by Quyen Le

Where do you see the black edge? top/ bottom/ left/ right? You can align it to the center by the screw and the macro lens. Please let me know if you can fix it or not. The video looks nice. What lens do you use? Thanks.

I only took the best clips. You might see something on the top of the clip. I think I wasn't zooming in enough. I think that the viewfinder crops the edges of what it actually records a bit so next time I will zoom more.

I use a Canon FD lense, 50 mm 1.8.

[Sean Seah]

WOW Fredrik,thaz some nice R&D here.. can some put some pictures of the rig? I cant imagine HC1 with the setup. The Letus35 likes one mean looking device! Btw,I noticed this seems to be a little distortion on the outer edges of the video,is that very apparent in high res?

Besides that, what kinda settings do u need to do on the HC1?

[Fredrik-Larsson]

Check out

http://www.apollologic.com/movies/004/hc1letus1.jpg
http://www.apollologic.com/movies/004/hc1letus2.jpg

Yes, there is some distortion. That's due to me not zooming in properly. I need to zoom in slightly more than 50 % to get rid of all the black edges. Unfortunately it's a bit hard to notice it in the viewfinder since you have an awkward lookingposition and I think that the viewfinder doesn't show everything it records.

So far I have needed a step up ring to 58 mm. Aligned so that the rectangle inside (dunno what it's called) is fine. I think I needed to zoom in more first. Basically that's it.

I am currently trying different stuff out so I will come with more updates as I go along.

Quyen, feel free to use these pictures if you like.

[Sean Seah]

Thanks for the picts!Wow the rig is really cool (intimating to certain extend!) Ha ha looks like a sub machine gun.Well, what u have mention seems pretty straight forward.Get the 58 to 35mm adapter+Letus35+35mm lenses and wah lah!

The only prob I see is when u r focusing on the 35mm lenses,it would be difficult to do it without any vibration as the camera would be tilted to the front.Correct me if I'm wrong about this.

[Fredrik-Larsson]

Originally Posted by Sean Seah

The only prob I see is when u r focusing on the 35mm lenses,it would be difficult to do it without any vibration as the camera would be tilted to the front.Correct me if I'm wrong about this.

Well, it's not tilted but I think it's certainly sensitive to any movements. If you have a lot of muscles (or have big clumsy hands, take your pick ;) ) it sways a little bit. I can imagine a smaller camera and with HD as well is a lot sensitive to any little movement. I have an idea on a simple stabilisationrod that I will build to see what it can do. If it works out I will take pictures of that to.

[Jos Svendsen]

Thanks for that last post. I was wondering if the unsupported design was ridgid enough, and you implies that it is not.

This means that the 250 USD extra for the Micro35 is probably a good investment, as this device has rails.

De bedste fra den anden side af sundet

[Fredrik-Larsson]

Well, for the HC1 it sways a little but I think that for bigger cameras it might be better since this is probably caused by the step-upring. Having a 58 mm camera would probably fit perfect. But I am going to investigate this further to verify that this is the case.

I think that Quyen is working on some support-rail for the Letus35 so if you are not in a hurry you might want to wait.

Jos, if you want to see it in real life you can drop by Malmö anytime or if I take a trip to copenhagen. I am also looking to get to know other filmmakers in the Malmö-Copenhagen region to work with or just exchange ideas.

[Jos Svendsen]

Frederik.

I'll give you a signal next time I'm in Malmø. My wife is swedish (Östersund), so we have to get supplies of Kalles Caviar from time to time.

My HC1 should be in tomorrow. I'll be pimping it up, and was sort of considering a device like Letus35. But I am a little worried about putting too much strain on the filter thead, and the whole contraption has to be stable.

I will wait until Letus 35.1 with support is out. Especially if it stays in the same pricerange.

Keep up the good work.

[Kevin Red]

Fredrik- do you get alot of vignetting around the edges of the GG when zoomed all the way out? Because I do, I have to zoom in quite a bit to avoid it, but even then, the center of the image is brighter than the edges.

[Fredrik-Larsson]

Yes I do. I think I need a little more than 50 % of zoom to get it real good. Is that similar to yours?