Dan Diaconu's MPIC 35mm Imager Review!

[Matthew Wauhkonen]

I'm making the flight out from Boston to go there. I should have a beta G35 unit by then that I'm going to try out, although I don't plan to bring it.

Anyhow, should be a fun expo. Intel iBooks!!!

[Jonathan Houser]

I think Dan has achieved an amazing feat. Bravo Dan! I'm glad to see it's filming something other than Felix. Although Steve, I'm not sure about that last video. :0

[Jonathan Houser]

Originally Posted by Gev Babit

There seems to be a lot of chromatic abberations, especially the blue, why is that?

Let's not forget, the DVX or any camera for that matter is not totally free from chromatic aberration. Although these adapters greatly reduce the effects, they can be seen (especially in extreme circumstances such as the florescent light) from time to time.

[Yasser Kassana]

Originally Posted by Steev Dinkins

Post again when you've made your decision and have something to show for it. ;)

What'd you mean?

[Quyen Le]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Houser

Let's not forget, the DVX or any camera for that matter is not totally free from chromatic aberration. Although these adapters greatly reduce the effects, they can be seen (especially in extreme circumstances such as the florescent light) from time to time.

I agree, but there is a better way to reduce it. For example when I tried to use the DVX100 at Z00, it has visible blue aberration the same way the Letus35 produces; however, my flip version eliminate that blue abberation or at least I can't see it with the same DVX100. Thanks.

Quyen

[Eric Gorski]

that sample footage does look really good. congrats.

[Dan Diaconu]

Thank you Jonathan,

Originally Posted by Quyen Le

I agree, but there is a better way to reduce it. For example ....

"for example using a shiny aluminum pipe on the INSIDE!! as housing for an optical system?"
"and a $15 loupe instead of an achromatic CU lens?"
"and going back to a GG after the OBVIOUS was demonstrated and supported by footage FOR OVER 1 (ONE) YEAR!

That OBVIOUS being; every single SLR camera (film or digital) uses a FRESNEL FOCUSING SCREEN INSTEAD OF a GG in the viewfinder. I wonder how can they ALL (Nikon, Canon, Minolta, Pentax, Mamiya, Rolleyflex, etc) be so ST..ID to bother with focusing screens when it would be sooooo easy (AND CHEAP!!!!) to just use a.....gg.

Wow...

I have enriched my knowledge here about optics over the last year more than I have gathered in 31 years dealing with lenses.... thanks!
but... no thanks!

Ways to avoid VIGNETING (and other monsters)
http://www.intenscreen.com/pdf/How_Does_It_Work.pdf

Image quality is only subject to.. lens in the front (Nikkor) and lens behind (Leica?) (possibly the CCD/CMOS?). (I also think BLUE should move its place somewhere in the middle of the spectrum and "hang on tight" there, before falling off the people's screens!) (dam bad blues! mumble-mumble).

With MPIC, I did not degrade nor create any optical interference on the optical path whatsoever.

All I do is move a focusing screen on the focal plane of a lens...

[Ben Winter]

Wow! Thanks for posting that Dan. I never knew there was such a huge difference between using regular ground glass and a fresnel focusing screen. I will now spend 92 more dollars on an Intenscreen to put in my $300 Letus to get better results. Thanks!

[Jimi Colteryahn]

Yeah! What is wrong with that guy?

We just want a decent adaptor at a great price and Mister, that for us means $300. When your products' drop to that magic price, maybe you'll be as popular. But right now, there's no question as to which vendors sell the "feels good, i'm buying!" products.

Jimi



P.S. (saving money for when the flip model's price drops)
:)

[Quyen Le]

Dan,

I am not trying to start a war here. Just try to explain that there are some Camera to GG position can change the color separation level. Of course the $2000 unit and the $300 unit or even $600 unit has OBVIOUS differences. You have your way of doing things, I have mine. I do admire you from all the works that you have done but I have reasons to develope mine differently.

Steev Dinkins

I think you are still not happy with the way I answered your email. Sorry that I have hundred of emails that I have to answer everyday, plus time to fill orders. If I knew that email was from you, I would have treated it differently since you have done wonderful things here at DVinfo.

Thanks.

Quyen

[Dan Diaconu]

Quyen,
I am for peace as well and I also stand up for my beliefs (who doesn't?) and I make an effort every day to leave a better world than I found behind me. No further comments on anyone's previous posts. (I must have misinterpreted yours, sorry). For other readers (customers of Quyen or not), sorry for the somewhat friendly fire. Nobody got hurt and "we-all-good-'n-wanna-do-good". I have some "revisions" to do anyway; over the last year I sold two units while you sold a few more than that (something is not good with this pictshaaa), but..2006 is the "year of the dog"...

[Marcus Marchesseault]

Here is the reality of the situation:

Dan is going to sell a bunch of these adapters - to Quyen's current customers. These products are technical enough that not everyone will be able to use them. It's not that they are difficult, they just require a level of dedication to movie-making that the average person won't be able to commit. How does this make Quyen's customers into Dan's customers? Is it because they will be unhappy with the Letus35? No. It will be a positive experience with the Letus35 that will sell MPICs. A certain percentage of Quyen's customers will take the knowledge gained, and maybe some of the money made, using the Letus35 and move up to the MPIC. It is obvious that the MPIC is a very different product, as it has even better engineering and construction which is reflected in it's price. It is also a bit smaller than the Letus35, or any other 35mm adapter.

Once a person buys all the lenses and support gear, the adapter itself is only one big piece of a fairly large pie. If someone wants to get a bit more out of their lenses and therefore improve their movies, or just the workflow, they may see the MPIC as a bargain. Personally, I would love to go that route.

Some would point out that the Letus35 is constantly improving. I like the improvements and would pay the extra for them. Of course, the cost is going up so the days of the $300 adapter may be numbered.

What I would like to see:

Quyen's image flipper with an MPIC and Dan's Follow Focus on the rod support system I am building. Add a nice matte box and LCD monitor and someone could turn a decent video camera into a serious piece of movie-making gear for about $5000. Now that's a bargain.

[Steev Dinkins]

Originally Posted by Quyen Le

I think you are still not happy with the way I answered your email. Sorry that I have hundred of emails that I have to answer everyday, plus time to fill orders. If I knew that email was from you, I would have treated it differently since you have done wonderful things here at DVinfo.

Quyen, I appreciate you acknowledging this. Thanks for the positive words. Tis all good.

-steev

[Ben Winter]

A certain percentage of Quyen's customers will take the knowledge gained, and maybe some of the money made, using the Letus35 and move up to the MPIC.

$300 to $8000 is quite a large jump. Do I need to point out that you can buy a--well you know what kind of extremely decent camera you can buy with eight thousand dollars. Usually the camera is supposed to be the most expensive thing in your setup. Unless "8000" is a typo...

[Tony Tibbetts]

Originally Posted by Dan Diaconu

... over the last year I sold two units while you sold a few more than that (something is not good with this pictshaaa), but..2006 is the "year of the dog"...

Umm...yeah. Your unit costs $8000, Quyen's goes for $650. I'd say the picture is crytstal clear. Am I missing something here?