Brevis35 Production Tests on XL1, XL2, DVX, HVX, VX2100

Dennis Wood · April 8th, 2006, 03:23 PM

Well, I've got the HVX, and a powerbook with FCP 3.0.1 which as far as I can tell, doesn't support the hvx. We had streaming working fine on the Mac desktop, so I'll have to go back to the studio and try some streams on that machine. Talk about a day of crash courses on Mac, FCP, and the HVX. My head hurts.

Dennis Wood · April 8th, 2006, 05:10 PM

What a beautiful cam! The focus assist (only in HD ) and controls on the camera are a joy to use. I figured out enough to get manual control, and mess with shooting modes, but otherwise, I'd assume the cam is at default settings.

Here is some quick footage from the HVX using plain old SD, 30P. I ended up using a weak macro to get proper framing in 16:9 mode. Our first test was definitely done in 4:3, and in that mode, no macro is required.

http://www.savefile.com/files/8265889

Here are some cropped/zoomed shots that pretty much illustrate why you need to eliminate the video camera, and 35mm lens from the equation when troubleshooting adapter issues. My staple lens (50mm F1.4) has a lot of barrel distortion :-(

Greg Bates · April 9th, 2006, 12:18 AM

Yeah I think it has to be the latest FCP.

Dennis Wood · April 9th, 2006, 12:49 PM

Ok, after swearing in about 5 languages, here is some 720P streamed from the HVX with the Brevis and a 50mm attached. Compressor kept crashing on the MAC, so after figuring out how to actually shut down a misbehaving app on a MAC (the owner has students do his editing...so no help there), and trying a bunch of exports I ended up with a less than ideal 3.4 mbit/sec H264 quicktime encode that didn't crash FCP. IDVD wouldn't work so I had I stumble through just burning a DVD. As a PC user, I was rather frustrated..

It's 1280x720, and the bitrate I realize is rather low. I dropped the camera off at a college film shoot set, and mentioned that I had streamed HD from the CAM via firewire. Apparently they thought you needed a P2 card too. Jaws dropped, and there was some quiet swearing there too.

Keep in mind that I was in a basement studio, tethered by firewire.

http://www.savefile.com/files/8390647

I'll revisit this with a laptop using FCP5 after I get the current run of adapters out.

Dennis Wood · April 16th, 2006, 09:18 AM

I'm thinking about renaming the Brevis..."takes a freakin long time to put together35". Needless to say, the first 10 depart tomorrow morning...Happy Easter folks.

http://www.cinevate.com/images/units.jpg

Andrew Todd · April 16th, 2006, 10:55 AM

those cases look really professional dennis.. whered you find those??

Dennis Wood · April 16th, 2006, 09:30 PM

They're Pelicans. I use them for all my own stuff too. Not cheap, but I know nothing will be damaged in shipping, and the adapters will have a good home once they get there.

Giuseppe Palumbo · April 12th, 2007, 12:10 AM

still no test footage with an xl2? I cant find anything and I like this adapter

Dennis Wood · April 13th, 2007, 11:09 PM

Giuseppe, we haven't shot with the XL2 for over a year :-) I may have some footage kicking around still from it, but the adapter has changed so much since, it wouldn't be representative to post again. We just introduced a new achromat and imaging element (CF1L) which are designed specifically for larger cams like the HVX, HD100, XL series etc.

April 9th, 2006, 12:49 PM	#34
Dennis Wood Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 916	HVX clip Ok, after swearing in about 5 languages, here is some 720P streamed from the HVX with the Brevis and a 50mm attached. Compressor kept crashing on the MAC, so after figuring out how to actually shut down a misbehaving app on a MAC (the owner has students do his editing...so no help there), and trying a bunch of exports I ended up with a less than ideal 3.4 mbit/sec H264 quicktime encode that didn't crash FCP. IDVD wouldn't work so I had I stumble through just burning a DVD. As a PC user, I was rather frustrated.. It's 1280x720, and the bitrate I realize is rather low. I dropped the camera off at a college film shoot set, and mentioned that I had streamed HD from the CAM via firewire. Apparently they thought you needed a P2 card too. Jaws dropped, and there was some quiet swearing there too. Keep in mind that I was in a basement studio, tethered by firewire. http://www.savefile.com/files/8390647 I'll revisit this with a laptop using FCP5 after I get the current run of adapters out.

April 16th, 2006, 09:18 AM	#35
Dennis Wood Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 916	The first Brevis shipment departs... I'm thinking about renaming the Brevis..."takes a freakin long time to put together35". Needless to say, the first 10 depart tomorrow morning...Happy Easter folks. http://www.cinevate.com/images/units.jpg

April 16th, 2006, 10:55 AM	#36
Andrew Todd Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Saint John, CANADA Posts: 633	those cases look really professional dennis.. whered you find those?? __________________ video : xl2 / letus35xl / bogen 503 photo- canon 1dmkII - bronica etrsi

April 12th, 2007, 12:10 AM	#38
Giuseppe Palumbo Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Cleveland, Ohio Posts: 199 Images: 7	still no test footage with an xl2? I cant find anything and I like this adapter __________________ AIM - N film B www.nbfilms.us

April 8th, 2006, 03:23 PM	#31
Dennis Wood Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 916	Well, I've got the HVX, and a powerbook with FCP 3.0.1 which as far as I can tell, doesn't support the hvx. We had streaming working fine on the Mac desktop, so I'll have to go back to the studio and try some streams on that machine. Talk about a day of crash courses on Mac, FCP, and the HVX. My head hurts.

April 8th, 2006, 05:10 PM	#32
Dennis Wood Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 916	What a beautiful cam! The focus assist (only in HD ) and controls on the camera are a joy to use. I figured out enough to get manual control, and mess with shooting modes, but otherwise, I'd assume the cam is at default settings. Here is some quick footage from the HVX using plain old SD, 30P. I ended up using a weak macro to get proper framing in 16:9 mode. Our first test was definitely done in 4:3, and in that mode, no macro is required. http://www.savefile.com/files/8265889 Here are some cropped/zoomed shots that pretty much illustrate why you need to eliminate the video camera, and 35mm lens from the equation when troubleshooting adapter issues. My staple lens (50mm F1.4) has a lot of barrel distortion :-(

April 9th, 2006, 12:18 AM	#33
Greg Bates Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 186	Yeah I think it has to be the latest FCP.

April 16th, 2006, 09:30 PM	#37
Dennis Wood Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 916	They're Pelicans. I use them for all my own stuff too. Not cheap, but I know nothing will be damaged in shipping, and the adapters will have a good home once they get there.

April 13th, 2007, 11:09 PM	#39
Dennis Wood Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 916	Giuseppe, we haven't shot with the XL2 for over a year :-) I may have some footage kicking around still from it, but the adapter has changed so much since, it wouldn't be representative to post again. We just introduced a new achromat and imaging element (CF1L) which are designed specifically for larger cams like the HVX, HD100, XL series etc.