Anyone use 35 mm DOF adapters?
 

I am buying a 35 mm adapter for my HD110U in the near future . I was curious as to what some of you might be using for your JVC cameras. I have been researching all the various models available. I would assume that the JVC's need a special mount where the Fujinon hooks on? I am leaning towards the latest Red Rock M2e, it seems really advanced and updated. Anyone care to share their experiences?

BTW- Price is a consideration... I want to keep the price under $2K for the setup including rails.

I use an adapter extensively with my JVCs. I currently mount one on my 200 which allows internal flipping without an inverted external monitor.

I just finished a shoot this morning while strapped on a cable zip line 122 METERS over a river gorge shooting a talent zipping on a cable line behind me.

It was a hand held shot with the 200 attached with my DIY adapter screwed on the 82mm filter thread via 72 to 82 step down ring.
A rail mount is essential. If you go redrock then you can also get their rail mount. As for me, I made my own rail mount.

Ted you're a braver man than me! I'll do almost anything for a shot... but not that one! That sounds really awesome and beats sitting behind a desk 8 hours a day!

Since the JVC's have bayonet lens mounts, is there anything special you need to get for an adapter? I don't read much about JVC's removable lens and the main brand adapters. How did you afix yours to the 200? Thanks!

Tom

Tom,

In my experience with using adapters and with the JVC in particular, you can get optimum e2e quality if you can get the achromat closer to front lens element on the stock 16x.

most brand adapterswill provide a 82 to 72 step down ring to fit the fujinon filter thread then place the 72mm achromat onto this ring.

I have tested the cinevate achromat, 1st versions, which is similar to the redrocks. Im talking about the achromats before they designed new ones for the ex cameras.

They didnt match with the jvc's well. The one that made a good match was the achromat from the sgpro.

Also, upon the suggestion of Bob Hart (a regular dvinfo poster in these threads) who helped me with my tests, I moved the achromat deeper into the front focus barrel of the fujinon. Note that the front glass element is recessed deep inside the barrel.

I did this by removing the anti flare ring in the front of the lens. But if this is hard to remove try to retro fit an 82mm uv filter for this purpose.

Considering the length of this weapon, it is best to have a rail mount to support the adapter and 35mm lens.

I'm attaching a pic of my shoot this morning to show you how utterly mad i became to get the shot hand held.

Ted

Tom- We are using the SGPro, an earlier version, but they have some newer models out (Welcome to shoot35!). It was the most cost effective solution we could find at the time (2006/07), not sure if this still applies. You can see some footage of our camera/adapter in action on a feature film at the bottom of this page: Ambleton Delight -Crew. From experience we have the found the most important asset is a proper HD monitor.

Ted -am very curious about the weight of your camera with the adapter, rails, firestore etc. Our camera is a veritable bazooka that weighs a ton, so we could only go for very short periods of time handheld.... so am extremely impressed by you going handheld on a cable zip line 200 feet over a river gorge!

Dan,

I corrected my metric mistake its 122 METERS not feet. A fully decked out rig does feel heavy. The pic i attached shows the cam striped down to bare essentials. I used tape so i can remove the firestore, I removed the mattebox as well.

When using a jib, the shift from hd100 to hd200 added SIGNIFICANT counterweight requirements. this is due to the heavy ab battery in addition to lens adapter + lens + firestore. AND because of this I also had to replace the jib head to a heavier manfrotto head.


Tom,

by showing you the rigors this rigs can go through you'll see how important a reliable rail or mount system is to hold this rather long rig together.
I'm attaching another pic of the JVC with lens adapter, a 15-30 wide zoom on a jib that I made.
Also it might interest you, since your planning on getting a redrock, that i recently replaced the GG of my diy adapter with a redrock gg so im also attaching a wide shot frame grab of the gorge taken with the 15-30 sigma at f8 so you'll see the quality of their original GG. Note that the new m2e gg is said to be better in low light.
I still keep my DIY gg which performs much better in lowlight, provided i keep my lenses wide open, in case i need low light performance. The redrock gg's loses more light BUT give flexibility of allowing you to close down even up to f16 on certain lenses.

Ted

Ted, I'm not sure whether I envy you (and your wonderfully interesting life in a tropical paradise) or think you are STARK RAVING MAD! Thanks for posting the pics! And kudos for doing the incredible.

Hahaha. Yeah Shaun, I'm still trying to think of reasons to leave my tropical paradise and be with my fiancee who's in Texas. hhmmm..

Back on topic, I hope my posts has been helpful for Tom. While some people say the JVC is hard to handle with an adapter due to its length, I hope It wont stop people who has the cam to just go around its limitations and go crazy with it.

Ted: your post has been extremely helpful! Your pics really give me an idea of what to expect with the RR gg. Ted I am going to write a movie about your adventures in shooting titled "Dude, I'm Living The Life". Its guys like you that make this board such an invaluable place to visit.


Dan Parkes: What can I say about Ambleton Delight except "Brilliant!". This is the step I am trying to make right now. Putting together an Indie that I can be proud of. Congratulations on such magnificent accomplishment! I must see the whole movie. Is it in distribution? Netflix perhaps?

The info on the SGBlade was very interesting. It was very helpful seeing the pics of your on set camera rig. I hear a lot of good things about the blade excepting the long lead times for it. Was Ambleton Delight shot in 24P? Could I pull off shooting an Indie using the HD110? I see that you used the HD200. And, yes I definitely need a HD monitor for the set.

Cheers! Tom