Video of first shoot with MTF adaptor and cheap lenses

[Ola Christoffersson]

Yesterday I had the opportunity of spending my first whole afternoon alone with my new friend – the F3.
I have to admit that I’ve had some problems falling in love with her since she arrived this Thursday. I found the F3 clumsy and ergonomically bad compared to my EX1r.

After shooting with her I am starting to fall in love though. There is something very different about the image compared to the EX1, apart from the large sensor. The noise level is so low and the colors are more natural. It feels very organic and yet sharp. And the low light performance is incredible!
When shooting 25P at dusk at 180 degree shutter I found myself impressed that I was at F4. That’s when I noticed I had ND1 active!!!

You can watch what I shot here: YouTube - PMW-F3 - Poor glass in poor light

I’ve found it hard to find F3-video that is not highly compressed so I’ll put a 15 mbit Windows Media file on my web server for a while. Grab it here: kamrat.tv/f3
If it’s not there anymore I’ve had to take it down due to too much traffic.

The nicest low light shots are at the end.

[Leonard Levy]

What was your glass?

[Chris Barcellos]

See the end fo the film, where he lists all of the glass he used.

Ola, thank you for sharing this footage. Very nice job with the new rig. No overheating issues, I assume.. :).

[Tony Partamian]

Is there a way to use a canon EF lens on the F3?

I know you cannot control the aperture stop manually but why can't they make an adaptor with a digital control over the lens.

I would love to try the 70-200 2.8 lens on the F3

[Pekka Uotila]

Stockholm, Stockholm.... vackert vackert och kallt liksom här, tack tack och tack...
Thank you very much !!!
I liked your shots very much and the cam seems to do very well indeed !!!!
Did you protect it in any way against the cold ?

[Ola Christoffersson]

If you prefer Exposureroom I've uploaded it there as well: PMW-F3 Poor glass in poor light By Ola Christoffersson On ExposureRoom

[Matthieu Robert]

Very nice and sharp shots.
I can't wait to try mine with my Nikon primes.

How about the MTF adapter ? Is it rock solid ?

[Dennis Dillon]

Ola,
Terrific compositions. My guess is this material is from the internal 35Mb SxS. Looks fantastic.
I just arrived in London with an F3 and the Sony prime kit 35/50/85. In addition we have an EX3 with a Letus(Probably the last time I use it) , a PDW-800 and a Canon 5D. My lens kit also includes Zeiss ZF 21/28/50/85/100. 4 Nano Flashes for off camera recording of the F3 and EX3.
Im here working, but testing at the same time.
I just got off the phone with Mike Tapa, and we will meet up to go over his adapter.
I can not tell you all how excited I am. It has been many years of P+S Pro 35(2/3) then Letus(EX 1/2) and then 5D. I can honestly say the 5D has produced many great images, but when it falls short of being a dedicated acquisition tool due to its many limitations, I look like a rookie. With the F3, all those limitations are for gone and for what this camera can do is far beyond REC 709 and 35Mb. I will be doing 10 bit off camera recording in S LOG as soon as Sony lets me. Real soon. I can not wait.

I put the rig together with a Zacuto plate and rails, Redrock Matte and FF, TV logic 7, and Nano. This camera has enough 1/4 20 to handle it all. I might combine two 1/4 20 on one mount for the Monitor. The BeBob CoCo power adapter I had from my EX1 will work with the F3 after a bit of plastic is cut from the adapter. Now I have two Hirose and one D tap. The FF slot needs to be filed out about an 1/8 so the Sony Lens can be removed and replaced with more ease. I will invest in a proper FF soon.
I will post ASAP on our experiences.

[Ola Christoffersson]

Wow! That sounds like a great kit. Good luck with your shoot. My guess is that you'll either strip the EX3 of it's adapter or put the whole contraption in a box once you start comparing adapter-images with the F3-image.
I will also try out a nano as soon as I can but I am a little afraid to. I am very happy with the EX-codec and for what I do (documentaries and current affairs) it does really well. I don't want to start drooling over an even better image and be forced to carry around yet another thing on my shoots.

Anyway - when it comes to the MTF-adapter I am very happy with the build quality and what it does. However I find it really hard to adjust the aperture. It is hard to reach the adaptor ring because of the width of the F3 and if you don't find the small stud on the adaptor by chance the adaptor ring is too slippery to get a good grip on. I'd like the ring to have a pattern to make it easier to grip and the stud to be much longer so it can be reached with a finger without having to reach around the front of the camera.

Looking forward in seeing what Mike will come up with. Hopefully there will be an upgrade plan for early adapters as well. :-)