I agree Wayne, looking very good. And I've been meaning to post that I really respect your decision to overhaul the SG35 after the DVXuser shootout. The light loss (I should say lack of) on your adapter is really amazing. While it was a good product to begin with, I think it's great that you're willing to improve it further. Good luck with the refinements. I'll be following the progress, that's for sure.

Thanks for your comments guys.

Yes I was a little dissapointed with the results of the DVXuser shootout. Footage from both the SG35 and letus seemed soft and smeared, and we all know these units can produce very sharp results. Not sure the reason for this, but Norm will be updating the shootout later, reviewing the SGpro and I think the Brevis35.

SGpro Pre-order list
 

Hello,

We are happy to announce that we are now ready to take pre orders for the SGpro. All is now finalized in the design and dates from the machine shop. Final price is £400 (around $700) and includes the main SGpro unit, CNC machined aluminium 15mm support rods system and 1 lens mount of users choice. First batch of 10 units should ship end of april. We are offering the following metal interchangeable lens mounts:

Canon FD
Canon EOS/EF
M42
Contax
Leica R
Minolta MD
Nikon
Olympus OM
Pentax K
PL mount

All support clamps are CNC machined and anodozed black. All in all, a very solid system. Please email me at waynekinney@hotmail.com for info on the pre order list.

Teaser pics below:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.k...gpromounts.jpg

http://www.sysmicfilms.com/wayne/sgp...rame03fade.jpg

Wayne, how long are the rails? I ask cause I was wondering if it would marry with something like the Redrock Follow Focus or other follow focus'

Cheers
Aaron

Are there any demo clips?
Will this unit be compatible with the new Sony HC3?

Aaron,

The rails are 40cm long for supporting a FF or matte box.

Demo clips for the DVX100, FX-1 and XL2 to follow in the upcoming few weeks.

I see no reason why the HC3 will not work.

Here is a frame grab from yesterdays SGpro/DVX100 test:

http://www.sysmicfilms.com/wayne/sgpro_dvx100.jpg

I see quite a bit of grain in that grab (on the top right you'll notice).

Maybe it's just me.

Nice job anyway though.

That grab looks like it has been deinterlaced in post. Is this true? If it is, why so?

Hi,
No, was shot 50i, frame export from premiere. into photoshop and to JPEG. You can see the interlacing in the dog.

Just got my SG35
 

I'm not one of the more experienced pros on this forum, but so far I am delighted. It did take some time to get - about 10 weeks, but I'd say it was worth the wait.

Wayne has been great, never ducked my emails.

The engineering seems top notch and there's a lot more to it than I anticipated. Setup was, to my surprise, quite easy even without documentation.

I will try to post some stills using an HC1 when my memory card arrives.

BTW, I'm using a Nikon 28-200 AF lens and had to tape the aperture wide open. Anyone know a better way to do this? Seems there is no manual aperture control.

Wayne, did you tested the new version with an HVX200? Or you worked much aimed to SD?
Waiting for some footage.
Thanks.
Cheers

Hi,
Yes we are working on this. We may have found a local HVX200 user, and we are eager to test ASAP. The SGpro is HD ready.

Any HVX200 users around the London area wanting to test the SGpro?
 

Hi,

Are there any HVX200 users around the London area wanted to test SGpro? Im eager to get the SGpro up and running with this cam. It would need to be local so I can travel, im based in Brighton, East Sussex.

Anyone interested, please let me know!

SGpro pictures are here.
 

OK guys,

I promised to post a picture of the SGpro rig, so here it is:

http://www.sgpro.co.uk/sgpro.jpg

On the unit is the nikon mount, next to the unit is a Canon FD, Olypmus and Exakta/Topcon mounts.

Not pictured is the included shims to adjust the height of the sliding plate.

You've come a long way! It looks awesome, right up there with the M2 for style. Excellent job.

Stuff like this gets me all giddy inside. I seriously might consider selling my pimped-out Letus for one of these (I don't like the bokeh with my beattie, but the lack of light loss is unbeatable). Keep up the great work Wayne.

WOW looks GREAT...

is that QR plate the one used for the manfrotto 501/503 heads?

if so - can u tell me what that holder is? I've been looking for something like this for a while and don't know where else to look - did u have that part machined?

Thanks for your replies guys, we are very happy with the support.

Justin, its not a manfrotto head, but a quick search found a similar manfrotto head here:

http://www.adorama.com/BG3273.html

looks sexy!! :)

SGpro customers grabs/footage
 

Hi,

Thought I would share some of my customers footage shoot with their DVX and SGpro using Canon FD fit lenses.

NO CC.

Konica 30-80mm Zoom, F4.0

http://img279.imageshack.us/img279/8779/image08ys.jpg

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/9248/image10qu.jpg

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/5159/image25mb.jpg



OK both of the these videos were shot with a Very low quality F2.8 28mm Lens.

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uplo...Window_PAN.wmv

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uplo..._then_YArd.wmv

Heres a Grab from a best lens, the FD 50mm F1.4:

http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/3526/image35pj.jpg


Footage:

Konica F4.0 "50mm" in the zoom range.
http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uplo...d_on_phone.wmv


Zesnar 200mm F3.5.
http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uplo...tdoor_RAck.wmv



This is with a 50mm F1.4:

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uplo...mmFocusing.wmv

w-o-w.... congrats wayne!

hi wayne. good footage!
what about that blue bleeding (sorry if it's not the appropriate term) in some high contrast part of the image? like around the camera cord in the Window Pan shot.
is it a lens thing? thanks!!
dan

When i first saw that I was shocked. We have now learned is the cheap 28mm lens in use.

More footage will be posted soon.

Ok, great!
Thanks!

wow... very nice and professional... when is the flipped version going to come out?

Yeah...and an XL relay version?!?!?! ;)

Hi Wayne,

We'd be very interested in testing the SGpro with you. We have an HVX200e and are based in Brick Lane, East London.

Feel free to give me a call on 0870 143 1969

Joe Murphy
The Complete Works

I too would be very interested in testing the SGpro with my HVX. I'm based in the east London/Essex area. Send me an email if you're interested.

Carl Burke

SGpro/DVX100 footage. External full res
 

Hello,

I had the pleasure of meeting Daniel Morgen over the last couple of days, he is the director of the short film SOLO that can be found on this site. He bought down his DVX and we went out and shot some footage with the SGpro.

Main lenses used were a 28mm F1.8, 85mm F1.8 and a 75 - 210 F3.5 zoom.

Here is a 13MB wmv file, the video is 2 minutes long:

http://www.sysmicfilms.com/wayne/sgpro_dvx100.wmv

Please let me know what you all think.

Looks pretty awesome Wayne. A little edge blur but no BD or CA. Would be nice if there was sound on it to hear how loud the motor is, esp with a hot mic like the rode videomic.

I guess those were all with the lenses fully open? I find bokeh tends to look a bit hazy with a fast lens fully open unless you have a high diffusing gg, but the price for that is more light loss. What is the grit finish on the gg? What is the light loss like? How high can shutter speed go before grain/flicker show up?

Cheers
Andy

Thanks for your comments, Andy!

All shots with the 28mm lens were wide @F1.8 as we had not tripped the lens to allow aperture control, however the shots with the 85mm and 75 -210mm zoom were stopped down a fair bit.

The lightloss from the SGpro is about 1/2 a stop. Note this does not include the light loss from the actual SLR attached.

great footage wayne! the sgpro seems great!
can't wait to get mine!
bye!

Im glad you pointed that out. We found something new on the DVX, something we assumed different, and thats the DVX's tripod hole is actually off centre in relation to its lens, we had always assumed it was central! This was not a problem in the original SG35, since the support was left/right adjustable, however the SGpro support is not to keep it as rigid as possible. So the DVX was not aligned straight with the SGpro, hense the soft edge in 1 side. I will maching mounting holes offset 9mm ready for the dvx before shipping the units.


Just a tad above 1/500 s, but depends on shooting conditions, sometimes higher.

Hi Wayne,
Your adapter footage looks incredible. The detail in the clouds are so nice-that's something I haven't really been able to capture with the beta g35 (light loss maybe?) But the diffusion looks great, compared to the raw g35 footage I get. That footage looks like it has a lot of potential for color grading:) Do you have any footage with an xl2? I would love to see. 35mm adapters rock!

-Koa

Thanks for the kind words.

Yes im meeting up with my XL2 tester next month!

Looks great! although, you forgot to flip the image horizontally, because the bus, was driving on the wrong side of the road, or something.

What brand of lens was the 28mm F1.8?

Wayne, definitely looking very nice! Well done.

Aaron

Nice looking footage. Did you have a focus knob attached or just using the lens?

Thanks guys.

The 28 was a Sigma 28mm F1.8 aspherical MF (i love this lens).

Cole, if you mean a follow focus, then no.