DVinfo users,

I just finished the long road of testing and development of a lighted lens cap called the "Lytecap" - for the Canon HV20/HV30 that gives the user the ability to set the aperture at 2.8 (or any range) whenever they desire. At 2.8, there is 0dB of gain to the image from the range of +6 to -11 when clicking through the exposure.

The Lytecap fits over the barrel of the hv20/hv30 and makes setting the aperture easy as pie.

Have a look at the site :

http://www.lytecap.com

I am a member here, so I hope this is taken the right way - just trying to get the word out to help the hv20 owners and budding film-makers (it will help me as well, I can't lie).

Very interesting mate!

How does this work exactly (Im not expecting details on design, just what it allows you to do).

Im a newbie to all this, so please forgive me.

Does this device allow you set exposure, and shutter speed separately now?

Thanks for posting
Jim

I am a member here, so I hope this is taken the right way.It's all good, David -- thanks for posting this!

The user has always been able to set the exposure manually and lock it, but you were getting camera GAIN with the wrong aperture. With a 2.8 aperture (which you can select with the Lytecap), you get 0dB of gain throughout the entire manual exposure of -11 to +6. This leads to a more filmic look.
This also helps with shooting films or shorts because you can set the HV20/HV30 to the same aperture and exposure each and every time.

Thanks for the props Chris!

http://www.lytecap.com

Thanks. Pretty interesting. I have my 35mm adapter (Brevis) always attached to the cam, so I'll wait to see what your version for DOF adapters looks like. Keep us posted.

Looking into working out a different version for 35mm lenses adapters. After I get all the orders out, I will continue with the testing. I have only the Letus35A at home, but it should be close enough to the others to have the desired effect.

Thanks for the interest.

Ok, I finally put up a video showing a walk-through of using the Lytecap (where I found time to do this, is still a mystery to me).

http://www.lytecap.com/multimedia.htm

A note :
If anyone has emailed me about the Lytecap and NOT received a reply, please let me know - my email is giving me a bit of grief...

This really is a good idea. Congrats.

I'm sure it will help a lot of people out there, myself included. For 20 bucks especially.

Like Michael said - would be especially great to see one for 35mm lenses. However i don't know off the top of my head how this would work, because you usually have to zoom out completely in the HV20 when you lock the exposure. (this isn't REQUIRED, but its usually the way you wanna do it i thought). So zooming in and out and having to set the backfocus may be tricky. No more tricky than we already have to do, but i wonder if there is a way to compensate with the Lytecap so no zooming is necessary?

I don't know.

Great job!

There isn't any issue with zooming in. The gain stays at 0dB once you set the aperture to 2.8 the first time and lock it. After testing the HV20 1/2 zoomed in and fully zoomed in, I adjusted the exposure from 0 to +6 for both zoomed settings and the gain is always 0dB, so that is great news.
Tonight I actually came up with a way to connect the Lytecap to 35mm adapters, but haven't had a chance to test it out. Fingers crossed.

David:

1. Help me out here so I understand. Why is 2.8 magical and how do you know that gain will not be employed.

2. I shoot in Cine mode exclusively, and I see in your demo that this covers TV mode. Does the cap work in that mode too ? I usually adjust my Cine mode setting until I get 1/48 of a second, then I thought I could depend on that in Cine mode, no gain would be added.

Thanks for the cool device ! I shoot with the 35a too, and will be courious how the testing works out, and how it is adapted

Interesting... glad to hear you've got it figured out!

Chris,

Barry Green can explain things more elegantly than I can.
http://www.dvxuser.com/jason/hv20/

Chris, I have also updated my blog which explains what I did to get the 0db of gain.

Thanks for that link to Barry's page again. It does confirm what I have been trying to do with Cine mode. So have you developed a process with your lens cap light that works in Cine mode ?

I will do some tests and let you know.
What have you been experiencing?
What settings are you using in Cinemode?

Sorry, I was out of town, and couldn't respond to your last post.

When shooting in Cine mode, you have nothing fixed in place to start off with. So with camera on, it selects initial settings on its own. This is where your cap would come in, of course, the same as with TV mode.

In any event, when you toggle into exposure, it locks the current settings, that you can adjust, of course, with the slider. I usually slide the exposure in the minus (-) direction until I hit 1/48 setting on the shutter (checking with the half down photo button, of course). Once I reach that point, I assume that camera is automatically locked out of gain. The aperature is usually in the 2.0 to 2.8 range. So that is why I had the question about whether 2.8 had some signifigance in Cine mode.

From what I understand about Cinemode, the HV20 tries hard to lock down on 1/48 with the correct exposure. Sometimes it adds gain, I believe, but it tries not to.
Right now I am finding that 4.8 and lower also yields some great results with a full range for the exposure. The main challenge is that when you open up the aperture to 4.8-5.6 is that you need to crank the exposure to get light in the scene. All-in-all, there is no gain added to the image when you set the aperture and lock it with the Lytecap.

Chris,

I just tested out Cinemode at a variety of apertures. Here is my results:

1) At an aperture 3.2 in Cinemode, the HV20 automatically keeps the "1/48" shutter speed up to +6 EV - the gain was 0dB. Once I clicked beyond +6, the shutter speed automatically changes to "1/40".

2) At an 2.8 in Cinemode, the HV20 keeps the "1/48" shutter speed to +5 (one less than 3.2). Again, there is no Gain added to the image, but the shutter speed again changes to "1/40" once the EV goes past +5.

Thanks for that information, David... I am getting similar results here.

Nice product David. I have a couple of questions/comments similar to Chris. It seems evident that an HV/20 & 30 user can use either the "TV mode" or the "Cinemode" to do these tricks in order to have more control over the exposure. So which of the two modes, (in your opinion), gives the better range of use after locking the exposure when using your product?

- I too have noticed while in "Cinemode", that the HV20 seems to know that you want to keep a 1/48 shutter speed and it will struggle to do it as much as it can. (But sometimes it CANNOT).

- Of course in "TV mode", you just set the shutter speed, and then not worry about it.

If we can figure out which MODE gives the better, (gain-free), range of exposure control after locking it with the toggle, That would be superb and could narrow things down a bit.

Thanks.

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Fixed. Thanks for that.

As for the different modes - I am not so sure if there are many differences to the two modes besides the fact that Cinemode does all of the work with the settings (or so it seems). Someone else might be able to chine in here with an answer.

In TV mode, I have more control because once I set the shutter speed it stays. Again, whether or not there is a difference when it comes down to TV mode vs. Cinemode, I am not sure. In Cinemode, I will try and go through all of the aperture and discover the upper limits to the 1/48 speed, but I am quite happy with the look of TV mode.
Chris, is there a reason you choose cinemode?

I just had a recent email from someone that told me something obvious - my reply to their email message about the "Lytecap" had gone directly to their spam/junk folder. Sometimes the obvious eludes me. So, having said all that, please check your junk folder if you have emailed me. I have answered each and everyone of my emails, so please check again - and if you have emptied you junk folder - email me again if you didn't get a response you were expecting.

On another note, the 35mm adapter is working, but I am not entirely happy with how it secures to the lens, so still progressing on that front.

Chris,

I just finished testing out the Lytecap with the HV20 and the Letus35A. Some interesting news. To step through the aperture ratings on the HV20, I manually used the Canon f-stops as well as the Lytecap. I really fined tuned it with the Lytecap, but found that 2.8 as well as all the other aperture settings were available. The stuff looks good - no gain - but dark. I am only using a 60Watt bulb for testing right now, but through the Letus35A it looks great.

Chris,

I just finished testing out the Lytecap with the HV20 and the Letus35A.

What is the minimum and maximum lens diameters the Lytecap will accommodate? And I'm assuming that it will work with any of the Letus products or other 35mm adapters since it's really designed to fit around the lenses and not the adapter itself, correct?

Thanks,

Right now, I am working with 46-55 or so for sizes. Once I get this one perfected, it is a matter of resizing it. I tried to use my Ambico macro/wide angles lens and it is too big, so I will need to resize for larger lenses.

Right now, I am working with 46-55 or so for sizes. Once I get this one perfected, it is a matter of resizing it. I tried to use my Ambico macro/wide angles lens and it is too big, so I will need to resize for larger lenses.

I'd love to have it fit my 58mm Voigtlander lens. When it's available, count me in as a customer...

Working on it. I have a method, just finding the right materials for the job!

David, great little invention from what I've seen. Couple of questions though: What are your plans for accommodating Canon's wangle and telephoto converters? Also, why not use more light to stop down the lens to say f4 at +-0 so you get a wider range of stops to work with, particularly on the - side (perhaps reaching f8) and therefore, possibly, avoid the necessity of using external ND filters in brightly lit outdoor scenes?

Aaron,
I have been thinking offering a couple of different diffusers for different lighting situations -
1) for outdoor, a diffuser that would range from 5.6 to 8.0
2) for indoor, a diffuser which runs from 2.0-5.6

In this way, depending on your situation, you could switch them around on the fly or before-hand to get what you want.

Does this sound like a viable option?

Sounds like a great product, and even more so if it can be set for both indoors and outdoors... And just when I finally got around to calibrating the screen of my phone with a big white image! Will see how I go with the phone, and whether or it remains consistent. If not, I may have to order one of these from you.

David, I gather from your reply that we can't get a +11 to -11 exposure scale. I don't have the HV20 so I obviously can't determine this for myself. But I do have the HG10 and they should function identically in this area. I have not been able to get a complete +11 to -11 scale after locking exposure.

Yes I can get the -11 through +11 at 4.8 aperture rating. Not a problem at all if that is what you are asking. The main problem is the image is quite dark unless you have a lot of light.

Well if +-0 is 4.8, then what is +11 and what is -11? The whole point of this should be to get as wide of an aperture range as possible with zero gain. This is kinda what Steve Witt was getting at. Give us the widest aperture range with zero gain. You can't do that if you center the scale at 2.8 because your -11 only stops down the lens to what, f5.6? I'm looking for f8 on the - side and f1.8 on the + side...so the whole aperture range @ 1/48 with zero gain.

Did you see this :
http://lytecap.blogspot.com/2008/02/other-apertures-for-hv20-using-lytecap.html
Is this what you are referring to?

Hey David, no I didn't see that, but it sounds a lot like what I'm talking about here. I'm not sure why anyone would want to limit the scale by centering around f2.8. You'll never be able to stop down to f8.

So my question is exactly which aperture at neutral gives the widest array of f stops with zero gain @ 1/48 shutter speed? And what are the exact #'s at -11 and +11?

I understand what you are saying.
Here is the way I look at it - if you are shooting outdoors, you are going to have a different aperture set then indoors - easy to understand. But if you look at the pictures on my blog in comparison, when I cranked up the EV to +11 at 4.8 aperture, there isn't much light being let in. When you set the aperture at numbers like 4.8-5.6, it really is dark even when you turn up the EV notches to the highest number. This aperture rating would be perfect for outdoor use because you don't want to blow out the image anyway unless you have some ND filters.
I think finding the right number is key, but so far, even though I can't get the fullest range from 2.8, I enjoy the look and sharpness of the image (I compared the images at two different apertures on my blog).
I am going to have to sit down and run through all of the apertures and see what results I get - hopefully during March Break.

But if you look at the pictures on my blog in comparison, when I cranked up the EV to +11 at 4.8 aperture, there isn't much light being let in.

Well, that's what you would expect when comparing f4.8 to f2.8 - less light because you're stopping down the lens. Or are you saying that f4.8 @ +11 is not as bright as f4.8 @+-0? Or f2.8 @ +11 is not as bright as f2.8 @ +-0?

If everything is kosher here, then it shouldn't matter where you are on the sliding scale. F2.8 @ +11 should yield identical results as f2.8 @+6, +-0, and -6 (as long as the shutter is locked at 1/48 and no gain on any setting). How are you determining whether or not the HV20 is adding gain when you're experimenting like this?

Here is the way I look at it - if you are shooting outdoors, you are going to have a different aperture set then indoors - easy to understand.

Not really. IMO, this entire process should be treated exactly as you treat exposure with film. You have a lens with a fixed aperture range and that's all ya got. If you're going full manual with this device, then everyone should desire the widest aperture range. If f8 is still not enough for outdoor work, then add an ND filter.

As long as, for example, f2.8, 1/48, 0 gain yields the exact same exposure whether that setting is found @-6, 0, +6, or +11 ticks on the scale, then I can't see why anyone would want different scales for indoor vs. outdoor work.

What's the status on the 35mm adapter version?

You can save yourself some money by simply pointing the camera about six inches from a white sheet of paper and switching on the LIGHT. The amount of light emitted will set your maximum aperture to around 2.0.

By increasing the distance then the max aperture will increase to 1.8 and by descreasing it then it will decrease slightly.

Cheers

Eddy Grabczewski

The Sound Manifesto Website (http://www.thesoundmanifesto.co.uk)