I'm new to considering moving to 35mm lenses instead of video, but would love to have the control over the DOF like I do in still 35mm lenses.

I would appreciate it if you could help with a few questions:
1) If I tried to go low-budet on my XL1s, do you know if the adapter that canon sells, that lets me use EOS lenses would give me a similar look? If so, would the mini35 just be a better version of that (so to speak)?

2) Would the mini35 carry the same multiplication factor for focal length as using the canon adapter or would a 50mm lens work like it would on a 35 mm camera (as far as angle of view)?

3) Does the mini35 accept and work properly with Super 16 PL mount lenses, such as a Angenieux 15-300 Super 16 PL Mount Zoom Lens?

Thank you for your help.

Good Morning Eric,

1) The EOS (EF) adapter from Canon is a mechanical adapter compared to the Mini35 which is an optical adapter. With the EF adapter, the lenses are being interpreted directly by the 1/3" CCD, thus resulting in a narrower angle of view then what you would expect on the still camera, 7.2x narrower approximately.

2) The Mini35 does not have the same multiplication factor as the EF adapter. Since the lens first images against the image screen, the full academy apature is captured, creating the AoV and DoF we would expect from those lenses on a 35mm motion picture camera. There is a slight narrowing of the AoV as compared to what you would see in an SLR camera, but we're still debating that exact conversion. For discussions sake, you will get the same results as you would expect in your still camera.

3) Currently the Mini35 only accepts lenses designed for 35mm capture, either 35mm motion picture lenses or 35mm SLR lenses. P+S is currently researching a version that would accept 16mm lenses but it is not predicted to be as popular as you will receive the same DoF as 16mm or 2/3" video, which is not as striking a difference from the original 1/3"


Now all of this being said, the EF adapter can be a great place to start. By removing the stock video lens and using Canon (or Nikon) still lenses you double the resolving power of the XL1s chip so while you're not getting the DoF you might want, you are getting a far superior image.


mizell