Thanks Phil

I'm assuming the CF1 that ships with the brevis is ideal for interior shots?
The majority of my short film is inside.

Andrew

yeah its perfect. its what i used for "homeless portraits"

35mm Lenses?
 

Hi Phil,

What lenses do you have in your kit for the brevis?
Correct me if I am wrong but the 35mm lenses are one that are used for still photographer on SLR Cameras? NO?
Do you have a preferred manufacturer? EG Nikon, Cannon etc?

Simon

These are my two cents:
I choose the M2 over the Brevis-the reason being that while I find them both to be quite sharp, I find that the M2 does a better job on areas that are out of focus- they look smoother and less grainy than with the Brevis. In other words, with the M2, you get less of the ground glass grain. I think the M2 looks cleaner, overall.

Simon!

Were you not paying attention when you assisted me in the shoot in the School last December?!! You were paying too much attention to the XDCAM HD i think!

I shot using the Brevis and you passed me loads of different lenses as I went for different looks. They are all Nikon mounts originally made for 35mm stills camera. Which is what the whole principle behind these adaptors is. Affordable adaptor, affordable glass for affordable cameras! Although we are still talking many thousands to get the best glass, camera adaptor combo. Still cheaper than mini35 and PL mount lenses.

I have 18mm, 20mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 80mm, 135mm, 180mm all as fast as they make 'em!

and 25-80mm, 70-200mm zooms.

The M2 does have a lovely BOKEH. Don't forget the Brevis has swappable diffusers. Check out my website and look at 35mm shorts 2 for a test i did with the Brevis CF2. Jaadgy have you used both then?

Phil

Thanks Phil,

Yeh I remember the number of times handing you the 35mm lenses but I was in XDCAM HD land so my mind was taking up with that. Plus your kit was far from on the small side. Too many toys to take in for a one day shoot. But fun and more than educational.

But as a general rule what price spread would one expect to pay for each of your 35mm lenses? Just a rough figure since I am sure each lens would vary.

standard lenses 50mm and 85mm if you aim for f1.4 you are looking at about £200 each. Fast wider lenses can cost a fair bit. Key is with anything from 35mm to 85mm don't go below f1.8 and for any lens including zooms f2.8 is the slowest you should be looking at. Cheapest lens cost me about £70 most cost me £500 and that was the Zeiss 85mm f1.4...you wouldnt need that just a nice fast second hand Nikon would do.

What might you suggest as an start up kit regarding 35mm lens?

Meaning is there maybe 3 lenses to start with that would give you a resonably broad palette to work with?

There are four lenses I always have on me when shooting with my Brevis or M2.

A Sigma f1.8 20mm
then a Nikon (or in my case Zeiss) 50mm f1.4
85mm f1.4
and a 135mm f2.3/ f2.8 if you can find one. i have a vivitar series 1 which is a very nice piece of glass.

These will cover all your bases and you are unlikely to need any others, especially with the Brevis.

HD100 noise
 

Phil, I have noticed a fair bit of noise coming from my HD100 as well but only in certain conditions. Attached is a pic from a shoot at sunset. This is the worst it has been at 0db. I find that low light + red/orange light is what triggers it. I've been quite satisfied with the imagery otherwise and on most other shoots.

(This shot is with the stock lens)

That is really bad! Totally unacceptable on an HD camera. Has anyone else got examples as bad as this?

Dennis.

What's coming next, - aftermarket low light diffuser kit for the Mini35?

It may have to do with the color profile you use. I think I was using Paolo's TC3, but I'm not sure on any specifics. I know I have since turned down the red gain from where he had it and have not noticed anything quite this bad since. FWIW

Phil, I've been using the M2 since last may, and I've also seen lots of shorts, commercials and Music videos made with it, and as far as image quality, the only adapter I can compare it with is the P+S tecnik adapter.The M2 has a much more desirable Bokeh than the Brevis. I say this even after seeing the wonderful work you've done with the Brevis - but as good as it is, it only confirms to me that the M2 Bokeh is smoother, lovelier, more pleasing.

Ok, you can shoot me if you like, put bare in mind I'm a producer not a camera op or DOP.

Can you define in the picture posted what aspects of it you consider to most highlight 'Totally unacceptable' noise, and how this is going to affect the average viewer?

When answering this - bare in mind that I am looking to shoot a narrative feature film with the P&S Techniks on the HD200/250, renting proper 35mm primes.

Originally were looking at using the HD100, but are now considering the HD200/250 so we can get full 60P in HD for slowmo shots, and a couple of other things.

The film is a thriller, will be lit in a controlled environment but also is likely to have spots of high contrast from light to shadow.

I'm just trying to gauge now whether what you are describing is a genuine massive flaw for the camera for it's intended purposes, or if it's just proving to suffer more noise than expected in certain environments.