How exactly attach cinema lens to HPX500?
 

I found out someone I know has bunch of cinema lenses for arriflex.
What do I need to mount these to HPX500?

bayonet 2/3" to PL mount.

Jason, thanks very much.

Sorry Jason, I've never heard a B4 mount called 2/3" bayonet...and I'm not sure I would describe the B4 mount as bayonet style.

Kaku, there's a very good chance the Arri lenses are PL mount, but there is an older Arriflex mount called "B mount", which, confusingly, has nothing to do with the B-4 mount mentioned above. If the lenses are those, you will be out of luck. The older the lenses, the higher the chance they are of this variety.

Ok, then on top of that, adapters to take PL to B4 mount are a pretty recent thing. Most people want the whole DoF bit as well, so that means you want a PS Technik Pro35 adapter, which being a $20k piece, is a steep rental.

Prior to the Pro35 there were oddball adapters to simply get a cine lens physically on the camera, but they would be hard to come by as most were one-off contraptions, and they didn't make an attempt at adjusting the field of view for the lens.

So in short:

1-You're hoping the lenses in question are PL mount

2-You're also hoping you have a connection at a high-end rental outlet that has a Pro35.

Nate,

Chances are the lenses are quite old...

This job coming up is satelite broadcast job so, they don't mind spending rental fee, but would it be worthy comparing to renting Canon cine lenses?

I also know a guy works on making adaptors so I will talk to him.

whoops B4 is the technically right term. We called a anything that attaches directly to the camera as
bayonet :p , guess we were too used to 1/3" fixed lens cameras (hvx). thanks for the correction.

I'm thinking your question is, would going the cine lens/pro35 route be worth it to just renting a Canon cine-style zoom meant for 2/3"?

The answer is no. Using film primes on 2/3" camera with Pro35 is all about gaining a particular aesthetic, one that you're willing to spend a lot of money and go through a lot of trouble for.

Nate, thanks.

I have to see what lenses my customer has and find out which mount should be used.

From my test SD broadcast lens is fine for doing 720p and I would want good wide angle prime lens or something for crisp image, any recommendation?

In the coming weeks I'll be shooting footage both for Panasonic demos and clients using the Pro-35 and Nikon film primes on the HPX500; this may answer the question for some as to whether or not renting/buying the Pro-35 is worth the film-like, shallow DOF that it can provide.

We'll also be using the Skater from P+S (same people who manufacture the Pro-35) for our dolly moves; once the finished clips are available and I have client approval I'll be posting samples on the forum under it's own thread.

All I can say for now is that I've seen just a few minutes of footage from initial setup tests on the Pro-35 using just available room light, not even studio lighting yet, and I'm amazed at both the low-light performance and of course the gorgeous, shallow DOF.

Samples in a few weeks.

Sounds great, Robert.

I just got the gig anyway for the TV drama and the cameraman ended up just wanting reuglar HD lenses for this time. But my other customer with the film lenses, I want to find out if I can use them with HPX. I will find out what kind of lenses he has.

Pro35 rental in LA
 

Since some of this discussion has touched on the Pro35 adapter, I was wondering if one of you might know of a good place to rent the Pro35 adapter in LA.

Thanks,
Dan

Dan,

Try the forums sponsors list; you'll find a least a couple that rent the Pro-35.