35mm adapter questions ...

[Aaron Cheater]

A friend of mine from uni who thinks I know everything about this sort of thing wants to have a conversation with me about 35mm adapters, specifically ones that will fit onto his Sony Z7P. The only problem is, I don't know as much as he thinks I do. Or maybe I know more than I think I do ...

Anyway, he specifically asked whether he would be able to put a 35mm lens straight onto his camera and bypass the adapter all together. I've only ever seen a Letus Elite in action on the end of a stock EX3 lens, and haven't actually used one myself. I'm also contemplating getting one myself assuming they make one for the fixed 2/3 Scarlet, although its probably better if I save up for the S35 version which would be close enough for me.

If anyone could offer me any know how about this kind of thing in a hurry it would be very much appreciated!

 

[Frank Glencairn]

1. usually the adapter lives on the stock lens of the camera.
2. if you have a removable lens, you can use a relay adapter between camera and 35mm adapter
3. You can put a 35mm lens direct on the removable lens camera (with a dumb adapter ring) but won´t get the DOF effect.

Hope that helps, Frank

 

[Shane Kelly]

DOF adapters work by rephotographing the image. The camcorder lens is focused on a ground-glass screen (focusing screen), rather than seeing directly through the lens. Your camcorder is shooting an image that has been projected onto a large "sensor" (the ground-glass) and can see the characteristics that this lens/sensor produces.
Think of it as shooting a photo or tv screen - your camcorder will see the image as it was shot with a larger sensor.
You can put a 35mm coverage lens on an ex3 but since you have a smaller sensor (in the ex3) , you are only using the very center of the lens, so it will not give you the shallow depth of field that you are looking for. See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_photography#Sensor_size_and_angle_of_view

 

[Matthew Bennett]

You've both entered a maddening world where millimetre differences can be life or death. The good thing is that there is years of knowledge and frustration on forums like dvxuser.com for you to mull over as you go on this journey!

 

[Aaron Cheater]

Yeah I thought about asking on dvxuser, but i figured i was already a member here and knew this forum a lot better, so i thought i'd start here ... thanks for all your help in getting me started!

 

[Sam Eilertsen]

Well, you WILL get shallow DOF because of the ridiculous crop factor. If you use a 50mm lens, then on a 2/3" camera it'll be more like a 150mm. But you'll also exaggerate any lens defects, and it'll look soft, since you're basically just taking a little piece of the image and blowing it up.

You might tun into trouble putting an adaptor onto a Scarlet fixed, because they can eat up several stops of light and the fixed is already just T2.8. Although I guess people do put them onto prosumer 1/3" cameras which are effectively ~1 stop lower than the Scarlet already.

 

[Peter Matthes]

Letus Ultimate.

Do it.

Do it.