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Lens adaptor question
Hi,
I’m hiring the P&S technik soon and a set of Zeiss Superspeed lenses to be used with the EX1.
Unfortunately I’ll only have half a day before the shoot to play around and I’ve got a couple of questions I’d like to solve beforehand.
So anyone with lens adaptor experience perhaps?…Basically I’m a bit confused as to the best way to operate. I’m assuming that I just set my EX1 (My guess would be the shortest focal length & focus to infinity) and then leave it. That’s just a guess but what about F-stop on the EX1? 4?? 5.6??
Because I’m assuming that I set my exposure from my Primes or do I have to negotiate two sets of exposure?Regards,
Peter -
2 Replies
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Your best bet is to do a COW search, as there are tons of posts/threads on DoF adapters with lots of good info. In fact there was recently a long thread on the Mini35 specifically.
I have had a Mini35 for two years and love it… you can get great results with it. However it is not a stick-it-on-your-camera-and-instantly-get-great-results gadget. They take a fair bit to get used to and learn to use properly. If there is any way possible to adjust your schedule so that you have more time to get comfortable with the adapter I would definitely recommend you do so.
You are asking some very basic questions about the adapter (not that there’s anything at all wrong with that), but it does let me know that you are “starting from zero” with your knowledge about it, which is not a good place to be a half-day before an important shoot.
I don’t know what your background is, but if you have some relatively good experience with shooting 35mm film then giving yourself a crash-course in a few hours might give decent results. If your background is limited to video, then make sure you learn as much as you can in advance about film-style shooting (lens selection, depths-of-field, camera moves and blocking, and most importantly film-style lighting). Always remember that when using the Mini35 you must treat your scene almost exactly as if you were shooting film rather than video… the only real difference is that there is no film in the camera.
Also make SURE that the rental house knows what camera you are mounting it to and gives you the proper kit. They may have changed something, but the last time I talked with ZGC a few months ago (the US distributor for P+S Technik), they did not at that point yet have connector kits for the Sony EX series. They simply had not engineered them yet. Maybe that has changed.
[Peter Humble] “Because I’m assuming that I set my exposure from my Primes or do I have to negotiate two sets of exposure?”
Actually there will be three sets of exposure for you to negotiate, the f-stop on the cine lens, the f-stop on the camera’s native lens, and an additional exposure control ring that is on the Mini35 itself. The adapter is a wonderful device and can get stunning results, but as you can see it does take some practice and it’s not a quick use-it-right-out-of-the-box gadget.
I don’t wish to sound negative (especially since I’m a huge fan of the Mini35), but I just don’t want you to go in unprepared and get poor results. I believe there is a downloadable (PDF) manual for the Mini35 on the ZGC website. You might study it as much as you can before you actually get the hardware in your hands.
Good shooting….
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Todd,
Thanks for your considered reply. Great advise & I don’t take it negatively for a second. You’re right, my experience isn’t huge but I’m certainly not expecting to whack on the Mini35 and ‘Bingo’ get great images either. If there was the budget available i would certainly be hiring for an extra few days….
I double checked the website & the EX1 kit is definitely available
Regards,
Peter
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