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Focal length doubling
Is there a workaround to the focal length doubling that occurs when attaching 35mm lenses to the Micro 4/3″ mount? Someone told me that the new NovoFlex adaptor moves the lens further from the camera allowing it to maintain its focal length. I have a bunch of fast Nikon primes and am looking at purchasing the AF-100, but doubling the focal lengths would be a deal-breaker. Thanks!
Bill O’Neil
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14 Replies
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Our NovoFlex Nikon adaptor “doubles the focal length”as expected. We’ve had it about 6 months, so maybe there’s a new version. BTW, old Nikon glass looks great connected to the AF100.
John
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The MFT sensor is smaller than a full frame 35mm DSLR sensor by about half, so all lenses that are 35mm will have a smaller field of view. The AF100 sensor only sees the center of a 35mm lens thus making a 25mm more like a 50mm. Remember is not magnified. It just a smaller sensor. I don’t know of any adapters that can change the field of view. This is the same for Canon 7D and Nikon DSLR’s that have smaller sensors than a full frame 35mm like the Canon 5D.
Make sense?
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Yes, I understand all of this. I had just heard from a guy that the new adaptor moves the lens further from the sensor, thus making it more true to the original focal length. He must have erred in his claim or he was mistakenly referring to a Micro 4/3 lenses.
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[Bill ONeil] “I had just heard from a guy that the new adaptor moves the lens further from the sensor, thus making it more true to the original focal length.”
That can’t be right. If the distance between the lens and the sensor isn’t exactly right, the barrel markings will be off and you’ll lose the ability to focus at infinity.
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
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…You have to STOP thinking about lenses in terms of a 35mm Full Frame Still Photo camera, because it makes no sense for other formats, especially when looking at film and video formats.
A 165mm Super-Angulon Lens is an Ultra-Wide lens on an 8×10 inch large format camera, and a medium telephoto on a 35mm Full Frame camera.
The Micro 4/3 format is very close to the size of the standard 35mm Motion Picture format, so you should be thinking of Micro 4/3 lenses the same way you would when using a 35mm Motion Picture camera.
AbelCine has a very good interactive FOV tool that helps to understand the relationship between lens focal lengths and camera formats.
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Yeah I mean it’s a crop. Sure you don’t get the same FOV as you would on the same lens with a full frame sensor or 35mm film. But that’s simple physics. All it means is if you want a specific perspective you need to recalibrate mentally which lens can deliver it than you might be used to coming from 35mm. But there’s no way to trick around it.
Noah
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The widest Nikon I have is 28mm so I would have to purchase a micro 4/3″ wide lens to be covered.
Hmmm, Maybe I’ll just purchase the new AG-HPX250 10 bit P2 camera and use my brevis 35mm adaptor for the shallow DOF stuff.
I wish Panasonic would create a 10 bit, 35mm large sensor camera that records to P2.
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>>>Yeah I mean it’s a crop. Sure you don’t get the same FOV as you would on the same lens with a full frame sensor or 35mm film.
…But then every format is either a crop or enlargement compared to a different format. The 35mm Full Frame Still Photo format is a huge crop when compared to a 4×5 inch large format camera.
People coming from still photo background tend to get brainwashed on the 35mm Full Frame Still Photo format being the norm, when it is nothing like the norm for video or motion picture formats.
We have to start thinking in terms of FOV ( field of view ) where it doesn’t matter what lens or format you shoot with, it’s the FOV and DOF ( depth of field ) that create much of the “look” that we are after.
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>>>The widest Nikon I have is 28mm so I would have to purchase a micro 4/3″ wide lens to be covered.
A Nikon 28mm on the AF100 will produce a FOV that is very similar to a 55mm lens on a Full Frame Still Photo camera, so this focal length is more of a “normal” lens for the AF100 camera. If you want something wide, then you would be looking for a lens in the range of 17mm – 7mm. ( Olympus and Panasonic have a few lenses in this range )
>>>Maybe I’ll just purchase the new AG-HPX250 10 bit P2 camera and use my brevis 35mm adaptor for the shallow DOF stuff.
It looks like a great camera, but DOF adapters are a huge step backwards from a technology / production perspective. The are very “slow” exposure wise ( you lose 1-2 stops right off the bat ), you have be be very careful about back-focus issues ( or your image is not sharp ), they weigh more than your camera package does ( very clunky to work with ), and you have to keep them juiced up with power to use them. ( more batteries to take care of )
>>>I wish Panasonic would create a 10 bit, 35mm large sensor camera that records to P2.
I expect to see a 10-bit 4:2:2 version of the AF-100 next year, but you will never see Panasonic produce a camera with the 35mm Still Photo Format, as it’s not a good format for video. 35mm FF is too large, which means it’s too shallow DOF, which means you have to stop down 2 extra stops to achieve the same DOF as a Micro 4/3 camera. Not a problem outdoors during the day, but it’s a big issue when shooting indoors. With a Micro 4/3 camera you might light a set with a total of 4,000 watts of light, with a 35mm FF camera you would need 16,000 watts of light to achieve the same DOF.
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Thanks Guy. That’s good information. Actually, the Brevis 35mm adaptor only loses about a 1/2 stop with the flip module, plus the charge will last all day for the oscillating image plate. It is a bit of a hassle but it’s almost second nature to me after using it for the past few years on my HVX-200.
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