35mm adapter focal length question

[Ivan Castell]

Hi,

I'm going to shoot a shortfilm with the HVX200 and a DIY 35mm adapter (based on the jetsetmodels.info tutorial) we're building. My DP (director of photography) is worried (really scared, and so am I) about the fact that using an adapter will lead us to focal problems. i.e. He claims that using a 50mm lens will become a 130mm (tele) lens, and so on, which will make us go really back (in distance) in order to achieve medium or short value (faces) shots. We're are going to shoot a lot of close-ups and using flycam or handheld camera, so I'm really worried about that.

I've seen so may footage around there, that makes use of adapters and shooting faces, close-ups, etc... that I wonder if this is true, I mean, it's really a wide change in focal length using a 35mm adapter?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Ivan

[James Millward]

Hi mate,

I depends really on how much vignetting you ae getting from you device (and hot spotting).

If its minimal, you will not need to zoom in much past the outer edges of the viewing screen.

There will be some change in the measurment of your focal lenght, but that doesnt mean it will be extreme (again depending on how far you have to zoom in to gain an even usable image)

You could try a 28mm prime. If you do have to zoom in you could still end up with something in the 50mm or 'normal' range.

tbip2001

[Ivan Castell]

Thanks, I feel much relieved :)

So, the basic problem is in how much I have to zoom in, I'll take that in consideration.

Thanks again.

[Ben Winter]

Some (perhaps most) wide angles vignette naturally even on an SLR body with film. Zooming in past this unavoidable vignetting would yield a relatively telephoto field of view. There is a post-production solution to correct vignetting, however, if you have a small group of shots you'd be willing to export individually and process.