Just incase you haven't seen, there is an interesting article in this month's American Cinematographer on the XL1s and its related accesories, including a piece on the P+S 35mm adapter. Also in the same issue is a lengthy piece on Mike Figgis' new dv venture "Hotel".

Yeah, some pretty cool and interesting stuff in those articles. I'm wondering how sensible it is to get hand-held shots with the Technik Mini35. Judging by the accounts in the article and pictures, it looks rough for "handholdability." But you never know . . .

Kyle "Doc" Mitchell

I hope Chris can get the rights from them to publish this stuff
online. I'd really like to read these articles that everyone is
talking about in the current issue.

Kyle, It's looking more like an actual film camera at that point, truly a little rough for hand holding shots, however in that case i'd be willing to slap the whole P+S outfit on to Birns and Sawyer's Image 2000 shoulder mount shown on the previous page (or something similar).

I just got my AC and only flipped through it. There looks to be some great articles on HD and miniDV. More than usual - nice.

I've just got my mini35 and with a lens attached it's not actually that bad. Not any worse than a fully loaded DV500 or a Arri 16s. Of course it's a bit front loaded, especially with a long zoom.

The unit is pretty light and by resting the rails on your shoulders you can adjust the balance of the camera pretty nicely. Plus, the viewfinder is mounted foreword and brings some of the weight onto your shoulder.

You know whats funny about all this is: I heard some people complaining that half the magazine's stories for this issue were on DV cameras and DV shoots. I say its great. This might be a sign that a lot of readers are now moving to digital cinematography. This is a good sign for the world; DV and miniDV is moving up. . .

Kyle "Doc" Mitchell

Yeah, I'd imagine most 35mm cinematographers would say that. I think it's great, at least for this issue. Mostly because the type of articles they do are more in depth and educational than any magazine out there. They are a cinematography magazine, not just a do all video magazine.

It was certainly interesting to see the change in AC. Not more than a few months ago you could flip through and almost every feature or column featured a film-based show...And now (at least in this issue) the digital video formats dominate the majority of the magazine. Even though i'm a purely DV guy and I don't shoot film other than for my still photographic work...I'd still prefer to see a good mix of video and film formats in the magazine, as it's about cinematography, a craft that stays the same regardless of the recording medium.