That was excellent Wayne. What lens did you have hooked up to the DVX100 ?

Also, what matte box did you use ? Interested in getting one for the XL2.

Declan,
We used a Nikon Nikkor S 50mm F1.4 (great lens).

It was not my matte box, but i believe it was a Crossiel matte box.

Thanks,
Wayne

Hello,
We tested the SG35 with the Sony z1 (fx-1) yesterday. We shot along Brighton sea front just after sunset to test the SG35's low light performance, which we are pleased about. Below is a short clip we put together:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/SG35_z1.htm

And a Picture of the z1 and SG35 (sorry, its a little dark):

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/z1_sg35.jpg

We used a Nikon 50mm F1.8 lens.

Any comments would be great!

Hi Wayne, nice video, did you use any gain to get your subject (Yasser?) visible? I notice the bottom left and right of the image has small some non GG material showing. Did you have any problems getting the GG to fill the Z1's 16:9 frame?

Also, could you explain how you exported your clip? My avi's are 1440 x 1080 and and look fine in PP1.51 but when I export (h.264) the aspect ratio is off, obviously due to the horizontal res of 1440 not being 1920. When I change the settings it just puts black bars on the sides, not filling the frame. Got me stumped :\

Hello Anthony, thanks for your comments.

No gain was used on the z1, it was set to F2.0 and the SLR to F1.8. That is indeed Yasser Kassana from this board.

You have a keen eye for detail. That was in fact the edge of the glass disk. The disk in the test unit was slightly smaller then the 95mm diameter of the units that ship. The glass is a few months old now.

Regarding the aspect problem your having, what i do is export the clip out from premiere to after effects, set after effects settings as 16:9 with square pixel aspect (1:1), and interpret the clip as DV widescreen. After affects will then convert the 2 different aspects properly.

Taking into consideration how dark it is down in the South these days that's very impressive light loss (or little I should say) :) . Perhaps a "Smoking Kills" disclaimer at the beginning of the footage would be approprate ;-)

Thanks for the tip re encoding i'll be giving it a try now.

Yeah there was some more footage, it was raining. The majority of the footage was shot in 50i hence you can see some trails, it was raining we had an umbrella covering the camera, so i'm assuming some of the footage might have been unusable. JUst wondering - we shot some great footage in your house Wayne - that was really really good. Any chance of having a part 2?

Here is another low light test we shot indoor.


http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/SG35_z1_candle.htm

Here is another low light test we shot indoor.Was the only light from the candle? If so, that's damn impressive.

Does the Z1 (and by extension, the FX1) line up easily with the current SG35 bracket and setup?

Robert,
There was a small lamp to one side of Yas, after the candle.

The SG35 lines up nicely with the z1, since its fully adjustable.

Yeah there was also the ND Filter on the Z1 as well, do give more of a feel.

Nice indoor footage Wayne/Yas.. pretty clean..
mate, it will be good to see some sun someday, see what it can really do..
oH, its all booked in for the shoot on Sat/Sunday, so keep me posted on the ETA.

Q

Quinn,
Thanks. I hate December weather here in the UK. Was even raining hard with the outdoor shots of the Peir, we held a brolly over the cam.

The unit will be with you with your new FD mount as well as the original EF mount on Thursday/Friday.

Great, my 85mm 1.8 arrived this morning.. and just been down to the Thames to test it out with teh LETUS - what a lens. !. eager to snap it on the SG..

the 135mm F2.5 and 28mm F2 arrive tomorrow so all ranges covered ( easy part over) just need the practice/light to make the images all gel together..

Cheers Wayne,

Quinn you've got an xm2 right?

yep... good machine but def no FX1

Wayne,
I have sent you an email

Eniola,
I have not received any email.

Wayne,
Check your hotmail now.
Have you tested your Adapter with an XL2? I saw Quinn's GL2 shots but I have not seen any XL2 test shots yet.

Eniola,
My XL2 beta tester is Declan Smith from this board. I am shipping his unit on friday. Stand by for test footage.

P.S, i did not receive any emails

I have sent it to your waynekinney@hotmail.com again.Well, by the time he gets it and provides a review, I might be done testing youR adapter with my XL2.

I am coming to the U.K and I was hoping we could meet and finish up our discussion in regards to purchasing an SG35, but of course there are more to it and that's why I sent you an email

Eniola,
My XL2 beta tester is Declan Smith from this board. I am shipping his unit on friday. Stand by for test footage.


Assuming I get the adapter on Saturday, I will do some test footage over the weekend and post to my website.

Declan,
I will surely be looking forward to that.

Wayne,
I am coming next week so I hope you would have built an adapter specially for my XL2 oooooo, LOL!. In case we decide to meet, I hope you have lenses we could use to test because I have not purchased any at the moment, so I hope you would be able to direct me towards the right ones to buy.

Eniola.. ( what mount are you looking at getting)

As far as lenses go there are a select few i would look at.

I have spent a few weeks scouring ebay and have a good set now (Canon FD),
My thoughts would be:

24 of 28mm F2
50mm F1.4
85mm F1.8
135mm F (as low as possible : i got a F2.5 Tamron FD 135mm Macro and its awesome in good light)
And possibly a zoom for sylistic effects.


Actually I'm beta testing the Letus35A at the moment and the 135mm looks really nice indoors aswell with a few lamps.
My SG is 'in the wings' being updated..

Anyway - hope that helps but the key issue is speed of the lenses v's your budget.
Outside in good lighting even a F3.5 is good, with all my fast lenses i need to add ND's to control the light while maintaining the DOF..

Waynes unit is a great peice of kit IMO and look forward to getting these 2 'homebuilds' side by side for a shootout..

Q

Re: the possible XL2 footage,

Me too..

Eniola.. ( what mount are you looking at getting)

As far as lenses go there are a select few i would look at.

I have spent a few weeks scouring ebay and have a good set now (Canon FD),
My thoughts would be:

24 of 28mm F2
50mm F1.4
85mm F1.8
135mm F (as low as possible : i got a F2.5 Tamron FD 135mm Macro and its awesome in good light)
And possibly a zoom for sylistic effects.


Actually I'm beta testing the Letus35A at the moment and the 135mm looks really nice indoors aswell with a few lamps.
My SG is 'in the wings' being updated..

Anyway - hope that helps but the key issue is speed of the lenses v's your budget.
Outside in good lighting even a F3.5 is good, with all my fast lenses i need to add ND's to control the light while maintaining the DOF..

Waynes unit is a great peice of kit IMO and look forward to getting these 2 'homebuilds' side by side for a shootout..

Q

Quinn, Exactly what I needed. I guess a lot of people are buying the lenses because it seems the prices are now sky rocketing like hell.
In regards to the mount, I really don't know.
Will the SG35 need a mount to attach the lens or what?
I don't think the M2 needs a mount and if it does, could someone please do let me know?.

Eniola,
The SG35 can have either a Nikon, Canon FD or Canon EF mount.

Is that provided by the adaptor manufacturer or will I have to buy that myself.
I know I have to buy a lens to make the adapter complete but I never knew I had to buy a mount as well. Is there any other thing we need to know before purchasing an adapter.
Quinn has given me an insight on the lenses, is there anything else we should be aware of?

Eniola,
The lens mount you choose is included in the price. All you need other then the SG35 is, camcorder, 35mm SLR lens (Nikon, Canon FD or Canon EF) and 8AA batteries (or a 12v mains adapter).

I gotta throw my two cents in. I strongly recommend the Sigma 20mm F1.8 over a 24mm (or worse, 28mm), F2.0.

24mm and 28mm F2's are cheap but the Sigma will be brighter and wider angle.

:)

wayne, just confirming that you recieved my e-mail?

No emails, Neil

waynekinney@hotmail.com

The unreleased G35 was supposed to be $999 according to their FAQ page. Now according to their forum:

"The G-35 will run you just under $1300 for the adapter." Posted by someone on the G35 team.

Are they raising the price on an adapter no one has seen yet? Seems strange...

Actually the adapter was always $999.... And has not changed.... The $1300 accounts for the adapter and the two mounts (one for the camera and one for the lens). So when you buy a G35 you will buy the adapter AND parts for your specific camera (dvx100, pd170, whatever), as well as your lenses (nikon, canon, etc.)

This, whether you believe it or not, allows the G35 to be a much more flexible tool for someone who owns or has acess to multiple cameras and lenses.

Makes sense I guess...now if they would just release it so I can decide which adapter I'm buying. :)

Hello,
I have worked on a new rods support system for the SG35 unit. Picture below:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/newsupport.jpg

The new support is less bulky, lighter and now has the unit at a fixed height. Instead, the camcorder is adjusted in height to align with the adapter. Also, the tripod mount is a seperate peice that can slide along the rods to find the best balance on the tripod. The metal wing nuts are only tempory for the picture, the support will ship with this style of wing knob: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/wingknob.jpg

All new orders will ship with this new support system.

Good news to hear man.

Hello,
I am pleased to say that the SG35 is now tested and confirmed working with the DVX100. Below is a test clip taken this morning (sorry its very wobbly, my tripod is broken):

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/SG35_dvx100_2.htm

And here is a picture of the dvx100 with the updated support system:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/sg35_dvx100.jpg

At last some good dvx footage! Sharp images, i'm impressed. Was it shot in 16:9 or 4:3?

Looks good. Do you have any plans of testing it with the HD100? I haven't seen any footage from the HD100 with any of those adapters yet. I wonder who will be the first one to break it.

Hello,
We are currently trying to find a solution with the HD100. We have managed to get it working but is not perfect. We feel the HD100 will only work to our satisfaction once we release the SG35pro (flip) version.

May I ask what's not working? Did you get hold of one for tests?

Michael, do you have a HD100? I'm leaning HD but can't decide on the cam. Wayne your footage looks awesome, very sharp.

All tests are being carried out by my HD100 beta tester. The problem is getting the HD100's stock lens to focus on the GG.

Greg, thanks for your comments.

I have been contemplating an adapter since I got my HD100, but I haven't seen anybody who tested the camera with one yet. I was very close to buying some of them but I always thought it would be better to wait till somebody posted a test clip. I'm glad I backed up. If nobody has done it yet, it may be a sign I was right on waiting. Redrock announced once they were testing the HD100 with the M2, but the footage never went up, just screen grabs. Makes you wonder why.
I have said this many times, the first adapter to have an online clip shot with the HD100 showing good results I will buy it. But so far, the only one that works is the P&S Mini35 and I can’t afford it.
I have to say the new Letus35 with the flip looks very interesting, but I’m waiting for somebody to post some HD100 footage shot with it before I buy. That goes for any adapter actually.


Greg, I’m a happy HD100 owner along with Tim, Nate and many others here. You can’t beat it’s features and image quality for that price.

The footage i've seen from it looks great. I think my main issue is that i've never been patient in buying gear...i'm always the first jackass on the block with a new toy, so i'm trying to be a little more discipline. In the mean time i've decided to work on the craft a little more especially lighting. I don't blame you for waiting on test footage, if you lived in the Jersey/Philly/NY area we could hook up and test the flip on the HD, i'd love to see the results.

I also thought I read that Wayne is going to be presenting a flip soon. Did I read that correctly Wayne? I've been thoroughly impressed with the SG35 footage.

My worries about the Letus35 were never about the image itself. That DVX100 demo on their site looks great. It was the dust/plastic speck problem. I don’t want to have to open my unit every week to clean. I’m hoping this is solved now with the new version. But the Letus35 footage looks great indeed. But if it won’t work with the HD100, or I’m not sure it will, it’s not any good for me. Wait is the only way for now. I’m leaning more towards a vibrating design like the Letus35 or Dan’s adapter rather than the spinning designs. But the SG35 looks incredible sharp and clean as well. Hard decisions. As I said, I will probably go for the first one that shows it can get good shots with the HD100.
Quyen, have you tried the Letus35 with the HD100?

I have been contemplating an adapter since I got my HD100, but I haven't seen anybody who tested the camera with one yet.
I have posted a while ago these pics:
http://dandiaconu.com/gallery/album20/IMGA1961
and the image it produces:
http://dandiaconu.com/gallery/album20/IMGA1967
http://dandiaconu.com/gallery/album20/IMGA1964
I don't have the camera (nor intention to buy it) but the image is one of the best I have seen (slightly better than DVX and Z1)
Not that hard to figure by the looks of the picture displayed on the monitor....
(fourth hand image so to speak)
I mean, we all know enough by now to figure if there are any distortions, vigneting or chroma aberrations even by looking at a picture of a picture of a picture...(I hope) By no means is this an invitation "buy one"! (just for the record).

Greg,
Yes the flip version of the SG35 is in the research and development stages. Wont be out anytime soon, though.