I shot some low light test footage with the new Redrock M2 adapter using a Nikon 85mm 1.8.
I onlly had one 150 watt bulb off to my left.. no gain on the camera.

Canera was the JVC HD10u

I heard that the Redrock micro was good in low light.. After viewing the footage I aggree. I think i should ahve stopped the lens to 2.8.... Because it kind of washed me out in some of the shot..

Take a look at the color rendition.. I think it is pretty clean for a 1 chip camera. i did color correct..

Here are 2 links one is the full color corrected shot.

The other is a side by side comparison of the original, Magic Bullet and my own color correcting.

I think Magic bullet was the worst, but only due to the fact I did not tweak it... It looks kind of Sci fi...

Side by side images 9 megs
http://www.filefactory.com/get/f.php?f=9026f3ba737848beb0a322e6

Color corrected 25megs
http://www.filefactory.com/get/f.php?f=cbe5a23f7ceb920e6524fe02

Let me know what you think.. good bad or indifferent..

Also just a note. I captured with cineform. Then color corrected one, Added magic bullet generic preset to one and then left one untouched.

I converted that to a 720P WMV 6mbs file.
Then converted that to a Divx file..... all files are in Divx format.
If you really want to see the whole boring thing about 6 minutes of footage but higher quality then use this link...

56mb test shot..
http://www.filefactory.com/get/f.php?f=5f07fef17c5248aab6c3724d

Great post.

i have a hd10u, and im very interested in buying an adaptor.

what adaptor do you think its better? M2 or Letus35?

ciao

I would say the M2 is better in low light.. But the Letuse35 is pretty dang good for the price... If you plan on doing professional shoots or a movie get the M2.. If you are doing home stuff or personal shoots the Letus35 is fine...

Low light test...

Multifilmlooks wmv

http://www.filefactory.com/get/f.php?f=25bbea1da6275f939756c58d

Angie
http://www.filefactory.com/get/f.php?f=499d3be8bba4d8569d48a7de

900 Mile divx file..... Pretty good looking images...

900 mile files

http://www.filefactory.com/get/f.php?f=e7ca52d6f379218e9038fc2f

Watched Multifilmlooks.wmv and was pretty impressed with the quality "film look" especially with a one chip camera. I'm not new to video but I am new to making it look like film. I'm finding that shallow depth of field does more to make video look like film than shooting 24p (assuming you could only have one).

Thanks for the clip!

You have become the resident HD10 35mm adaptor guru here by default Erick. So I hope you don't mind the questions.
Is the stock HD10 lens removed when you add an adaptor such as the M2?
Are you noticing better low light performance with the adaptor and appropriate high speed lens over the stock Hd10 lens?
Any chance you could post a picture of the cam with the M2 adaptor so we could see what it looks like?
Thanks

No the stock lens stays on the camera.. I do have a picture posted online somewhere.. I will find it and add the link......

The way the M2 and the Letuse35 works is by allowing the use of 35mm lenses with the original camera lens.. There is a spinning or vibrating glass that the camera records from.. So you get the 35mm Depth of Field... I think the camera gets way better low light performance with the adapter if you use very fast lenses.. Like any lens with a 2.0 or faster lens.. I like the F1.4 and F1.2's... by nikon.. you can still find them on Ebay and on the Net cheap.. but since so many people are using them for the 35mm adapters I have noticed the prices are rising.. Look for Manual focus lenses as well.. Forget about Auto Focus ones... unless you already happen to own some... I have seen 50mm F1.4 Nikon rimes for as little as 35.00 some as high as 200.00.. You just have to keep your eye open.. I just bought a 55mm F1.2 For 150.00 And it works incredible in low light.... Also You can get a Nikon 85mm F1.8 for under 149.00 sometimes for as little as 50.00... These are great for shallow depth of Field and gives a great movie look as well....

Thanks for the reply. It stands to reason that the faster the lens you use with the adaptor the better the light capability, but aren't we ultimately limited by the stock lens? Or does some how the adaptor lens allow more light to be pulled in transfering a better low light image to the stock lens? I am very curious as to how the optics work.
I am constanly fighting chroma noise with our cam, and less than optimal light seems to increase it dramatically. Yet you dark footage with the M2 seems quite good.

Here is my opinion of what is going on with the 35mm lens adapters out there.... With the f1.4 and F1.2 lenses they gather more light and give great shadow detail and shallow depth of field.... This image is projected on the glass that the camera focuses on.. Since the camera only has to focus an an image generated from a 35mm lens with all of it's characteristics... This image is easily cptured with the camcorder and retains all the details of the 35mm lens...

The Redrockmicro is the only lens adapter out there that has almost no light loss.. I think they say it loses a stop or so.. But I have not noticed this with my own tests...

The letus35a loses at least 1 1/2 stops..

The PS technik loses at least a stop as well....

I hope this helps you...

It does help, thanks.
So it is stated as a one stop light loss with the M2, but you don't seem to notice this drop. Good to hear. I am kind of afraid being that my cam is quite poor low light that one more stop down would really suck. I wonder how much variance there is with our cams as far as firmware or actual sensor optics. Are all our HD10's the same?

I don't know about which firmware.. but my camera sucks in low light... But with the Redrock I get pretty darn good low light perfomane.. I had it serviced about two months ago.. So we probably have the same setup....