Has anyone tested or used the 2/3" lens adapter for the HD100?

The local dealer has been trying to get one from JVC for me to test out for a production, but no luck so far.

Which brings up the next question, what 2/3" lens options are available that will no cost and arm and leg? Same question goes for the 1/2" adapter?

I assume the plan would be to rent the lens, certainly any useful lens wouldn't be cost effective to buy unless you already owned a 2/3" or 1/2" camera and you factored the cost of the lens into the HD 100's rental.

However, for this production, I doubt if it's really worthwhile unless the 2/3" lens maintains the same angle of view that it had on it's original format when used on the 1/3" camera. That is the adaptor reduces the effective focal length of lens.

Yes, you will have mag.
2/3" will double your focal length.
1/2" will increase it by 50%.

http://pro.jvc.com/pro/attributes/HDTV/manual/HD100_shooting_angle.pdf

Hello everyone.

Has anyone managed to get a price for the 2/3" adapter?

I asked the dealer I purchased my HD100 fromand he had to phone around. It turns out the (ACM17?) converter is specially machined in Germany (apparenlty) and hence costs £600!

Hmmmm, now I've got a mate with a lathe............

Cheers
Tim

Check Les Bosher, he's in wales and it's the sort of thing that he does. Although, he mightn't have made any yet, however, I know he's designing L/W support bars for the HD100, so he might be interested in the adapters.

http://www.lesbosher.co.uk/

Thanks for that Brian, very handy to know. I might drop him an email and see what he thinks about making such a device.

I notice there are now a few 1/2" HD lens now out on the market for the XDCAM HD. They look like very good options for the HD 100.

Brian,

I think Sony might be using a special (read:non-industry standard) "hot shoe" connection on the XDCAM for the lens electronics. If this is the case, then the XDCAM lenses would only work on their XDCAM cameras.

The GY-HD100U adheres to the industry-standard plug-in 12 pin connector.

Regards, Carl

Carl, I've heard that there may be some new lens offerings shown at NAB.

Do you have a list of current 1/3" and 1/2" lens available for the HD100?
I'm hoping there will be some more 1/2" lens available that are reasonable and don't have as bad CA and breathing as the stock HD100 lens.

I realize the 1/2" lens will increase the focal length by 50%.
I'd love to see a 1/3" HD lens that is less than $2K and has improved rez, CA, and breathing over the stock lens.


Thanks

Hi Steven,

The 1/3" native lenses are:

TH16X55BRMU - the stock GYHD100UA lens

TH13x3.5BRMU - the step-up 13X wide angle lens that JVC sells


You can use any standard bayonet-mount, 12 pin 1/2" format SD lens with the ACM-12 adaptor. In the SD mode, the combination should be excellent quality. The quality of the lens will determine if the package can produce full HD resolution. I do not know of any HD 1/2" lenses that use standard connections and mounts.

With the ACM-17 adaptor, you can use any standard mount, 12 pin connector SD or HD 2/3" lens. High-end 2/3" HD lenses are $20,000 and up. This makes our high-end $12,000 HD 13X lens a bargin!

Either of these combinations will appear more "telephoto" than the same lens on it's native format camera. To help you figure out how much change there is, we at JVC have a chart. See this link:

http://pro.jvc.com/pro/attributes/HDTV/manual/HD100_shooting_angle.pdf

We all hope that the lens maker will bring forth more 1/3" choices very soon. Perhaps if GY-HD100U owners will contact the lens makers, they will move faster! They like to hear from customers, as we do. So, let them (Fujinon and Canon) know what you want.

Regards, Carl

Isn't there also a adaptor for using 35mm slr camera lenses? anyone have the rundown on that? is it only useful for extreme telephoto lenses? does such an adaptor actually exist?

Looking at the pictures on the Canon site their new 1/2" HD lenses look they've got pretty standard mounts, so that the JVC 1/2" adapter can be used. If not, third party people like Les Bosher can manufacture adapters. I suspect Sony will have their usual electronic connector for these ENG type lenses, but it's something that should be confirmed by anyone planning to buy one for use on the JVC.

http://www.canon-europe.com/TV-Products/Products/KH20x6.8_KRS.asp?ComponentID=353574&SourcePageID=33106


They're not going to be cheap, but are another possible option.

Someone removed the lens on their Z1 so that they could mount 35mm stills lenses. Assuming that there is a big enough depth between the stills mount and the HD 100 mount an adapter can be made. For example I've got an adapter that allows Nikon lenses to be fitted on my Aaton film camera. However, you'd have to test to see how good the pictures are on 1/3" HD using these larger format lenses.

I have the 2/3" adapter and have been using it for a couple of weeks now. I have a 4.7x11 HD lens that normally is on my SDX-900. I have to say this is the only way I'll shoot with the HD-100. The increase in sharpness is substantial, something you would expect since this is a 25K lens. Anyway the adtapter is well worth the expense.

It would be interesting to compare a high quality 2/3" HD lens to the Fujinon wide angle, certainly the weakest thing on the HD 100 is the supplied lens.

I tried to get a wide angle lens from my reseller but they have been impossible to get. I'll see if I can arrange for a demo so I can compare the Fujinon to my Canon HD 2/3".

I tried to get a wide angle lens from my reseller but they have been impossible to get. I'll see if I can arrange for a demo so I can compare the Fujinon to my Canon HD 2/3".
Greg,

I would love it if you could shoot the ISO 12233 resolution chart (http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/ISO_12233-reschart.pdf) on your 2/3" at F4, detail set to MIN, -9, -6, -3 and NORMAL, capture full 1280x720 frame grabs, and then send them to me.
Please print the chart at 600dpi if possible.
I have already tested the 13x, 16x and an additional 17x5 Fuji 1/3" lens with this chart.

You can download my results from the 13x and 16x here (http://homepage.mac.com/timdashwood/.Public/HD100_Lens_rez_tests.zip).

For info about the ISO 12233 Test chart: http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/res-chart.html

I tried to get a wide angle lens from my reseller but they have been impossible to get. I'll see if I can arrange for a demo so I can compare the Fujinon to my Canon HD 2/3".

That would be great, it would be interesting to find out the camera's limits. Although I suspect you'd need to put on a Zeiss DigiPrime to really know for sure where they lie. Of course, someone will do this for some project - with a 3.9 mm wide they've got the range of focal lengths.

I was hoping to get the Fujinon for a camera test I was doing for some low budget features, but like you no luck.

Looking at the Fujinon's spec makes me wonder if it's a modified version of their 1/2" HD W/A lens.