a little off topic, but, nevertheless...
a lot of manufacturers are now warning about hot plugging/unplugging 6-pin firewire connections. 2 of the pins carry power...apparently it's quite possible to short the power pins to one of the other pins. if the devices aren't shut off, you stand the risk of burning them out.

Bill,

You are spot on. Both my imac and macbook pro firewires have been blown by hotswapping Western Digital MY book firewire drives. Let that be a warning to you all!!!!

My MacPro arrives on Monday (just checked tracking) I have now learned my lesson!

Thank you Phil,

I thought it was just a replacement of a firewire cable.. now you have sent in for repairing.. that is bad, i hope you won't lose your data and everything turns up allright especially your new Mac.

Look forward to your review next week : ).

Hey Phil, whilst the trusty post systems delivers you your new MAC - what types of test results might we expect in your report anyway?

Cheers mate and thanks for doing this - interest to many folk around here.

something very very wrong with my external hard drives. My new mac pro firewire has died the day I got it. It has to be the western digital my drive I have, sending too much power of something. I know one thing. I will never plug it into a firewire port again. Three macs, all with dead firewire.

Dennis,

The three are very similar in quality of images, with strengths and weaknesses for all. It will be a question of what each individual is looking for with a toss up between flexibility, set up time, picture quality, daily use and light loss.

The three are very similar in quality of images, with strengths and weaknesses for all. It will be a question of what each individual is looking for with a toss up between flexibility, set up time, picture quality, daily use and light loss.

Can you also include total weight of complete setup with or without lens, and with or without camera (since I don't remember what camera you were using)?

I've used XL2 and mini35 a lot, it weighs near 13lbs. More once you throw a lens, matte box and wireless receiver on it. This data would be great.

Any chance for you to perform the write-up in advance of posting screen shots or footage?

Phil, can't you use the USB2 on the MyBook?
Once you've got your footage off, I'd bin it and bite the bullet for a G-Drive or G-RAID. Wonderfull bits of kit.

I'm really sorry to hear about your fried ports. Not a funny situation to be in.

Phil, if possible, please can you check your mailbox...

many thanks.

i promise to have this done asap. The new mac is being shipped tomorrow and will arrive on monday. I will remove the P2 files off the bad hardrive using usb2 when i get this. Once I have done that I will write it up.

Again, sorry for the delay!

Thank you very much Phil, I thought you have lost your data and hesitate to write a review without footage to show...

Thanks a lot again, look forward to this next week. I shall buy you a drink (if you don't mind I myself can't drink :-).. get drunk by just half a cup of lagar.. ;p).

my new mac pro came today...and guess what...the firewire WORKS!!

So between work commitments this week I will get this done.

Phil

Good !! Waiting for your results from this intersting challenge.

Sorry to hear about your previous firewire problems, Phil, but good to hear about the new mac!

Oh yes !! new year with new begins and a new Mac.

Look forward to make my new step into 35mm adapter realm too :D.

thanksss~

a liitle OT but.... FYI

hey phil.... a client of mine had the same firewire problem.... killed 3 macs in their office.... tuned out to be the firewire cable, not the mybook drive.

Dennis, I can die for a Brevis HD Imaging Bundle now but I live in Turkey and ordering it online seems impossible from here. Please work with a distributor in Turkey or tell me that you are going to visit this beautiful country very soon :) Just kidding. But I really wonder how I get chance to buy your product.

Phil, burned out the firewire port on my deck a couple of years ago. Same issue.
Looking forward to your posting.

Ozan, please send us an email. It can (and has) been done :-)

my replacement mac pro has just been fried. The only thing I plugged in was the XDCAM F350.

I think I have just worked out the problem.

my cat!

She loves cables and I try to keep her out of the edit suite but she sometimes sneaks in. The cable I used has a small nick in it. I am sure power is leaking into the rest of the cable.

It is the only thing I can think of!

Phil,

The new mac has now got the same problem??? Oh, sorry to hear that man!

Although, I can confirm about your cat, it was being a right pain when I was there, it was biting the SGpro and got hair all over me (i love cats really)...

Hi Wayne!

It was my other cat who is the Mac killer. I think she is being paid by Bill Gates!

I am going to have to junk all my firewire cables and just buy some new ones.

How on earth do I explain this one to Applecare. I am sure if I tell them my cat fried my mac they won't be best pleased!

Instead of sending your mac back again... get this (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apiotek/EC0002C/) or the PCMCIA version if you've got an old mac laptop.

unfortunately it's a mac pro. not a laptop. so i am going to have to get it replaced! even if it was a laptop i would want my inbuilt firewire ports to work!

Sorry, this could be a bit off-topic, but I'm a beginner, and I wonder if the Letus35A can be compared to those 3 adaptaters... Is it as good or worse ? (sorry for my bad english...)

I had letus flip enhanced. I couldnt get clean enough pictures out of it so I sold it and bought the m2 and brevis. Maybe I had a duff one I dont know but I couldn't recommend it from my personal experience. Other people may have had better experiences

Wow six pages and still no review... ;-) I know it's not your fault but it shows how much interest there is in this topic. Chris or someone will have to trim all this down when your results actually hit the web. (be sure this post gets the ax first)

Looking forward to your review. BTW, I guess I'm lucky my cats are computer friendly...

six?!!? i make it two!! it wil be done this weekend...i got the files with some help onto a usb 2 drive so full steam ahead!

...so full steam ahead!

Oh! Fantasic !! I am now full head steaming for your golden words :D :D :D..

ta~

A face off between the M2, Brevis and SGPro... multiple Firewire blowouts, 6 pages of frustrated posts... is this going to be the 'Lost in La Mancha' of 35mm adapter reviews, is is doomed not to happen?

Phil, we're all behind you, good luck... cut the red wire, not the green...

Wow Phil ... I know exactly how you feel on the computer issues...frustrating as heck. By the way, Phil you are now officially the world's first dual Brevis owner :-)

Fantastic! Let me know if someone else buys two and I will get another to go with the new diffuser! ;-)

Well Phil, I'm planning to buy one more Brevis, soon after I receive my Brevis from Dennis =) Actually I was waiting for your review, but cant wait any longer, so I just ordered Brevis myself couple days ago=)

Actually I was waiting for your review, but cant wait any longer, so I just ordered Brevis myself couple days ago=)

I totally orderd one back when this thread was on page three. I didn't want to wait either. :-D

What if my shootout says the Brevis is pile of poo? Joking, all three are superb.

I am doing it all now. I have published the start of it at www.philipbloom.net click on 35mm shootout. Keep checking back I will be adding to this every as soon as i get each section written


Phil

I am progressing with part two but I am too knackered to finish it tonight, my typos are getting worse and worse. I will carry on tomorrow. I hope it is useful so far. I am trying to make it as relevent and as personal to my experiences as possible.


Phil

So far so good Phil (I'll post up an edge-to-edge sharpness how-to at the cinevate forum). Just one correction. The Cinevate=Dennis comment is actually not correct...3 more have been added in the last six weeks or so. That's not counting Mike the CNC guy who does all our CAD and CNC work these days. I could still do it myself but we'd need to slow down the earth's rotation to make a day about 96 hours or so :-)

Thanks Phil!!
And yeah.. please someone clarify about the edge-to-edge sharpness issue with the Brevis... I was a little bit shocked/worried when I read that part! *sigh*
It was one of the main reasons I was going for the Cinevate/Brevis...
Thx!

Thanks Dennis, The edge to edge problems I had were really minor and I didnt actually notice it. It was Wayne who noticed it. I will definately go to your forum and see how I can eliminate it entirely!

Thank you very much Phil, lovely article for a surprisingly nice sunny day in UK :D.

I don't mind about the professional look of the product, more important is the quality of result and other practical option.

So far:
*Setup-time: Brevis > M2 > SGPro (even Wayne took 15 minutes.. wow!)
*Picture quality in term of edge-to-edge-sharpness: SGPro > Brevis > M2

Look forward to your next chapter of review.

Thanksss :D.

Hi Ing

Glad you are liking it so far. I would say setup time for the m2 and sgpro would be much the same if wayne wasn't there so I wouldn't put the m2 ahead of it there.

Edge to edge is very subjective. All three are capable of edge to edge, just on that day in those conditions I was unable to get perfect edge edge on the m2 and brevis, but both of these are capable of it. With the M2 you just need to make sure you set it up in controlled conditions with a large monitor to make sure.

Also the SGPro does look professional, just not as much as the other two!

Considering that Wayne has never even seen the m2 before his SGPro takes the same idea behind it and improves it in some ways!

Phil

Thank you very much Phil :D,

so an over-simplified summary so far is:

*setup-time: Brevis (a minute less) > M2/SGPro (15 minutes)
*Edge-to-Edge-Sharpness: SGPro leads by an edge while Brevis can perform well most of the time & M2 can perform well too under "controlled environment"
*professional look: M2 > Brevis > SGPro (if people are willing to pay more for a nice logo yet want a good impression of Pro, then M2 is top of their list).

I think it is good to have a compiled version of your review so people can justify what point is more important to them.

For me, Edge2Edge > setup-time >>> pro-look.

Look forward to more of your personal experience on these great products especially if any chance you can cover those inquiries I emailed you before :).

ta~

Phil, do you have grabs from each Adapter of a chart or a scene to compare?

Couple of points on the edge to edge issue. First there are a few factors to consider when testing for it.

1. Phil did this test with the old version of the Nikon lens mount which we've scrapped. There were too many problems with alignment and the manufacturer simply couldn't bring it up to our requirements as far as quality goes. The new design drops in at it's proper register (but we've left room for fine tuning to the diffuser options if required) and has a much tighter XY tolerance (about .005"). The new design is much better.

2. There are two areas to check for proper axial alignment at the rear of the unit. There is no guess work or measuring, just attention to detail on those points. If the GG is not perfectly perpendicular to the optical axis, under very shallow DOF condtions you could see differential focus edge to edge. If you are framed (see below) for 16:9, you may also be pushing the 35mm image cone.

3. Our 72mm achromat as well as the 16:9 biased imaging adapter actually allow you to exceed the 35mm "standard" horizontal field of view. This means that you can potentially push the envelope of the 35mm image cone. While this is great, not all lenses will perform at their best across a perfectly perpendicular focus plain like this. Fortunately, very few shots using DOF are composed that way, so this is something you can only typically pick out using a focus chart under controlled conditions. We always suggest carefull testing with all your lenses first so that if this is an issue for that lense, you can plan for a more "typical" 35mm format frame.

So basically, if you require perfect edge to edge sharpness, the adapter is very capable of doing this.

Philip, what about the light loss? which one can operate better in low light conditions?

If you can all hang on all your questions will be answered in the rest of the article when I get it done.

It is going to have to wait though as my beloved cat "Arnie" the star of my short Kitty Crack died today aged just over a year. One minute he was playing fetch with me the next he was dead.

He was the most human animal I have ever met. Devoted and adorable. My girlfriend and I are devastated. It's hard to explain to non pet lovers but it feels absolutely awful.

Sorry to hear that Phil...

Very sorry for your loss Phil...

I know what thats like loosing the most beautiful Rottweiler the good Lord ever created, Katie Bear last year, and near that point once more,
as our cat Amanda is 23 years old,
and our English Mastiff Bear is 11 years old.
All the best to you and your girlfriend!

Unfortunately I know just how you feel -- my condolences to both of you,

Phil, we lost our great feline friend Gus the Cat (15 or so years old) last year. My daughter still asks those difficult questions like "how come we can't visit him in heaven"? The little buggers really manage to sneak in as legitimate family members, and are mourned much the same. It's great that you've got the video (and no doubt many pictures) to remind you of your special relationship with him.

Wow, well my girlfriend and I just lost a puppy- one that she searched, dwelled, and contemplated getting for a very long time. We were so relieved to have him, and he definately lit up our lives for the short time we had him. While holiday traveling we left him with the original owner, who took great care of him. Unfortunately he ate a poisonous plant that she was unaware she had and died, along with a new puppy of her own. My girlfriend is devasted, and I know its only a dog, but its been a week of the reminder of the fragility of life after one of my residents here at school lost an arm in a car accident, with two friends in the driver and passenger seats dead. Its a broken world. I feel your loss Phil.

-Alan