First tests with hvx and brevis

[Jiovanni Iacoviello]

http://talkfilm.com/test_brevis.wmv

Please right click and download. Would love to get any feedback.

Thanks.

[Tim Polster]

I really like the look of this footage.

Shallow depth of field, imho, is the real essence of the "film look" and you are achieving this very well.

What are the costs of lenses to go with the Brevis unit?

Are their any zooms available or only primes?

[Gene Crucean]

Tim, the brevis is a 35mm adapter so it uses almost any 35mm lens. Most people use still camera Nikon lenses with them.

[Jiovanni Iacoviello]

Thanks Tim,

Though it was my first try, I was pretty happy. Since I'm still learning, I know it can get even better. Now the tweeking begins.

The lenses I used were all manual focus nikon still lenses that I bought off of ebay. I have a 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 135mm and 200mm. They ranged in price from $12-$60 dollars. My favorite is the 200mm which I found for $31.00.

Now that I see how well the adaptor works, I am probably going to start investing in zeiss primes. They are apparently the best and sharpest glass out there. As for zooms, there is no reason I can think of why they wouldn't work. The only issue would probably be the speed of the lens, with zooms generally being slower than primes.

Jiovanni

Originally Posted by Tim Polster

I really like the look of this footage.

Shallow depth of field, imho, is the real essence of the "film look" and you are achieving this very well.

What are the costs of lenses to go with the Brevis unit?

Are their any zooms available or only primes?

[Tim Polster]

Thanks guys.

I am a still photographer as well, but do not know much about 35mm motion lenses or equipment.

Too bad my Canon lenses are all for digital, so they don't have an iris ring.

The Nikon's from Ebay seem like a very affordable choice to get this look.

[Jiovanni Iacoviello]

Tim,

I was very surprised at how inexpensive these old nikon lenses are. I was pretty lucky as all the lenses had very clean glass. Cosmetically, some of them look like they've been dragged behind a speeding car, but thankfully the glass is all good and that's what really counts.

If you plan on buying on ebay, just be patient and you'll be amazed at the great deals you can find. By the way, the brevis comes with interchangeable lens mounts, so you're no limited to just nikons. I stuck with nikons as they have a good rep and are also easy to find these days. You could just as easily use canon, pentax or even pl mount cine lenses.

I hope to shoot a feature later this year, so I may actually be switching to a pl mount, so that I can rent some great cine lens. They'll be much sharper and should reduce the breathing you see on still lenses.

Jiovanni

Originally Posted by Tim Polster

Thanks guys.

I am a still photographer as well, but do not know much about 35mm motion lenses or equipment.

Too bad my Canon lenses are all for digital, so they don't have an iris ring.

The Nikon's from Ebay seem like a very affordable choice to get this look.

[Ash Greyson]

I use old Canon FD lenses. I prefer the look they produce over the Nikons. I find them to be more organic and film like. They also, the faster ones at least, seem to vignette less.


Ash

[Jiovanni Iacoviello]

Ash,

Do you have any footage using canon lenses that we can see? I would love to see anything that is more filmlike. I'm not locked into nikons, and am still in the early testing stage. By the way, the footage I posted was shot with lenses ranging from 35mm all the way up to 200mm. I didn't notice any vignetting. I did also test a 28mm and it showed a little vignetting on one side which became more apparent as the lens was stopped down.

Jiovanni

Originally Posted by Ash Greyson

I use old Canon FD lenses. I prefer the look they produce over the Nikons. I find them to be more organic and film like. They also, the faster ones at least, seem to vignette less.


Ash

[Alex Hatz]

Jiovanni,

Since you're located in Toronto you're probably better off renting your Prime lenses for dirt cheap from a place like LIFT (www.lift.on.ca). You'll need a PL mount though.

[Jiovanni Iacoviello]

Thought I'd post a few full rez stills since the footage was so highly compressed. Would love to here any feedback. Thanks.

[Jiovanni Iacoviello]

A few more...

[Jiovanni Iacoviello]

A few people asked for a picture of my rig, so here it is.... (i know, looks more like a bazooka)