richg101

Yo Bold, Tito, etc.  

for better centralisation of the front optic I suggest using circular cross section rubber o rings.  it appears Bold had to use quite a thick piece of rubber on his.  maybe select a helicoid smaller than 58mm so its' closer to the diameter of the 45.95mm diameter of the element.  looking closer, mine is actually a m52 helicoid!, meaning i only needed a rubber o ring of 3mm thickness to go around the element.  so a 45mm internal diameter o-ring of 3mm thickness would have been the perfect fit for an m52 helicoid.  it appears bold requires a 45mmid x 6mm thickness, which might be hard to find hence why he needed to fettle down something to fit.

my personal favourite unconventional focal length is the 58mm biotar / Helios on full frame, set to around f4.  Nothing comes close.  so on s35mm a 40mm at f2.8 would be my first choice.    

S35mm/aps-c shooters should give the Konica Hexanon 40mm/1.8 a try for their 'normal lens'.  cheap, and a magical unconventional focal length/aperture combination.

conversely, the 40mm on full frame or with a aps-c and speed booster is very close to the fov of a 28mm on true s35mm

Anyone looking at the A7R2 for video primarily, and sinking £2500 into it is mad.  If you want the best camera for stills with interesting manual focus lenses like rangefinder glass then the a7r2 is it, period.  The raw files I'm seeing from my A7R2 are astounding.  The best image I've seen.  it also shoots video.   

The image from the a7s internal 1080p is as good as the 4k image from the A7R2.  the a7s is now less than half the price of the a7r2.  if video is your primary purpose for the camera, a7s cant be beat.  

It's simply a dof adaptor on steroids.  a modified bmpcc inside a larger camera body, capturing an image from medium format lenses on n oversized medium format rear projection screen (made from ground glass) through a relay lens array and prism.  think of it as a macro lens filming a medium format focusing screen.  Before the 5Dmk2 came round, people were using similar things to get a 35mm format look.  it would appear even the best options back then were pretty bad quality, and there was a lot of diy stuff too.  It would appear not one of them were refined to the level they could have been.  i decided to go mental and make an ultra refined one.  its taken about 2 years of back and fourth, improving each element of the design. the most complicated part was the relay lens design getting resolution and even exposure accross such a huge area. i think the next version will be the final unit with the final refinements to make it a system suitable for dry hire use.  

indeed.  but its more that medium format lenses simply are not made much faster than f2.8, and when they are they are very rarely sharp at that aperture.  Since the 65mm format needs a 80mm lens to give similar fov to a 50mm on full frame (or 35mm on s35) the dof is naturally shallower since the focal length is longer for the same fov.    

tbh I found it easier to pull focus on Forbes70 than what I'm used to with the A7S.  for example the 180mm f2.8 + 1.4x on forbes is roughly equivalent to a 135mmf2 on full frame.  The shot where I follow focus on the model while he walks from around 100m to around 20m, unplanned shot, just pulling focus by hand with 1:1 pixels enabled.  I didn;t find this nearly as hard as it would have been with a 135mm f2 on full frame since the model jumps out so much more.  at f2, most 135mm lenses are a bit mushy meaning the in focus subject is often less refined,

With the razor sharp 180mm + 1.4x tele i could see whether he was in focus or not.  I suppose the format dictates that if a subject is out of focus it'll be more obvious, but the focus rendering actually makes it easier to focus by eye.  And working by numbers and markers after around 3 takes in a scripted shot would have been even easier.

it's not that the format dictates shallower dof.  but more how the dof is rendered.  the falloff.  for example the 180mmf2.8 + 1.4x is the same fov/dof as a 135mmf2 on full frame.  its just that the 180mm2.8 and apo1.4x will smoke (in terms of optical quality) any 135mm f2 when used wide open

ML Raw on 7D is beautiful.  Better than most full hd cameras infact.  The file sizes and post production limit the use of ML raw to specific jobs, whereas the a6000 gives you over 2hrs on a 64gb card, and 2hours of very nice quality for a very low price..

a genuine speed booster ultr will allow you to use AF lenses as you would on a canon camera.  it will be worth researching the Af speed but since the A6000 has phase detect AF i imagine things will be good!  and assuming the canon lens you use is a full frame lens you will get full sensor coverage.  if using an aps-c(EF-s) canon lens yu will need to use a non speed booster adaptor.  there are lots of cost effective Af units you can use for this, it doesnt need to be a metabones one for the EF-S lenses.  Also, the evf on the a6000 is superb nd makes manual focus a lot more fun since you can punch in and check focus.  

the high end speed boosters actually improve image quality to a degree.  for instance, very few full frame lenses can actually resolve the detail needed for the 24mpx aps-c sensor of the a6000 - and even less that will do it when you only use the centre of the image circle.  i suppose since the optical resolution hitting the sensor is better, you also gain a better separation of in and out of focus areas of the frame, and a more 3d look.  

also, yes the speed booster feeds the aps-c sensor with more optical information that would normally just be cropped away by the aps-c crop.  edge distortions etc.  that could be percived as either good or bad depending on whether you like distortion or not.   

a speed booster doesnt really effect depth of field, but simply widens fov and increases light transmission.  the ultra (0.71x) changes a 50mm f2.0 full frame lens into a 35mm f1.4 lens for aps-c.  a 35mm/1.4 has a similar dof to a 50mm f2.0. 

I agree.  I've owned both an a7s and a7r and used an a6000 and by far the a6000 video performance outdoes the a7r.  tbh i found it pretty hard to tell between the a6000 and the a7s.  grab a speed booster ultra with the additional money and you got a killer setup.

cheers guys.  yes, smudged corners are something I think could be improved with better axial alignment of the relay lens array.  In this config the system is running at its base exposure of 800, with 6 stops of ND.  removal of 3 stops of the nd filtration will mean the internal relay lens aperture can be closed down by 3 stops - edge performance will improve drastically.  with a moderate improvement in overall resolution which gets to the sensor.  

Thanks for the critique so far guys.  yes, the colour thing is my fault i think.  i'm no colourist so usually find it a little hard to get both skin tones and other stuff right.  if one is right, I end up gettig the other wrong and vice versa.  I think I was a bit heavy handed in the mids on the red chanel when adjusting the footage after conform from raw.  should have done that at the raw stage!

The flicker is something to do with the way adobe raw adjusts the clips one by one.  occasionally this causes a shift to some of the frames.  I think its finally time i learned resolve for this stuff!!

re. aberrations.  I made sure not to use any of the clever lens fixing in raw so as to keep the optical quality visible.  i think careful use of ca reduction will be great. - the CA will be from the actual schneider lenses (these were all used wide open) rather than the internal relay lenses or prism - all of which are APO corrected for the bmpcc.

Hi Chaps.

I decided to take my FORBES70 camera out to play last weekend.  I'm happy with the results but wanted to ask for some honest critique.

I'd love to hear opinions on the image quality - resolution, perceived dynamic range / highlight/shadow rolloff, colour, and general 'look' of the images.  

Please bear in mind that the current maximum res is full hd, but in terms of full hd res, how is the image looking?  

I'd also love to hear some views on the large format aesthetic the camera exhibits.  Maybe in comparison with the recent trailers for Hateful Eight and The Revenant.  Is the added expense over say a full frame camera and fast lenses justifiable?  is the current resolution cap of full hd a real issue?  

curious for your thoughts! - ps.  larger file available for download (and detailed info about the system) on the vimeo page

good 1080p is better than mediocre 4k.  Grab an A7S and shoot internal 1080p with a cheap 50mm prime like a contax 50/1.7.  nothing will come close for the money.  full frame for most stuff, aps-c crop for close punch ins.  

Hey man.

I think some 2.5mm thick rubber o rings should do the trick.  grab a few 2.5mm and 3mm o rings.  cut one into three pieces and evenly space it around the element then gently push each piece in the gap.  

for attaching the other section of the helicoid I just pvc taped it around the main body.  

the retainer ring is unlikely to have been threadlocked.  its more that it will have been tightened a little too much.  be more vicious with the tapping of the outer rim.  the element is a singlet so there is no balsam to sheer - or be damaged by heat/acetone applied to the lock ring to break any possible threadlock down.  you will definitely need to put some serious force onto the ring for it to unscrew.  lock the lens opening tool so it cant close down and slip, and put some serious force onto it if required.  it'll come away with enough force,  wear some rubber gloves so you have some good grip on the housing and the tool.

to remove the spherical section you need to unscrew the 2 screws near the seam between the writing on the anamorphic section and the ribbed part on the spherical section.  it will then unscrew off.

for the focus mechanism, remove the two screws on either side of the focus part.  it should unscrew.  if not, you will need to feed a very small amount of lighter fluid into each of the holes where the screws were.  literally a grain of rice worth of a drip per hole.  any more and you;re risk it going into the cememnted anamorphic part.  zippo 'petrol' lighter fluid will break down the dried up lubricant pretty quickly.  apply it with the front facing down so the fluid doesnt travel towards the anamorphic section.  

Once the front element housing is unscrewed (around 5-7 turns if i recall) you can then use a rubber handle of a screwdriver as a mallet to break the friction weld on the front element retainer ring.  A few sharp knocks on the front rim should break the bond, then a lens opening tool will do the rest.

personally i feel the f1.4 zeisses are too fringy wide open.  even at f2 they're a little more fringe prone than the f1.7 version.  

I'd be inclined to disagree with your dismissal of the helios.  maybe not a 44, or a 44-2 but a 44-3 or later will actually perform as good as the 50mm/1.7 zeiss IMO.  and will less fringing.  check out the 44-3.  it's one of the less commonly encountered units, with superb build (very sturdy), and more refined optics than the earlier units.  Also look at the 'macro' helios 44 lenses (the later units), these are much higher performance than the zeiss 1.7 in resolution and fringing terms.

I have recently procured a 1cam summicron 50mm/2 from '64.  its a beautiful lens, if a little overpriced.  but needs a 43.5 step ring which is a hard find.

A stupid consumer from dp review.  looks like a 100% crop of probably the best part of the image.  I don't see this issue in any of philip blooms images on flickr.  DP review people are the worst people to take advice from.  

Lens cap tests. quadruple facepalm.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8634/15706935630_58fe998d2c_o.jpg

This image had about 50 dead pixels in it.  from the a7rmk1.  I could have left them in - the resolution is so high that the dead pixels are almost invisible and people are looking at the image rather than searching for the dead pixels, but i felt the 2mins effort processing and removing them was worth it.  I'm pretty sure Sony would have just stuck the same sensor into the mk2 if there wasnt an advantage from the new sensor they've spent millions developing.  

I suggest people look on flickr for samples of landscapes from the a7rm2 before taking unskilled people's opinions seriously.  Plenty of talented photographers showing what this camera does with lenses on, rather than with lens caps on!

Yo Andrew.  Regarding the noisy preview in the a7r2, did you have setting effect turned to on or off?  ps.  great shootout.  

the samyangs in a different housing with PL mount. The ones with a T1.5 rating, but with optical quality unusable at that setting. direct competitiors to the CP.2's but with poorer optical quality and less refined mechanics and most important they lack the zeiss brand name.  It's an awful lot of money for lenses that offer little to no advantage over the standard samyangs and will likely not last in the rental /daily use sector.  The reason CP2.s are expensive is because they're designed for day in day out use.  They're no different to the ZE/ZF zeisses yet cost 4times the price because they leave the factory ready for a lifetime of daily bread work.    The name 'Zeiss' on the cp2's is important since creative directors and dop's dealing with budgets which limit lens choice to cp2's, xenons, canon primes etc (instead of cooke s4's and speciality lenses) know and trust the name.  

Buy buy buy!  Feed the consumer within.  

Jokes aside, I find it scary how many people are considering investing such huge quantities of money in a camera which has its key selling points in still photography.

I'm grabbing an A7R2 and will run it into the ground for the year its current, then sell it when the new model arrives.  The fact that I can use the a7r2 on medium format digitar lenses on an X-Act2 camera for technical photography, and outperform guys shooting with phase one backs worth £20k, and the fact that i can shoot full sensor readout 4k video for lens tests, branding work and personal work the huge outlay is worthwhile.  I lost about £500 selling my a7r and battery grip - which i had the day it was available.  I used that camera day in day out and if I recall, two jobs paid for the camera outright.  Even if I;d hired the camera for a year for £500 and not used it commercially I'd still be happy since i actually used it for enjoyment as well as work.  My A7s will be sold the week before the a7smk2 is available.  I'll lose money on the value, but the A7S has made its cost back ten fold.

All of the occasional shooting work I get nowadays originates from work i undertook with a Canon 550d and a Nex5n around 4-5 years ago.  I'd still shoot with the nex5n and get results that the client would be happy with.   

So to those guys suffering from Gear Acquisition Syndrome, or in most cases consumers thinking of laying down such a massive investment on a camera, be sure it's worth it.  Will you be undertaking work that requires this tool?  will you be fitting lenses onto it that will come close to delivering what is required to make the camera show its strengths?  Do you need the item?

£2500 buys an awful lot of good glass that will never devalue!  You'd kit yourself out with a near full set of early Leica R's for that!  

I'm not confusing the two, I'm saying that if you;re shooting log on 8bit cameras it should be in order to maintain the greatest dynamic range on your camera files, for post adjustment of contrast, Not colour.  

Log or not,  if your WB is too far away from the end result you're in trouble.  If i want a teal grade I'd set wb to a lower kelvin number and increase the bias towards green/blue.  if i want a warm grade I'll go the opposite way.  

my A7S aint as clean as that at 51000iso!  in shots like that with little to no fill light the a7s isn't much use above 16,000.  now if that shot had a little 1x1 led panel around 25meters behind the camera position as a fill, I'd pretty sure the noise would be near gone.