Lucian

Another piece of evidence why these beasts command such a high price!  This was the Olympus 85mm f2 with a single coated isco 36.  this is with the Olympus set at F2 for a 10 second exposure.  
 
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Helios 44 and Iscorama:
 

 
FLEKTGON:

 

 

@ch_d 
 
I'm considering cut up a rubber lens hood or trying to craft some sort of cover to stop dust getting in the gap of the close focus modded isco.
 
I haven't been able to dream up a viable solution as yet.

http://nofilmschool.com/2013/12/digital-bolex-d16-review-part-1-first-impressions-pre-order/
 
Joe Marine's of NoFilmSchool recent 2-part review of the Digital Bolex seems not very skewed in favor of that camera.  In fact, it's a reasoned balanced opinion, I think.
 
Personally, I like the idea that some folks had an idea and made it happen with "Kickstarting" support from the filmmaking community.  I also like that they developed a camera for 16mm lenses.
 
So many American university are full up on 16mm lenses going unused.  This camera is near-perfect for those programs. I'd go so far as to say that the RAW workflow is a nice parallel to traditional film production.  That's good for students.  Learning footage discipline is a worthwhile skill.

There's always the risk of feeling buyer's remorse with technology but, realistically, your film won't be any better or worse off no matter the decision you make.  4K isn't something most folks should be concerned about.  It's no guarantee of a better looking film if it was projected in a theater and if it's not being projected in a theater it's pretty much a waste of money and resources and effort that could be used elsewhere.  
 
Most theatrical films are still finished 2K (regardless of origination) unless a director has the juice to force production to pony up for a 4K finish.  You would think that for $100+ million dollar blockbusters this would just be a given, since they're already spending a mint but that isn't the case.  It's still quite rare.  Not as rare as even a year ago but it's not standard practice to finish 4K.
 
Making your own feature, either putting up your own money or getting some from investors, you should save yourself the headache.  Spend the money that might be needed for extra storage or an upgrade to your editorial on something like catering, being able to bump your key talent's per diem a bit or the wrap party (or wrap gifts...I didn't understand the importance of these my first indie).
 
And make sure you even really need to upgrade your camera, considering it's an asset you already own.  $1500 goes a long way on an independent feature.  I admit I never thought much about the T2i but that was before seeing Kendy's stuff...
 

 

 
 
...I'm a GH2 guy and know it's technically a better camera but operator talent (along with the quality of the content) can render technical jibber jabber and megabits rather meaningless.

all of Mark's threads get out of hand as he just likes to argue -with anyone about anything !
 
this forum is about digital cinematography its becoming a teenage tit for tat forum rapidly which is very sad to see happen.

markm's recent forum topic about Philip Bloom's Digital Bolex review seems very skewed in favour of bigotry when compared to more objective and rational responses. I'm beginning to wonder if his topics are neutral. What do others think?  ;)

Get the Mir 24N or 24H, 24M. Amazing lens and it works for the isco in crop s35
 
The letters are mounts N and H are Nikon and M is Pentax M42
 
About $130 and even if it says MC it flares beautifully.
 
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR3.TRC1.A0.XMir+24N&_nkw=Mir+24N&_sacat=0&_from=R40
 
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Hi guys,
 
I heard that some were trying to get in touch with me about some custom follow focus work here. I 3D print the follow focus gears to what ever specifications you may need. Im afraid on the tapered lenses, I would probably need to have the lens in my hands (unless someone wants to give me very detailed measurements/drawings from the lens). If some one is willing to part with their lens for a week or so, I'll get one fit on there and begin selling them via eBay. I'll even give anyone from eoshd a discount on custom gears, so try emailing me again and we'll get one rolling. Just shoot me an email at helicoptersean@gmail.com or contact me through eBay's messaging system. 
 
Sorry if I've missed any of your messages!

It reduces the image circle so that the sensor sees more of it.  This has the effect of boosting the light the same way a magnifying glass makes light that passes through it brighter (and if focused to a point burn wood, ants, etc.).  The reciprocal effect is also valid so you can think of it as scaling up the size of your sensor (ie. the standard MFT SpeedBooster turns the GH2's 19mm sensor into a 26.76mm sensor).
 
That is very cool if they can make good on their 4:3 promise.  That would be the one feature that could make me consider buying a D16 over a BMPCC or BMCC and well worth the slightly lower DR, goofy case and much higher cost of entry (besides base price, that little display is a joke so add on an EVF or mini-HD monitor).

Digital Bolex is now holding pre-sales on their website. www.DigitalBolex.com.
 
It's a big moment in camera history! Congratulations D16 backers as well as the production team behind the D16.
 
Digital Bolex is fulfilling pre-sale orders within 8 - 12 weeks. One surprising factoid is that the camera has an internal hard drive option. It's the buyer's option to purchase a 250GB or 500GB internal SSD. Additionally, they are offering a number of different products including accessories and apparel.
 
As stated in the D16 advertising, the camera costs about the same as a Canon 5D III. However, if you are a hot-rod camera enthusiast like myself, you're going to find a great deal more camera accessories for the D16 than the 5D III. For example, the BMPCC Metabones Speedbooster. Don't let the name fool you. This lens option will push the D16's low-light ability beyond the BMPCC's big brother the BMPC. Just a reminder here, the BMPC and the D16 are the only two budget-minded professional Cinema DNG cameras with a single-plane sensor offering global shutter.
 
On somewhat of a side note, why is the camera called the Digial Bolex D16 and not the Digital Bolex S16? Could it be that by offering shooters the entire 4x3 sensor plane that this camera will be better suited for anamorphic shooters and/or cinema photographers interested in shooting unique aspect ratios? Either way, this sounds like a huge step up from BMPCC software developers. It might even come across as a parallel to 5D III shooters backed by the incredible team behind Magic Lantern.

GH3 can also take your Nikon lenses.
 
I wouldn't buy a Blackmagic, since the rolling shutter is pretty bad, and inappropriate for documentary type shooting.

i have the completed optics the mounts have to be altered i have 8 +0.25 new design.
i also have some new test new design +1   both 82mm ready now.
 
 
in the spring
also will have +0.65
and +0.75  all achromatic doublets

There's a seller on eBay (helicoptersean) who prints custom delrin focus gears. Here's one of his listings:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Focus-Gear-Ring-for-Sigma-50mm-F1-4-Lens-/261286581672
 
He has now made two gears from spec for me that are much wider for use with anamorphic lenses. I've been pleased with the quality and the price (around $30 per custom gear). If you want to contact Sean directly, his email is helicoptersean@gmail.com.

Nothing more. It's just different. I removed the pan bar and I pan and tilt directly with my two hands on the fig rig. I can switch very quickly between monopod shots and walking shots. For walking shots I down the monopod to minimal length and it comes something like a conterweight. And a last thing in outdoor situation. I can attach my jacket on my FigRig with a simple clip and hide my face and viewfinder to sunlight like guys who used to a view camera. 
Sorry for my bad english.

Its the lowest i've got at present & am really more interested in the speedbooster, than wider lenses.

Has anyone shot a feature on a ML 5DmkIII?  BMPCC is even newer.  If this trailer just came out back up to six months ago as a conservative guess for when they rolled on first shot, but this is a film already in theaters so conservatively you're looking at maybe a year ago, and that would be really fast.  
 
Folks who haven't ever made a feature can offer all sorts of Monday Morning Quarterback suggestions.  He might have just used the best camera he had access to.  The MKIII makes some sense if you already own it, not really as a new purchase decision in light of renting other equipment (then or now) or getting a great result out of a camera you might already own, or might get free.  $3-5K can pay for catering.  Nobody here knows the circumstances.  At a time when he could shoot on anything Soderberg chose to shoot a feature on an XL-1S when it wasn't even close to being the best or state-of-the-art for DV cameras at the time.  He had his reasons.  And even when he goes with an expensive, high-quality camera, on his own (The Girlfriend Experience) the result is quite raw and un-finished looking and that's his choice for that project.
 
Odds are ML-RAW wasn't available in this case (if this is recent enough for that then it begs the question: why Sedna?) and, still, I come up with nothing but some shorts being done that way when I google.  This could be a pre-final trailer also.  I couldn't actually see much evidence it was graded at all.  Even though it's on a site taking tickets it could very well be an early trailer, especially dealing with small sales companies.  Smaller outfits in general simply aren't always that great about getting the best or most current materials out there, or going back to re-conform an earlier trailer with final materials. 
 
Looks fairly raw (in the totally un-cc'd sense) to me and as such the lesser looking individual shots could have been improved substantially in grading.  But maybe this was just a purist, wham-bam, no post, warts and all "Dogme" style production where they weren't going to sweat the aesthetics.  Maybe the DP actually was sub-par but try and reconcile the fact that Underwater Love was shot by the same man who does Wong Kar Wai's sublimely beautiful films.  

This is the problem with oligopolies where the products are relatively undifferentiated. Either you collude, and agree to keep certain features at certain price points, or you all compete, which means dropping price to marginal cost and then making no money. 
 
So thank god for BlackMagic.

I hope it does work on the Digital Bolex. Bmpc without rolling shutter !

Sorry but i gotta disagree. I owned and used a B&H kowa for over a year and got about as good as you can really get with a dual focus system, but the fact is it takes additional time and adds additional margin for error, not acceptable on set. Great adapter for personal stuff, beautiful images, but not practical for any sort shoot where you have crew involved. Look at the above shots, most of them have messed up focus. Look at all the kowa stuff online, half of it is out of focus. If you have plenty of time and are filming your mates/kids/trees etc it's no worries. But a couple of soft shots can really screw you up on a film shoot.
 
In any case, take your time deciding which adapter to get. There is a ton of info on this site and in Andrews guide which is impartial.
 
Good luck!

I know I asked this before but does the larger rear element give you a bit wider FOV before vignetting at all? 

A few thoughts:
 
At the end of last year I purchased a 5D3 (refurb, end of the year sale...screaming deal). My reasons were that I wanted a full frame camera for both video and stills, and ideally one which was at the cusp of gaining some quality improvements due to Canon's announced 1.2.1 firmware update with "uncompressed HDMI out."
 
When the firmware arrived, and after reading up some enlightening posts, I was almost ready to sell the camera. When Blackmagic announced their new BMCC 4K and the Pocket cameras I was planning on putting the 5D on eBay asap. 
 
Then a small miracle happened, word spread quickly that ML was on the cusp of something big. I stuck it out, read anxiously as those early reports indicated that capturing RAW data was a real possibility, and eventually took a leap of faith and installed ML on the 5D3 and put in my order for a couple of Komputerbay 64gb 1000X cards.
 
I haven't looked back since, the improvement in quality has been stunning to say the least. I have completely rethought my purchase and I now think it's one of the best decisions I have made. This has been strengthened by the delays in the BMPCC shipping, and some of the issues plaguing their Pocket camera. 
 
Further, I have been able to record at 1920X1288 resolution without any issues, this is a good format for anamorphic shooting, or subtle re-framing in post.
 
Having said that, there are a few caveats which might or might not be deal breakers for some:
 
1. As of yet, no audio. This might or might not come back at some point.
 
2. Playback is a bitch. Currently in-camera playback is limited to a low frame rate b/w image, not something you want to show to your client for on-set approval.
 
3. External monitoring is kinda buggy, it definitely has issues but it's useable for basic needs.
 
4. Post production is a bit more involved, and the footage does take up a lot more space than h.264. 
 
5. While I wouldn't call the learning curve steep, there is a lot to wrap your noggin around at first.
 
6. There are some issues with some CF cards, particularly Komputerbay. Order 3-4 and be prepared to send a couple back.
 
If that doesn't scare you, and you own a 5D3 (or even a 5D2), then you should jump in because the quality upgrade is definitely worth it.
 
BTW, I made a short video that shows the differences between footage captured with the 5D3 Raw, the Alexa and the BMCC as how the intercut together in post, you can watch it here if you want:
 

Sorry but i gotta disagree. I owned and used a B&H kowa for over a year and got about as good as you can really get with a dual focus system, but the fact is it takes additional time and adds additional margin for error, not acceptable on set. Great adapter for personal stuff, beautiful images, but not practical for any sort shoot where you have crew involved. Look at the above shots, most of them have messed up focus. Look at all the kowa stuff online, half of it is out of focus. If you have plenty of time and are filming your mates/kids/trees etc it's no worries. But a couple of soft shots can really screw you up on a film shoot.
 
In any case, take your time deciding which adapter to get. There is a ton of info on this site and in Andrews guide which is impartial.
 
Good luck!

I've also found that you can get some strange effects when using an anamorphic, which you just will never be able to replicate with a spherical lens.
But in the end there are just as many good films shot with spherical lenses, as there are with anamorphics - its an aesthetic thing, not a necessity.
Oh, the horizontal flares are certainly not the reason i love shooting anamorphic, in fact i've spoiled some lovely shots with them & more often than not they look tacky or forced.
Each to their own, if you don't get it, don't worry about it!

This is shot using the D800, DSO Trump FF58 with Oval aperture, the new flare sex filter and towards the end the Iscorama 1.5X anamorphic lens mounted inside the Trump for a 2X oval bokeh.
 
https://vimeo.com/76912854
 
Some images of the trump I'll grab one with the iscorama in there too.