Some minor surgery the other day to the wonderful SMC 17/4 fisheye, converting it for use as a cine prime - more in a moment.
Some may know that I had previously done the same with my A*85/1.4 last year: removed the detent balls and springs from the aperture ring to allow smooth and continuous aperture change while shooting video. It is very effective and the images from it onto the Canon C100 super-35 sensor are luscious beyond dreams. The super 35 sensor size is smaller than 'full-frame' (36X24mm) and only a tad larger than APS-C... see chart: <http://cvp.com/images/uploaded/sensor_table.gif> ...so fields of view are similar to Pentax DSLR territory, which means shooting wider angles are more of a challenge. For wide zoom work - for instance when filming groups of people at close quarters - needing wide shots and closer detail at will, I have been using the Canon EF17-40/4. The problem with that lens is that the aperture is controlled via a click-wheel on the camera body, and when performing a move (say) from bright to dark and needing to adjust aperture ('pull stop') dynamically during the shot, the aperture steps are visible - even when the camera is set at 1/3 increment control - and so not acceptable. To get round this I'll be sourcing a copy of the only decent wide zoom lens on the market with an aperture ring - the Nikkor AF-S 17-35/2.8 and then having it doctored, literally, by a company that specialises in transforming still lenses for cine use; <http://www.thelensdoctor.co.uk/page6.html> They'll remove the clicks from the aperture ring and dampen it to avoid inadvertent movement. The Nikkor is a bit more involved than the old MF Pentax lenses, so it's worth doing properly. Why? Because the cine alternatives are cost-prohibitive for my needs. That's further down the line. Meanwhile I remembered the 17/4 sitting in a drawer and thought it would be fun to convert it for cine use. An hour removing the aperture clicks and a bit of jiggery-pokery re-situating the return spring and fitting an EF mount (sourced from the few I had specially made about 15 years ago when i first modified some lenses to Canon use) and hey presto. Early tests with it are fantastic - love the barrel distortion this lens offers and the field of view works really well on the C100. Will come in very useful for in-your-face wide shots in music sequences etc. I'm working on some video I shot while sailing in the Baltic earlier in the summer where I used the 85/1.4 so when that's completed I'll post a link to view. Will hopefully get a chance to use the 17/4 in anger soon, watch this space. Hope all are well, am dipping in on the list sporadically and often. Very little stills photography going on at the moment sadly! -- Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ Broadcast, Corporate, || (O) | Web Video Production ---------- <www.seeingeye.tv> _____________________________ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
