Thanks for the note. I’ve heard some good things about the JAG35pro adapter online but I haven’t tried one myself. I’d love to get a chance to play with one and check it out.

Before you buy any 35mm adapter you need to ask yourself “why am I buying this?” The 35mm adapters are just one tool in the arsenal of a filmmaker and, as I’ve said a few times, if you aren’t shooting properly then 35mm adapter won’t help your stuff look any better. I like to use the old addage “crap in, crap out.”

A 35mm adapter is there to help you get a shallow depth of field and that is really all it does. It won’t improve your footage itself in any way, it won’t give you an incredibly beautiful looking picture you couldn’t already get, it won’t turn your HV30 footage into 35mm film footage. It’s not magical. The work is done by you — picking shots, your framing, your scene lighting and your post production clean-up work.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you shouldn’t be using a shallow depth of field in every shot you film. Even guys shooting with 35mm film cameras don’t do that. You use it for effect and to help control where an audience is looking in a frame. It’s a specific technique/tool to be used for specific reasons and not just kind of tossed on to your camera and left there.

Anyway, I’m done babbling. Whether a JAG35pro is worth the cost and learning curve is something only you can decide. The 35mm adapters are great tools but they do take a lot of effort to learn and get to work properly.

I hope that helped!

-Mat Nastos, the Film Sensei
http://www.FilmSensei.com

I haven’t looked for a video tutorial for the TWONEIL 35mm Adapter, but I’d be surprised if there wasn’t one out there on YouTube or Vimeo. Send a note to Twoneil himself and he might have an answer for you.

You do have to zoom your camera in pretty far to set your focus on the focusing screen in the adapter. Once that is done you shouldn’t be using the camera itself to zoom of focus — that would all be done with the 35mm lenses.

Something you need to remember is that the TWONEIL 35mm Adapter itself isn’t going to give you the fantastic footage you see in examples online. You need to make sure you’ve got good lighting and you’ll need to do some post work to adjust colors, etc. What you want to get out of the camera is very neutral looking footage that contains all of the color and detail information you’ll need to work with later to get the picture the way you want it.

Keep in mind that the awesome footage you’re seeing online isn’t coming right out of the camera and getting posted.

-Mat Nastos, the Film Sensei
http://www.FilmSensei.com

-Mat Nastos, FilmSensei

Jeff

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&&item=150305442371&ssPageName=ADME:B:BCA:US:1120
Regards,
Peter

Cheerios!

Great Blog!!!…

I am waiting for a TWONEIL adapter for my HV20 and I wanted to know what else I needed to buy to optimize my results.

I’m a newbie, so please bear with me if my questions seem rhetorical… : )

From your blog (please correct me if I wrong)—I need to buy:

*(Manual lense): Nikon 50mm f1.8D or other Nikon lense

*Opteka 10x HD² Professional Macro Lens for 55mm Digital Camera Lenses (achromat)

*Step-Up Adapter Ring 43mm Lens to 55mm Filter Size (to attach achromat to the front of the HV20)

*Nikon Ring3 extension tube (where can you buy these for $20,
why do I need an extension tube, and the Ring3 is 57mm?)

*Step-Up Adapter Ring 55mm Lens to 57mm Filter Size (to attach achromat to the front of the extension tube)

*Step-Down Adapter Ring 57mm Lens to 43mm Filter Size (to attach the extension tube to the TWONEIL adapter)

Is this correct?

Thanks in advance