Mount your 35mm lens on your video camera
August 28, 2008
After several months of trying to find a way to build or buy what I consider my dream video camera, aka digital holga, I hit pay dirt! It’s called the TWONEIL Adapter. Do you have dreams of a small HD camera with film-like results and control over your depth of field?
Posted below is some example footage I shot the moment my adapter came in the mail.
Scenes from a Vacation from richard hernandez on Vimeo.
I am beyond pleased with this $200 adapter, that’s right, $200 bucks! And if you want to make your own, check this out! DIY-ers rejoice. If your really serious about spending some cash you can also check these sites out, Letus35 or RedRock Micro.
[...] férias trouxe um filme feito com uma câmara digital e um adaptador para lentes de câmaras de 35mm. A [...]
This is beyond awesome — your movie just blew my mind!
that’s very nice comment, thank you!
okay, seriously - i’m way into this. BUT, i shoot canon. it looks like this adapter is only for nikon?? not so sure i trust myself building one… any suggestions?
you can pick up a cheap nikon lens on ebay, or just email twoneil, the dude who makes them and see if he’ll hook you up, he’s he nicest guy!
IMO if you’re into this kind of thing, then your a prime lens kinda person, which means you won’t feel like switching lens all that often. Which means you don’t need a bag full of lenses.I have a 35mm 1.2 NIkon on mine and I never feel like i need to change all that often.
good call - i’ll send him an email. it’s just that i bought a 50 1.4 recently, and i’m in love with the thing. i’m guessing that the mm of the mounted lens is what determines how wide the shot it right?
you got it!
[...] Meer uitleg van de maker en over de tussenstukken. [...]
sweet! The DOF is really nice, but I like the color a lot too., the pale greens, yellows, blues, etc. Is that a white balance thing, exposure, software? Great stuff.
Hey!
This was great! I am planning a comeback to film making, so a “holga approach” would be perfect!
Also: what was the song that played on your video?? It was cool!
-Niko Rakkolainen
Redrock Micro has been producing 35mm adapters for video cameras for quite some time. Check out the samples page from their home page. Truly stunning stuff
http://www.redrockmicro.com
Can you tell us about the construction of this adapter? Is it just a few lens adapter rings and extension tubes going from the canon lens to the nikon mount? Are there part numbers on eah of the individual pieces and if so can you post that info?
Thnx.
i just let the dude, Neil, build it for me, it was the best $200 i spent. i have yet to build one myself.
This film is a totally stunning piece of art!!
Excellent shooting, post production and choice of music.
[Rapt in awe...]
[...] • From left field, but worth the OT trip: Richard Hernandez, from Multimedia Shooter, on how to mount your 35mm lenses on you camcorder. [...]
Hi Rich.
thanks for this post, its really interesting and of course, you shoot a classic piece straight out of the box! ;-)
great little video far beyond most of the rest of the stuff on veoh. I really am liking that effect and guess I will have to find some use for my still lenses!
How are you finding the inversion to deal with? is it just upside down or left to right as well?
thanks again
David
What, vignetting? Fuzzy images? Bad color? This is “art”? It seems to me you could have achieved the same results by shooting through a hole in a piece of black cardboard!
The focal length of the lens determines depth-of-field, so you could have gotten the same shallow focus effect by shooting in a more telephoto setting on your camera’s zoom lens, in manual focus. In my opinion, you have paid $200 to ruin a perfectly good image. I think you’re nuts!
Malcolm … any time you start a sentence with “It seems to me” makes you sound like you have no idea what you are talking about.
And this is just one of those times.
Nice work Richard, thanks.
kg
[...] • If you remember back to last week I promised some more posts about video. Well here ya go. There are some great links and info over at MultimediaShooter.com on how to mount your 35mm lenses to your Canon HV20 or HV30 HD video camera. How cool is this? Head over and see some of the test footage to make up your own mind, but I think it’s pretty fantastic. Here’s the link. [...]
The Only thing I can’t find info on is what exactly was the lens you used on the adapter? It surely doesn’t look like a Nikon. It looks much more like an adapted Holga lens cut from a Holga and attached to the adapter. Am I right?
Or where you able to achieve those looks using Magic Bullet like you mentioned on http://vimeo.com/1465419
Please email me, I’m dying to know!
it’s a nikon 35mm, not a holga, lens, most of the ‘looks’ come from the adapter itself, the color is what comes from magic bullet.
Thanks for the quick reply koci!
I’m still very surprised though. It really looks like a Holga Mod, how is there so much vignetting?!? http://www.howcast.com/guides/1504-How-To-Make-Your-Holga-Lens-Mountable-To-Your-SLR-Camera-EOSNikonSony-ETC
I really would love to know since I was thinking about getting the TWONEIL and have seen a ton of test footage that looks nothing like yours? Could it really be your Nikon 35mm? That’s a great lens so I have no idea how it got so Holga’ish (which is great but not the sharp clean non-vignetting that I’d need to be able to get).
I know the TWONEIL does not have an achromat. Is that what caused it? Still none of the other test footage has the same vignetting.
Thank you for your time and please email or something if you can. I’d really love to know.
i think the holga ness is from magic bulllet, i did put a vignette on it. it is cleaner/sharper without the bullet. you will not be disappointed. I have a friend who dropped big bucks on the letus35, and did a side by side test, and was very pissed that this $200 non-achromat, looked better and was smaller than his $900 Letus35.
Nikon D90 Lover…
A great Ansel Adams quote about photography: There are no RULES for good photographs, there are only good photographs….