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Fotodiox, Excell, Lens Turbo analogs for m43 and NEX
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  • @Vitaliy

    Do not worry, bunch of such stuff will be available. Just wait a little.

    ...do you have some inside info ?

  • @vicharris where are you based? US or Europe?

  • Don't be surprised if they drop a straight passive EF mount. I do know that they are considering it as of now, if it's not already begun.

    That's the one I'll also get.

    My adapter arrived in CA today, so I should have it in my hands tomorrow and will be shooting some sketches using it with Zeiss ZFs on BV1-MFT.

  • @kholi

    Remember to show us results :-)

  • Will try to post stills throughout the day, and then Saturday and Sunday as well from another shoot.

  • Looks like mine will arrive by the end of the day. Ill post some screen grabs and comparisons when I get back from set. Hopefully Ill have a video review up shortly after. I may get pulled back into production so the video may have to wait till Sunday.

  • Thanks jacfry88! I was debating about buying it right now to take advantage of the 15% off June discount, but now I'll wait just a little tiny bit longer for your results :-)

  • "Hello Steve, At the moment we are not planning on making one for FD lenses"

    That's a pity....

  • Really a pity indeed...:( However, is it possible to add an old nikon -> other mount adapter? so you can use other mount lens I think..

  • @AlbertZ IIRC, the FD mount flange is 3mm closer to the sensor than the F mount flange, and it is a larger diameter, so getting proper backfocus isn't possible. However, if you don't mind not being able to focus to infinity, you might be able to get something to work.

  • Looks like mine will be here today. I'll do some comparison shots with my Nikkor 35-70 AF-D with and without the Vizelex.

    Vizelex? sounds like some kind of laxative product.

  • I have one on the way to San Diego, should be here tomorrow. I'll shoot with Nikon Ais and pre-ais as soon as I can and post them.

  • Any samples/reviews posted before the sale ends appreciated

  • Nikon DX has a 28.4 mm image circle diameter, by my calculation. That's slightly larger than Canon's and Sony's APS-C.
    28.4 mm x 0.72 = 20.5 mm.

    • GH2 16:9 non-ETC: 21.4 mm diagonal

    • GH3 16:9 non-ETC: 19.8 mm diagonal

    • BMCC: 18.1 mm diagonal

    • BMPCC: 14.3 mm diagonal

    So on the GH2 a minimally covering lens is a bit shy of complete coverage. The quality of the coverage will depend on the particular lens used. I expect many APS-C lenses will be just fine.

  • Mine has shipped USPS priority Mail. I paid for the cheapest $5 shipping. The tracking# is in the USPS system and says it shipped from WAUKEGAN, IL 60087 (Where Fotodiox is located) not a warehouse in CT (Connecticut) as someone had mentioned. It will arrive on Mon. 7/1.

    @balazer thanks for the calculations!

  • Mine's out for delivery as well. It's just after 6pm local time, but UPS takes their sweet time in my area. I would guess it will be here in a couple hours at the latest.

  • C'mon people, we are counting the hours here. Is this love? ;)

  • Okay. My adapter arrived today, probably a few hour ago. It was left on my door mat by the postman.

    Build quality is excellent. Tight fit to the GH2 and the the Nikkor-S 50mm f/1.4 lens. Top notch.

    Before I say anything about IQ, I need to test it tomorrow on a good, modern F-mount lens. I have a couple old Nikkor-S f/1.4's. I don't want to confuse their visual characteristics with those of the Light Cannon.

    What I CAN say is that the image is significantly brighter.

    I'll take a few stills tomorrow at my local camera shop and upload my findings. If Best Buy will let me try one of their lenses on it, I'll give that a go tonight!

  • Pretty much what @Brandt said - I just did a quick shoot outside with my Nikon 24mm AI-S f/2.

    Let's just say I don't see myself using the Light Cannon wide-open on this lens :)

    But we'll see how my 35mm and 50mm hold up. I think the 50 is the best wide-open of those three.

  • Let's just say I don't see myself using the Light Cannon wide-open on this lens :)

    I hope in a good way... too bright? Just hoping it doesn't degrade sharpness/IQ at all... !

    Shouldn't it theoretically increase the sharpness of some lenses like the older Nikkors?

  • @bwhitz, not so much a good way, unfortunately. Extreme blooming/diffused look wide open. I wouldn't rule it out for stylized shots, but you definitely wouldn't use it in general shooting situations.

    I've now also tried it with my 35mm Nikon AI-s f/2 and 50mm Nikon AI f/1.4 lenses. Of the three, the 35 looks best wide-open. The 50 looks about as bad as the 24. Unfortunately that's not that useful to me, since the 35 effectively becomes a 50mm and I might as well use my 24mm without an adapter at that point (or the 20mm pancake).

    But maybe I just have really old soft glass! I still await the verdict from the more pixel-peeping oriented around here. I will say even if you rule out shooting wide-open, the wider field of view (versus a cropped window) is compelling in bokeh/aesthetic terms. And once you stop down a little, like f/2.8 or f/4, it looks very good. So maybe it's just the prime glass I have that doesn't perform well wide open.

    Another interesting thing about this adapter is it has a preset aperture function. I'm not sure why it's on there, but it has four settings, at one extreme you can move your lens aperture and it stays wide open, at the other you have the full range of stops, in the middle you get degrees of stopped down. There's no manual to elaborate on this function; I hope I'm missing something useful here.

  • @Oedipax I did notice those markings when looked at the adapter. Does that mean you only have those four points to adjust the iris? Pretty much like a normal, unclicked manual lens? Or you can do anything you want but just with some weird additions.

  • @vicharris The four settings on the adapter don't change the aperture, they just limit (or not) the movement of the primary aperture, if that makes sense. I've seen this before on the Jupiter-9, although at least with that one you do have a de-clicked aperture.

  • @Oedipax Oh, I thought it was built just like the Novaflex adapater where that ring comes in contact with the aperture tab on the back of the lens and adjusts the iris in the lens, no? That's pretty much what that means. This function is needed for the Tokina 11-16 and similar.

  • @vicharris Ah, you know what, you're right - I'm forgetting this is also an adapter for G lenses that don't have physical aperture rings. Something I avoid like the plague most of the time :D