Optional diffuser footage from the DVX100

[Dennis Wood]

Hrafn did up this piece using a beta Brevis and the optional diffuser kit. It's a large file at 82MB. I'll let Hrafn answer any questions as I know he's tweaking the DVX for optimal settings using this diffuser.

[Rafael Lopes]

I gotta tell you, the first time I saw footage of the pana gs400 with the optional diffuser I didn't think much of it, but THIS...oh lala! The optional diffuser goes GREAT with the dvx100! The footage looks REALLY good. It's actually my favorite dvx100+brevis footage so far. Was any CC done here or is this straight from the camera?

[Hrafn Jónsson]

Yeah, there was some CC on that. The lens was a 50mm f/1.8 nikkor.

I shot some more footage the other day which you can find here: http://krummi.klaki.net/stuttmyndir/cemetery2.wmv

The file is of similar size with similar compression although this one is too noisy for my taste. This is due to fairly poor lighting conditions I was working with (twilight) and WMV compression coupled with that. When I captured the footage I also found that the footage was just a little soft. This is mostly due to me still working on the settings, I have made a couple of adjustments since this was shot (changes the Zoom/focus from Z78 MF25 to Z79 MF26 and upped the detail to +6 ..not huge changes but they really impact the image..make it pop! ...I'll have some further demos of that soon enough..

Now I think I've covered my ass pretty well on that footage.

Aside for a couple of technical blunders on my part I really like the look this thing produces! The optional diffuser setup coupled with the DVX in progressive scan with cinegamma turned on just plain works for me! I'd reckommend using it on rails since the adapter vibrates a little more (don't take that as technical truth though, as it could be an installation fault of mine). Using the built in LCD is a pain unless you have the scene under control since it is hard to judge focus and takes time to find the sweet spot, especially at wide open...

I can't really judge if there's a telling loss of sharpness since I haven't shot anything of value with optimal settings, but there is some light loss, but it is still very marginal overall...a small trade-off for the benefits in DOF and Bokeh...

Too tired to type anymore. Please ask away if you have any questions and don't take either of those videos as any kind of final truth regarding the quality of the optional diffuser. They are mere visual tests...

I'll let you know when I'm truly happy

[Dennis Wood]

Trials of light in the land of the midnight sun Thanks very much for taking the time to post your findings Hrafn. I would agree with your change in back focus. On a few of those clips I got the sense that the DVX focus may have been just a tad off. You should be able to get sharpness comparable with the Lomo lens/optional diffuser clip posted here:

www.cinevate.com/images/lomolg.wmv (30MB) or
www.cinevate.com/images/lomo.wmv (10MB)

On your first clip, particulary the water in wheelbarrow shot, sharpness looked good. Your score matches the shots really well. What are you using for music?