Always grainy footage on old brevis!

[jonny dieb]

Hi there forum,

I have had the luck to get this brevis from a friend. First of all I don't know the revision of my brevis.
Unfortunately it has no micro collimation and no oscillations adjustment from the outside. And the power knob is kinda loose, it can be turned round the clock. Is this to be considered normal?
When adjusting oscillation speed, the motor sometimes turns up into a high buzzin noise with very little vibration. So far, I can see no reason for that (e.g. contacts or low battery).

BUT.... my main issue is the grain which is visible in all oscillation speed levels and under all camera/lens preconditions. Its like seeing film projected on a grainy wallpaper . I haven't seen this on any test footage of brevis and HVX200 on the web before. GG is (pretty) clean.

Equipment is:
HVX200,
Brevis (?? version)
72mm Cinevate Achromat
28mm Nikon Lens


Can anyone help?

Thanks a lot for your tips...

[Jon Wolding]

1. What is the F number of the lens(es) you're using?

2. Are you stopping down past F4 on your taking lens?

3. Are you using a shutter speed faster than 1/60?

4. Do you happen to know which Cinefuse you're using? (CF1, CF2, CF3, etc.)

[jonny dieb]

Hi Jon,

1. Albinar 28mm @ 1:2.8

2. I tried several iris settings, i usually got less worse results on open iris or 1.4...2.8

3. I don't use any shutter.

4. Unfortunately I don't know much about the brevis itself. It seems to be an old version like rev.1 or rev.2, i'll post some pictures or a video to show the problem.

When I follow the instructions for grain reduction, I try to speed up oscillation (inside of the brevis), but then it suddenly changes to a high buzzin but almost no vibration. When I reduce speed till minimum it (sometimes) vibrates properly again but with heavy grain. Can it be a defect of the motor?
I'll post some footage, maybe this'll show...

Thanks for your help!

[Jon Wolding]

Hmm... you might have CF3 (very tricky to get a clean image, but the bokeh is worth the effort).

Can you upload some video examples?

[jonny dieb]

I found a little time to go down and take some footage. Awfully shaky but it should show the problem.
I cannot focus on infinity (you'll see a garbage truck which i cannot get in focus) and there's always fog-like grainy film on the footage. I could possilby remove this in post somehow but I think it must be possible to handle on recording.

Maybe u got an idea.

Closeup http://www.vimeo.com/5231655
Trashcar http://www.vimeo.com/5231955

[Jon Wolding]

I suspect you have CF3 (maybe CF2). You'll need to purchase a CFXL or CF1Le.

To fix your infinity focus, check out Cinevate's Video University or the Customer Private Forum (you have to request access from Hubert or Dennis).

[Amos Kim]

hey jon, would the cf2le possibly solve the problem also?