Test Drive: Cinevate Brevis35, Part 1

Like most shooters, I''ve encountered many situations where I wished the 3 1/3in. CCDs on my best Canon and Sony camcorders could produce sufficiently shallow depth of field to allow me to blur out irrelevant sections of the frame. Perhaps it''s the ability to blur out the background in an interview or training video, which hides lots of flaws in the back wall (chipped paint, coffee stains) and produces video that compresses much more effectively for DVD or streaming. Or maybe it''s an artistic element to the occasional wedding that I shoot; bride and groom in focus with the wedding party blurred, or establishing shots with flowers in focus and synagogue blurred, but recognizable. And perhaps there''s a sense that if I really learned the craft of working with different lenses, that I could introduce an artistic element that would enhance all of my shoots.

Of course, with the fixed lenses on my Canon XH A1 and Sony HDR-FX1, I''m kind of limited. So when I had the chance to review the Cinevate Brevis35 adapter, which would let me attach industry-standard 35mm lenses to either camera, I jumped at the chance. In this segment, I'll go over buying decisions. Next issue, I''ll detail the assembly, configuration, and shooting experience—which should provide some useful insights to anyone considering buying such an adapter, and perhaps some good laughs for those experienced in their use.

Let''s start with what to buy. I''m not a DIY (do-it-yourself) kind of guy, so though I acknowledge that you can build your own adapters, I wouldn''t go that route. The Cinevate Brevis35 unit ($1,000, all Cinevate prices are Canadian) installed easily and worked well for me, and seemed highly regarded in the reviews and other articles that I read. Obviously, there are other alternatives, including products from Letus, which was the primary competitor that I ran across in my research.

When purchasing an adapter, consider (at least) the following three items. First, if you simply attach a lens to another lens, the video that you shoot will be upside-down, which you can easily flip during editing, but can be a pain to frame during the shoot unless you''re shooting in outer space or have a camcorder (like the Panasonic AG-HPX170) that can flip the image for you. So, the first question is whether the adapter flips the image for you—which the Flip module ($592) on the Brevis adapter did for me.

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Test Drive: Cinevate Brevis35, Part 2 I know, it''s been two weeks since I left you hanging with the receipt (but not the use) of the Cinevate Brevis35 imaging system. In this episode, I''ll take you through assembly, alignment, and configuration of the unit and reveal the first images shot with my now supercharged Canon XH A1 ...

Second is the type of lenses you can attach to the adapter, which is especially important if you already have the lenses that you intend to use. The Brevis comes with interchangeable lens mounts for Nikon, Canon FD, Canon EOS, Minolta MD, Pentax K, and Pentax M42, as well as support for PL and OCT-19 cinema lenses.

Third, and probably least important, is how the unit is powered. The Brevis comes with an internal, chargeable battery that should be good for 32 hours of shooting, and an external, battery-powered adapter is available should you start to run out of power during the shoot. Even more important, a light on the unit will begin to blink once you have 1 hour of power remaining, so you have time to recharge or attach the external battery. Other units (such as the Letus) use regular batteries that you''ll have to buy and replace and have a much shorter useful life.

Yikes! Call the Geek Squad to get all this assembled.

OK, so you purchased the adapter. Now it''s time to decide whether to purchase a rails system to mount the adapter, which costs in the neighborhood of $400. As I''ll discuss in a moment, during installation, you''ll attach the 2lb.-3lb. adapter to the front 1/2in. or so of your camcorder via screws in the adapter, which is a lot of weight on a small area. While the camcorder is undoubtedly stronger and more rigid that you think it is, I wasn''t comfortable hanging that weight off my lens without the rails system, which supports both the camcorder and adapter. I asked Cinevate president Dennis Wood what percentage of adapter buyers also purchase a rails system, and he estimated more than 95 percent. Unless you''re nowhere near as attached to your camcorder as I am to my XH A1, better budget for a rails system.

Then there are the actual lenses, which you can buy or rent. Understand that once you attach the 35mm adapter to your camcorder, you lose its internal zoom capabilities—which, in the case of the XH A1 with a 20X optical zoom, really hurt. This means that you''re totally reliant upon the lenses that you buy for all shots, which typically means that you''ll need two to three lenses for even token flexibility.

For example, Cinevate sent me three lenses, all prime, which means that they had fixed focal lengths and no zoom capabilities. The 35mm lens is considered wide-angle, the 50mm lens normal, and the 85mm lens telephoto. In contrast, the lens that comes on the XH A1 is the equivalent of 32.5mm-650mm lens—about the same on the wide angle, but much less on the zoom.

Let''s take a quick break here to discuss how you can buy a 35mm lens for a 35mm camera. Confusing, eh? Well, when referring to the lens, the 35mm means the focal length, essentially a measure of its magnification. When referring to the camera, 35mm means the approximate size of the film used in the camera. All of these lenses are 35mm lenses, since they were produced for 35mm film cameras, though their focal lengths differ.

Fortunately, since many of these 35mm lenses were designed for now-obsolete film cameras, you can pick them up pretty cheaply on eBay. For example, I found the identical 35mm lens that Cinevate sent me on eBay for about $40—plus shipping, handling, and all the associated worries that the glass would be scratched or otherwise damaged.

In general, when evaluating lenses, only buy those with manual aperture control—with lower aperture settings better. That''s because (of course) lower aperture settings provide shallower depth of field. Cinevate recommends lenses with settings of f/1.2 or f/1.4 if available, and to avoid lenses slower than f/2.8 if the focal length is less than 100mm. For longer lenses, such as the Canon 300mm, f/4 should work just fine.

Once you choose your lenses, you''ll need the specific lens mount that attaches them to the camcorder. There are various other tchotchkes you can consider—cases, mattebox, follow-focus attachments, shoulder mounts, dollies, and the like—but adapters, rails, lenses, and lens mount are the necessary basics. I made the phone call, and in a couple of days, I had the gear shown above. Pretty daunting for a non-DIY kind of guy, but the assembly, alignment, and configuration of the unit turned out to be a fascinating lesson into how these 35mm adapters work. Which, of course, you''ll have to come back in two weeks to read.