On PL adapters and filming biz… Addressing some commonly asked questions.

What lenses does your adapters work with?  Do you have a list?  Do I need to modify my camera?  Will I still be able to take pictures?  Will it damage my camera?  I don’t care about collimation, I’m no expert, but I’ve been shooting for 15 years, I just want it to work!  Do you wholesale?  I saw some other adapters cheaper, can you beat the price?  What else are you going to be releasing?  Where is the lens list?!?!

THE START

We wish to thank everyone for the interest in our products.  We sincerely apologize for the delays as our Phantom Works division has kept us solidly booked on feature films for the past few months and we are relocating a portion of our shop to another building down the street.

We managed to complete a small run of V2A last month, however they completely sold out the following day prior to us being able to post anything online.  But we are proud to report that V2A are on projects filming in Texas, Louisiana, Taiwan and Switzerland that we know of currently, and the response thus far is tremendous.  We are working as fast as possible to make the next batch available within the coming weeks.

Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to express our logic flow below.  We endeavored to simplify the responses as much as possible for an easy and hopefully entertaining read.  Please do feel free to comment, submit corrections and/or join us in our forum (of which we will be switching over to a much more robust solution by year end).

V1A (Version 1 Aluminum) : V2A (Version 2 Aluminum) : V2S (Version 2 Stainless Steel) : V3S (Version 3 Stainless Steel).

DOES IT WORK

As published in our About page, “We use and put everything we make and sell to the test.  From the stress tests to live productions, we know these products perform.”, simply, yes, all our products “works”, and they perform great.  V1A and V2A are adapters that will securely hold cinema lenses with PL plates to DSLR cameras (or DSLR to cinema lenses with PL plates if you prefer).

CINEMA LENSES

Most every lens from Angenieux, Arriflex, Bauch & Lomb, Canon, Cooke, Elite, Hawk, Nikon, Panavision, Red Pro, Taylor Hobbs, Zeiss, and more are designed to work with Cinema Cameras.  Lenses vary from markings, breathing, speed and to what many regards as most important, what the element does to the light that passes to image sensor, the coating.  As with all technology progress, grounding and chemical coating of the element (glass) has improved drastically and still improving.  Another step towards providing more options to film makers.

DSLR

Despite DSLR cameras having the capabilities of shooting HD videos, they are still DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras.  Some are being manufactured with more of a hybrid approach, no mirror, adjustable distancing from lens to sensor chip.  Though keep in mind, they are still originating as DSLR.

BUSINESS, DSLR LENSES, DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY, CINEMATOGRAPHERS, SHOOT FOR THE EDIT

Most all camera manufactures makes lenses.  Doesn’t matter if lenses are made in-house or out-sourced, lenses are designed and manufactured with the camera in mind.  Acceptably all manufacturers are in business to sell more of their own branded products, not some other corporations’ products.

This does not mean lenses designed and manufactured for DSLR cameras are any less of a lens for film making.  Especially with the advanced rate of technical progression digital post (computing) has been achieving recently.  Cutting, color, VFX, DI, telecine, scanning, are all part of the advancement of pixel manipulation.  But all that does not mean any production forcing the capture of an image the way the Director, DP, Cinematographer did not intend, for whatever reason; the project will suffer.  The mood, the moment, the nuance, the over-all feel, it is all part of the process.  And it is that technician that’s dedicated the time and resources to use the right gear for the job.

Though we do subscribe to the concept of shoot-for-the-edit, we are more fans of get-it-right-to-start-with.  The crew, talent, post and audience will love the project more for it.

MODIFICATIONS AND DAMAGE

As published you will NOT need to modify camera body.  That’s the reason for an adapter and not modifying camera.  With an adapter, still photo capabilities will still function.  Yes there are some lenses that will bayonet into the camera body, and that’s where common sense takes over.  Though we have been informed by some users that there are “hacks” that will allow usage of some intrusive lenses without modification or damage.  And again we encourage sharing of techniques with fellow film makers.

PROFESSIONAL TOOLS, COLLIMATION, OPTICAL AXIS, BUDGET

Driving a family sedan and a 1000 horsepower race car though share many commonalities, including gas, brake and steering, there are some pretty definitive differences.  It does take a bit more technical understanding to fully drive a race car.

There’s tons of great information that can be found regarding how lenses pass light through a simple search.  We highly recommend taking some time and doing a bit of research prior to shooting with a lens that costs up to ten times more than the DSLR body.

Simply put, anyone that’s ever used a magnifying glass understands that there’s a distance the glass must be to subject and eye for proper focus.

PRICE

We are very aware of the competitive nature of any global business.  Though we have not tested other adapters nor modified camera packages, we believe there are validated sense to these companies’ pricing structure.

Considerations are: materials, tooling, resources, design and as always quality control.  We design and manufacture right here in SoCal USA.

We are speaking with and interested in speaking with more retailers.  Get in touch with us here.

TO COME

Cage, modular rigging kit, rods, cable cam, V3S, and off our Phantom Works division, S-Trolley.

Thank you for visiting!