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Filed under: *VIDEO* •Cameras •Production •

The GT35Pro up in the great cold north

When looking at the above footage there’s a number of things to take away from it. First of all I think that the proof is in the pudding. IMHO the images look good. I would go so far to say they look pretty damn good for someone who is throwing different lenses onto this adapter and pulling it out of a camera bag whenever he sees something he wants to shoot. But first I’ll point out the problems that I see in the footage, much of which is shooter error. There are a few shots that are a bit soft. Yes it’s hard to focus a 35mm adapter, especially handheld with only the tiny pop-out monitor on the camera but since that’s how a lot of people might use an affordable adapter that’s how I shot with it. In the smaller Vimeo clip the softness isn’t near as noticeable as on a video monitor. In some of the shots where you see the blue sky you can see the “streaking” of the vibrating ground glass. It’s especially noticeable in the Canadian flag shot and the tilt down from sky to waterfall. Part of this is due to the contrast presented by the sky but part of it is that this is magnified in the river shots since a large part of that footage was shot with a 300mm zoom lens on the adapter. For the most part I’ve seen it recommended to shoot with only prime lenses with these adapters and that may be one reason why. More magnification with the lens means more magnification of the texture of the ground glass, be it static or vibrating. At the long end of the 300mm zoom the streaking was even more evident but the footage became so shaky in the cold Canadian wind that it wasn’t usable. More zoom = more camera shake that even a tripod and Magic Bullet Steady couldn’t fix. A number of the waterfall shots are on a longer part of that zoom lens so they weren’t all bad. Another reason for a vibrating ground glass is that the vibration will make and dirt particles that might be on the glass much lessnoticeable . Sometimes I forgot to turn on the vibration. If you look closely at the interior kitchen footage we can see a couple of tiny dirt specs near the center. Again, it was user error and I forgot to turn the motor on and I also didn’t take time to properly inspect and clean the ground glass before shooting. The current models of Greg Tay’s GT35pro has a tally light that reminds you that the vibration is on and might also help remind you to turn it on in the first place!

But there are a lot of good things too. I just love the “look” of this thing. It’s not film but it’s definitely not video. Combine that “look” with the selective focus and shallow depth of field that this 35mm adapter can provide and you will wow those folks who marvel at your home video making skills anyway. The market for a GT35pro isn’t the same as a more expensive Red Rock or Letus adapter so the usage isn’t the same either. For casual shooting of family, fun and friends you can’t beat these types of adapters. But that’s not saying that you can’t take a low cost adapter like the GT35pro and use it for short films and music videos and similar “low budget” productions. The look is there. If you are getting paid good money to produce a music video then the client might have an issue when you pull out a rig like I have (adapter + HV20) for your main camera. But since the GT35pro Elite can be used with cameras like the Panasonic HVX200 there’s no reason you couldn’t get similar results to say a Cinevate adapter for a fraction of the cost. If you test a GT35pro adapter, learn its limitations when compared to one of the “big boys” and design your project accordingly then you can get professional results from a GT35pro. Throw in the proper post-production and color correction on the image and you have a ... to use the term ... killer DV Rebel camera setup!

Coming up next for the GT35pro adapter .... I shot some footage with it along side a RED camera!

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