REVIEW TIM DASHWOOD EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED EXPERIMENTS WITH THE JVC HZ-CA13U PL-MOUNT CINE LENS ADAPTER

We have witnessed a revolution in over the past few years. Features once reserved for $100,000+ professional digital have found their way into priced under JVC HZ-CA13U JVC $10,000. Most of the tools required for the long-sought-after “film look” (, HD recording, cine gamma and knee REVIEW: control) are now finally in the hands of the low-budget filmmaker. Unfor- tunately, as the overall size and price tag of digital camcorders shrinks, so does the physical CCD size. A typical HDV cam- corder might contain three 1/3-inch CCDs with an imaging area roughly just 6mm diagonal. The side effect of a small- Adjusting the backfocus er chip size with available lenses is an almost uncontrollably deep depth of field option for controlling DoF seems to be a more light or faster lenses will always be (DoF.) This “feature” of very small CCD cine lens adapter. required for interior scenes. Secondly, the camcorders excludes them from being From the home-built versions that sell grain is usually visible in the ground serious contenders for feature film or for a few hundred dollars to the very pro- glass/focus screen; therefore, most dramatic television work. fessionally engineered P+S Technik adapters employ a rotating or oscillating With the lenses and that Mini35, these adapters all utilize system to scatter the grain pattern, are available, the best the exact same concept. An image requiring battery power and sometimes is projected by a cine lens or SLR creating audible noise. u STATS photo lens onto a focusing screen or Finally, the majority of the cine lens ground glass equivalent in size to 35mm adapters on the market require the use of FEATURES: or 16mm. The projected image is then “re- the ’s lens in macro mode to The JVC HZ-CA13U optional photographed” with a relay lens connect- relay the image to the CCDs. Some sys- PL-mount lens adapter for the 1/3-inch bayonet mount ed to the 1/3-inch CCD . tems, like the Mini35, have their own pro- of the company's ProHD line These adapters are increasing in pop- prietary relay lens. Either way, this usually of HDV camcorders will be available at NAB this month. ularity with budget-minded filmmakers means very long lens assemblies. The adapter enables the use and music cinematographers. of 16mm film prime lenses There are a few things to consider PURE OPTICAL SOLUTION The ground with a PL mount and retains the angle of view and depth when using a typical cine lens adapter. glass/focusing screen seems to be the com- of field characteristics of First of all, the ground glass/focus screens mon weak link in these systems. So what 16mm film. Loss of transmit- utilized in most systems have a light loss would happen if it were taken out of the tance is less than half a stop. averaging at least two stops. This means optical path? MSRP: $4,395

WEB SITE: http://pro.jvc.com 44 VIDEOGRAPHY / April 2007 WWW.VIDEOGRAPHY.COM REVIEW: JVC HZ-CA13U We cameras have a built-in “image flip”“image a built-in cameras have option uprightthat allows orientation image adapters. most lens by required recording in as I had the camera soon and adapter As hands,my Clairmont Camera I contacted and arranged of a test lenses with their their depth of Samuelson field charts. the With help of cinematogra- friend and fellow my pher Brad Smith, testing days I spent two every hands on. get my prime lens I could S4s,Cooke “Super Ultra Zeiss and Primes Speeds,” Clairmont anamorphics— even all. them tested we VIEW OF VIEW/ANGLE FIELD OF found that the HZ-CA13U has an angleequivalent of view of standard 16mm. a 16mm chose that JVC The fact frame aerial size as a image will come surprise most because the trend to all of be 35mm for to tends the other cine lens adapters. I was disappointed I first crossed paths withI first crossed this lens for also loaned me a GY-HD250 JVC transmittance than half is less This a stop.) glass- the ground over advantage is a huge for shooting in low based competition light. is no added grain worry There to required. about and no extra power ’06. at NAB adapter that time, At the in development. was still product I hon- very high have that I didn’t say estly must time, at that expectations because mostly the concept understand how I didn’t possibly work. could Skip ahead to 2007,Sundance had the pro- JVC where totype at HD finished and on display House. the prototype I informally tested City. in Park Street on Main The only PL was 16mm,lens available but much me so impressed the quick results do a full array of to that I volunteered on the device.tests the test. and GY-HD250 The GY-HD200 The lack of glass/focus a ground screen The engineers at JVC have answered have The engineers JVC at means that almost all of the light captured the the cine lens is transmitted to by CCDs. loss in that the actual told (I’m that question withthat question and the development of release cine the HZ-CA13U PL-mount lens adapter, is designed attach which to mount bayonet the 1/3-inch to directly line of ProHD on the JVC cam- HDV corders. is not dissimilar in design to It CLA 35 HD cine lens Angenieux/Zeiss the adapter. has no cine lens adapter This new glass/focusingground screen. lenses Cine the industry-standard to attached PL “virtual mount focus an aerial image on a focal plane” 52mm flange at the standard distance, maintaining the angle of view of characteristics and CoC/DoF 16mm film. optical elements in the Eleven of the size then reduce adapter the aerial that ofimage to CCD. the 1/3-inch REVIEW JVC HZ-CA13U JVC REVIEW:

85mm Zeiss Ultra Prime mounted on the JVC HZ-CA13U and HD250 when I first read the spec; however, I CHROMATIC ABERRATION AND series did require a slightly different now realize that this is a calculated WHITE SHADING CA (chromatic aber- white shading adjustment, but they were move on JVC’s part. There is an abun- ration) is a big problem with 1/3-inch 3- consistent. The Cooke S4 lenses consis- dance of standard PL 16mm lenses CCD HD cameras. Absolute precision is tently had the “truest” color cast. available around the world. From film required in the optics to avoid CA. JVC schools to rental houses, it won’t be ProHD owners who use the “stock” 16x DEPTH OF FIELD CHARACTERISTICS hard to find a half-decent set of 16mm- lens know all too well about the We spent the most time testing depth of format primes somewhere in your part green/magenta fringing common with field of every focal length and . of the world. Of course, any PL prime “entry-level” lenses. Depth of field is a subjective concept of or accessory (35mm or 16mm format) I expected to see some CA fringing, and what portions of an image are consid- will work with the adapter. I was surprised at how little actually ered to be acceptably “sharp.” My pri- showed up considering these lenses were mary goal was to determine if I could SHARPNESS AND VIGNETTING I test- never designed for use on a 3-CCD system. still use the data in the DoF charts in the ed sharpness on every available focal The Cooke S4 lenses fared the best, with American Cinematographer Manual with length from 9.5mm to 85mm, in both the Zeiss Ultra Primes coming in a close the HZ-CA13U. 16mm and 35mm format lenses. All of second. The Zeiss Super Speeds (35mm We tested angle of view, the primes in the 12mm to 85mm range and 16mm format) and Zeiss t/2.1 lenses transmittance, sharpness,

showed exceptional edge-to-edge sharp- all performed almost as well. The wider S

T chromatic aberration and ness, at least as good as the Fujinon lenses presented more CA near the edges, S depth of field characteris- 13x3.5 video zoom I used as the bench- but all of the longer focal lengths (16mm- E tics of primes on the mark. The 9.5mm Zeiss showed a slight 85mm) performed quite well. T adapter and compared the

loss of sharpness in the corners, but noth- White shading (green/magenta cast at E results to a standard ing out of the ordinary. There was hardly top/bottom of image) is now very easy to H

T 1/3-inch video zoom lens any visible vignetting on any of the lenses calibrate with the custom white balance and a Super 16 ARRI SR3. we tested. menu in the HD200 or HD250. Each lens

46 VIDEOGRAPHY / April 2007 WWW.VIDEOGRAPHY.COM REVIEW

The Samuelson DoF charts rendered angle of view, longer focal lengths can be mounted to the HZ-CA13U. enough data for me to determine that the used, which results in a shorter depth of I used my custom-built 3D rig to CoC (0.0015mm) and DoF characteris- field at the same horizontal angle of view. shoot some side-by-side tests. As demon- tics of the aerial image seem to be equiv- Since most HD cameras capture a 1.78:1 strated in the photo, the length of the alent to 16mm format. We also rolled (16:9) frame, an anamorphic yields an HZ-CA13U with a Zeiss prime is the film on the SR3 using the exact same equivalent of a super-wide 3.15:1 ratio. same as the standard Fujinon 16x5.5 lenses for comparison. Left/right cropping would be necessary zoom lens! I then spent an afternoon comparing to bring it back down to a 2.35:1 ratio. I found there to be a considerable differ- the frame grabs to my DoF charts and ence in DoF between 1/3-inch and 16mm. confirmed the promised capabilities of COMPARISON WITH 1/3-INCH I tested a 9.5mm, 12mm, 16mm, 24mm, the adapter. VIDEO ZOOM After my initial tests, I 32mm and 50mm in this configuration. borrowed a set of t/2.1 Zeiss JVC HZ-CA13U JVC WHAT IF I WANT AN EVEN SHORTER lenses (35mm format) from DOF? As an added bonus, we also tried Clairmont and spent a few some Clairmont anamorphic lenses. The days conducting practical REVIEW: depth of field characteristics are the same tests. The first was to with any given focal length of a spherical demonstrate the differences or anamorphic lens. However, since the between a typical 1/3-inch anamorphics have such a wide horizontal video zoom and a PL prime

u FEATURES: BACKFOCUS

The first challenge we faced was 85mm), setting focus on the lens very well built. It has just two mov- properly backfocusing the HZ- barrel to an exact distance (say 15 ing parts: a PL-mount lock and the CA13U. Backfocusing (relay focus- or 30 feet) and then backfocusing backfocus knob. The prototype did- ing) is important with lens on the Siemens Star at that dis- n’t have a focal plane marking, but adapters, but the traditional tance seemed to work well. The JVC has assured me that the pro- designs allow for the relay to be only caveats are that you must duction models will have markings focused on the grain of the ground have an HD monitor on set and scribed into the barrel. It didn’t have glass. Since the HZ-CA13U has no you must ensure that your lens’ a hook for the measuring tape, ground glass, we had to develop a flange depth is set correctly in either, but I set a lens rod support at better plan. Our first instinct was to prep. Clairmont maintains its lens- the focal plane to hook on to. pop in and then use a 10-100mm es to a very high standard, but The backfocus adjustment on Zeiss zoom lens on the adapter beware if you are brushing the the prototype seemed to be very and and then use a traditional dust from some old lenses at your sensitive to small changes. JVC backfocusing technique with a film school. tells me that it will be “geared Siemens Star. The camera mount and adapter down” in the production model. This worked fine, but who will both be sensitive to tempera- The length from mount to wants to rent and bring a zoom ture changes, so it will be impor- mount is just under 5.5 in., and the lens on every shoot just to set the tant to maintain a reliable backfo- adapter weighs less than 2 lb. backfocus? cus regimen when changing loca- However, I recommend using a We tried a few different tech- tions and let the camera warm up lens support for the adapter to niques and eventually decided that before setting backfocus. avoid putting too much stress on using a long prime (50mm or The HZ-CA13U appears to be the camera’s bayonet mount.

48 VIDEOGRAPHY / April 2007 WWW.VIDEOGRAPHY.COM REVIEW

THE REAL WORLD The last phase of my test was to actually shoot something as I would with Super 16. My friend Nathan Fleet volunteered to be my sub- ject. He’s a musician, so I decided to shoot a simple performance video for him. On my way to the shoot, I stopped at my dealer to pick up some tape stock and ran into Richard Comely, the inven- tor of the Comely DV Crane. He carries a DV crane in his trunk at all times, and he quickly volunteered to tag along for a JVC HZ-CA13U JVC couple of hours. We mounted the camera rig to the DV Depth of field chart comparison Crane and set up the first shot with the REVIEW: 9.5mm lens. I didn’t have a means to 16mm. It has a nice short DoF at 3 or 4 cranked effect. Nathan had sped up his power the HD monitor at the location, so feet, t/2.8, but is still wide enough to song 250 percent for playback, and every- I attempted to backfocus with just the shoot a nice medium shot. thing held perfect sync when the footage viewfinder. The method described early We shot for a total of three hours with was played back at 24p. on seemed to work, except for the wide just a two-person crew and an iPod for I conducted a lot of rack focusing shot with the 9.5mm. It looked sharp in playback. The system performed well, with the Zeiss lenses and, as expected, the viewfinder but was a little soft when I especially considering it was -17°C (1°F) there was practically no breathing at all. checked the dailies. Next time I’ll be sure with the wind chill, which is about 17°C After watching some of the dailies, to bring along the HD monitor! below the suggested operating tempera- something occurred to me: I had just I used the DV Crane for about four ture of the HD250! shot a music video in three hours, in HD, setups and then switched to handheld. I with cine lenses, no , and only tried a bunch of different focal lengths, PRACTICAL APPLICATION I shot all of one Mini DV tape! The 56 minutes of but I’d have to say that my favorite is the the material in 720/60p for a 60fps over- tape I shot at 60p turned into 145 min- utes when slowed to 24p. I started crunching the numbers and realized that if I had shot the same amount of footage on Super 16, I would have required more than 5,000 feet of stock (13 x 400-foot rolls). At $190/roll, stock would have cost about $2,500, processing would have cost around $1,000, and best-light transfer to HDCAM would have taken at least four hours at $500/hour plus the cost of transfer tape stock. The suggested HZ-CA13U price is $4,399. That’s $1,000 less than I would have blown in one afternoon on a music video shot on Super 16. Not JVC GY-HD250 with HZ-CA13U mounted to a Comely DV Crane bad at all! ■

50 VIDEOGRAPHY / April 2007 WWW.VIDEOGRAPHY.COM