Playing with lenses: 2/3″ Broadcast lens on PMW-F3.

OK folks. I wanted to see just how well a 2/3″ broadcast lens would work on an F3, but don’t have $5.5k to fork out on one of the Abel adapters. So with a bit of head scratching, a few, lowish cost lens purchases and a few hours in the workshop I cobbled together my own adapter. At first I tried a 2x magnifier but this didn’t quite give me full sensor coverage and was soft out in the corners. With a little more work I took the magnification up to 2.5x and I have clean corners. I’m really pleased with the performance, although one lens element needs changing for a higher quality element to combat some softness when the iris is fully open.

My old Canon J16x8 f1.8 becomes a 24 to 320mm f4(ish) par-focal lens which is actually quite handy. Next step is to make up a power cable for the lens so I can use the zoom servo.

I’m considering trying to find a manufacturer that can make these up for me properly, the converter should cost a lot less than $5.5k

7 thoughts on “Playing with lenses: 2/3″ Broadcast lens on PMW-F3.”

  1. Alister no point in re-inventing the wheel I saw this £285 adapter at Mike Tapas stand at BVE 2011…

    B4 2/3″ to Sony PMW-EX3 Adaptor

    Price: £285.00

    An original design by Mike Tapa,
    This adaptor will allow you to mount 2/3″ broadcast lenses directly onto the EX3
    (Please note. Using this adaptor will introduce a magnification factor of 1.375X)

  2. A 2/3″ lens won’t cover the sensor of a s35 camera. Some will almost fill it with the doubler in, but this is marginal in most cases, so you need an optical extender with around 2.5x power behind the lens. Only AbelCine and Abekas make such adapters (AFAIK) and they cost between £2k and £4k.

  3. Great Work Alister!

    A lot of us have 2/3 lenses lying around.
    And the zoom options for an F-3 are still very limited. (money wise)
    This could be a good alternative.

    1. Good catch on the adapter cable, but I have already made one that is very similar, uses D tap for power but also puts the F3 into record via the remote connector on the rear.

Leave a Reply to Thomas Kist Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Playing with lenses: 2/3″ Broadcast lens on PMW-F3.

OK folks. I wanted to see just how well a 2/3″ broadcast lens would work on an F3, but don’t have $5.5k to fork out on one of the Abel adapters. So with a bit of head scratching, a few, lowish cost lens purchases and a few hours in the workshop I cobbled together my own adapter. At first I tried a 2x magnifier but this didn’t quite give me full sensor coverage and was soft out in the corners. With a little more work I took the magnification up to 2.5x and I have clean corners. I’m really pleased with the performance, although one lens element needs changing for a higher quality element to combat some softness when the iris is fully open.

My old Canon J16x8 f1.8 becomes a 24 to 320mm f4(ish) par-focal lens which is actually quite handy. Next step is to make up a power cable for the lens so I can use the zoom servo.

I’m considering trying to find a manufacturer that can make these up for me properly, the converter should cost a lot less than $5.5k

5 thoughts on “Playing with lenses: 2/3″ Broadcast lens on PMW-F3.”

  1. Alister no point in re-inventing the wheel I saw this £285 adapter at Mike Tapas stand at BVE 2011…

    B4 2/3″ to Sony PMW-EX3 Adaptor

    Price: £285.00

    An original design by Mike Tapa,
    This adaptor will allow you to mount 2/3″ broadcast lenses directly onto the EX3
    (Please note. Using this adaptor will introduce a magnification factor of 1.375X)

  2. A 2/3″ lens won’t cover the sensor of a s35 camera. Some will almost fill it with the doubler in, but this is marginal in most cases, so you need an optical extender with around 2.5x power behind the lens. Only AbelCine and Abekas make such adapters (AFAIK) and they cost between £2k and £4k.

  3. Great Work Alister!

    A lot of us have 2/3 lenses lying around.
    And the zoom options for an F-3 are still very limited. (money wise)
    This could be a good alternative.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.