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Introducing Leitner's Cinematography Corner

Oct 9, 2009 12:00 PM, By D.W. Leitner

Interchangeable lenses on a 1/3in. camcorder.

The popularity of inexpensive palm-supported HD camcorders, from Sony's HVR-Z1U onward, has unfortunately deprived newer camera operators of experience with interchangeable lens systems.

Which is why I gave a series of talks and demonstrations at DV Expo in Pasadena, Calif., in late September on the subject of interchangeable lens technique when using Sony's HVR-Z7U, the only 1/3in. palm-held camcorder that offers this traditional photographic functionality.

As in the days of 16mm, I discussed use of a longer zoom—the Zeiss 12x, 4.4-52.8mm, f/1.6, supplied with the Z7—paired with use of a wide-angle zoom, the Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 8x, 3.3-26.4mm, f/1.6 (slightly longer and heavier than the 4.4-52.8mm, due to complexity).

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I also discussed and screened examples of the use of inexpensive prime lenses from Sony's DSLR Alpha camera line (fruit of Sony's absorption of Konica-Minolta), namely a Sony Alpha 50mm, f /1.4, and Zeiss Sonnar 135mm, f/1.8. They adapt readily to the Z7 using a Sony LA-100W adapter ring.

If I tell you that the angle-of-view of a DSLR lens adapted to a 1/3in. sensor is multiplied by a whopping factor of seven—that is, the 135mm becomes, effectively, a 945mm extreme telephoto—you'll understand why my long shots of brawny tugs working the busy East River of Manhattan screened at DV Expo looked so cinematic (hint: compressed depth).

If I tell you that I could not have filmed (quaint term, but I'm sticking to it) the daylight-flooded interiors of architect Rick Joy's celebrated rammed-earth homes last week in Tucson, Ariz., without a wide-angle zoom, or followed him handheld down the narrow desert passages separating the weathered steel cubes of his masterpiece, Casa Jax, perhaps you'll now better understand why.

Or why switching in a matter of seconds from the wide-angle Zeiss zoom used to capture, from a mountaintop, a spectacularly colorful Western sunset, to the longer Zeiss zoom to capture in close-up the nighttime lights of downtown Tucson, sparkling below like a lattice of fine diamonds, gave the photographer in me such a feeling of command and artistry. Just like the good old 16mm days.

Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.
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