Some of the most cinematic digital images I’ve seen lately have not been from a Panavision Genesis or a Dalsa Origin, but rather from a Panasonic DVX100a equipped with a device that would have engineers screaming in protest — a lens adapter that allows 35mm SLR lenses to be mounted on a DV camera. The lenses make an image on a VistaVision-sized vibrating groundglass upon which your DVX’s lens is focussed. The result is the kind of shallow depth of field that no DV camera can produce. You get some vignetting. You get some softness. You get some flaring and some haloing. You get cinema.

What I wanted to do with this shootout is give people information that I was not able to get when I wanted to buy an adaptor. There are many people with these adaptors, but very few people have been able to get their hands on more than one at a time. I now have used four of them and I want to give people information on my experiences. Ask people on the forums which adaptor is best and you can’t get a proper answer for the above reasons. Each person loves their own adaptor, like each person loves their Z1 or HVX or JVC 100 etc…