APEFOS INSTRUCTIONS - Pay Attention! Read Carefully! Print and keep with Apefos!
The Apefos manufacturer is not responsible for loss or damage caused in the use of Apefos. For more details read the policies, terms and conditions of purchase and use.
Apefos Kit includes the adapter and the aluminium base. The kit with canon
eos bayonet includes a tool to unlock the bayonet pin. All other equipment explained
here in this instructions is not included. All other equipment showed in Apefos
website are not included.
Apefos website is www.apefos.com
Ground glass means the glass with the surface where the 35mm photo lens projects the image in when attached in Apefos.
To install Apefos, remove the camcorder lens hood and screw Apefos in the camcorder’s filter thread. Verify if apefos and camcorder are well locked togheter. If camcorder has a diferent filter thread size user can use a step up or step down rings (not included). These rings are in ebay for inexpensive prices. It is recomended to use just one ring at a time to avoid vigneting. Fit the 35mm photo lens in the Apefos bayonet. Screw the aluminium base in the bottom of camcorder. Screw tripod plate in the bottom of aluminium base.
Togheter with the aluminium base there are some ruber shim pieces, one aluminium shim piece and a velcro provided. The ruber shim pieces must be used between Apefos and the aluminium base if needed. The aluminium shim piece must be used between camcorder and aluminium base if needed. This is for make the apefos and the camcorder to fit in the aluminium base. Use the velcro to surround the Apefos and the aluminium base, fiting them togheter. It is important to fit the Apefos in the aluminium base to prevent vibration in the camcorder. It is important also to hold the weight in the aluminium base and avoid Apefos from leave the top of aluminium base. In this way the system will be more safe and the vibration will be inside the ground glass. The tripod used with apefos must be strong enough to avoid vibration in the system and to avoid images became shaking or jerky.
Apefos uses two AA batteries (not included). Remember to use new alcaline batteries or fully charged batteries. The battery support is in the Apefos outside under a rubber. The rubber can be opened at the on/off key side.
To frame the image in Apefos ground glass install Apefos in camcorder with a 35mm photo lens. Point to infinite (mountains or buildings). Focus the 35mm lens to infinite. Put camcorder in manual iris and open the iris. Set the f/stop in 35mm photo lens to get correct exposure. Put camcorder in auto focus. Go pressing tele zoom button until the maximum point that camcorder can focus the image. If the point is gone press wide zoom buttom to get focus. When reach the point locks the camcorder’s focus and zoom rings with an adesive tape and turn camcorder focus to manual. Camcorder iris and 35mm photo lens diaphragm must be set according to this instructions. This instructions talks about iris and diaphragm later. Zoom and focus will be used just in the 35mm photo lens. If 35mm lens is a prime it is not possible to zoom. If necessary use the focus assist function to increase the image size in the camcorder lcd screen and check if the ground glass is in focus. User can turn off the vibration to see the ground glass texture. Remember the camcorder iris must be open to check the focus to avoid camcorder depth of field shows wrong focus.
Always turn off OIS or EIS (optical or electronic image stabilization). OIS or EIS have contrary effect when used with Apefos and they make the images to be jerky, flicking or shaking.
The Apefos canon fd bayonet has the standard canon fd lock. The Apefos canon eos ef bayonet has a pin that locks the lens. This pin works when the user find the correct position to attatch the photo lens than the pin aligns with the hole in photo lens and locks it. Apefos maker provide a small screw tool to EOS bayonets. This tool can be used to unlock the bayonet pin and remove the photo lens. The user introduces the tool over the pin and pull it. Than user turn and release the 35mm photo lens. Attention: nikon, pentax, minolta mc/md and olympus om zuiko bayonets does not have lock. It is possible to use a metal adapter in the Apefos with canon fd bayonet and fit nikon lenses on it with infinite focus. This is the best solution to use nikon lenses. It is possible to use a metal adapter in the Apefos canon fd bayonet and fit M42 lenses on it. These metal adapters are found in ebay for inexpensive prices.
Apefos has two controls and one led. One on/off key and one knob to control the vibration intensity. The led lights when user turns Apefos on but it does not indicate the vibration intensity. To get the motor running user needs to turn Apefos on and put it in the maximum speed. After this user can decrease the speed if needed. If user turns Apefos on with the speed control in a middle position maybe the motor does not start. So user needs to put it in maximum speed and decrease the speed after motor starts. User can put one hand over Apefos to feel the vibration and confirm motor is running. It is important to find the best speed doing some tests. User needs to find the best speed considering the 35mm photo lens in use. The Apefos has two kind of movements: vibrating and oscilating. Oscilating is slower but moves in a large area. It is recomended to lenses from 14mm to 85mm. Vibrating movement is faster but moves in a smaller area. It is recomended to lenses form 100mm to 300mm. The oscilating movement is more powerfull to remove ground glass grain but it is not good to telephoto lenses because it makes the recorded imags to became jerky or flicking when used with lenses over 85mm. The motor speed has a turning point that changes from vibrating to oscilating. To find this point, turn apefos on, the led light will lights. Rotate the knob to the maximum speed. Put one hand over apefos body and with the other hand start decreasing speed softly untill user feels the vibrating increases sudenlly after some slowing in the speed. This is the turning point from vibrating to oscilating movement. After finding this point user can raise speed a little bit but taking care to not pass the point. This is the best oscilating point. To have the vibrating movement turn the knob to maximum speed and choose a positing decreasing the speed without geting the turning point. Remember the led does not show speed, it only shows Apefos is on. Remember when batteries start discharging the speed decreases and user can raise it using the knob. Pay attention using hands over Apefos to feel wich kind of movement is going on and to feel the batteries condition and replace or charge it if needed. The led goes out when batteries are weak but the movement can became unusable before the led goes out, so pay attention. The new batteries can lasts more than four hours, but some adjusts may be done in the knob time to time.
The recorded and monitored image in lcd or viewfinder is upside down and left / right inverted. It is normal and user can correct it in post production. If user wants to record correct images in tape or memory card user can find a way to fix the camcorder upside down in the tripod or in hands / shoulder. Using camcorder upside down makes the image recording to be correct but keep showing inverted images in lcd and viewfinder. To see the images in correct position during recording it is recomended to use an external lcd screen fixed upside down. This instructions talks about image inversion in post production later.
The 35mm lenses are built to project the image in a rectangle of 24mm x 36mm of area. The ground glass of Apefos has an area of 54mm of diameter, larger than the area of the 35mm lenses. Some 35mm lenses surprises and they show a good image outside of the 35mm pattern. But most 35mm lenses have bad image ouside of the 35mm pattern. It is not a problem of Apefos. The 35mm lenses were not made to offer a larger image than 24mm x 36mm. It is for this reason that is necessary to use the maximum zoom possible in the camcorder to frame an area inside of imaginary rectangle of 24mm x 36mm in the Apefos ground glass. The digital slr lenses designed to APS size sensors cannot be used in Apefos because they projects the image in a small area about 15mm x 25mm and the camcorders cannot frame this image size. Two examples of APS digital lenses not good for Apefos are the nikon dx lenses and the canon efs lenses.
User will get better results using the 35mm photo lenses with wider and faster f stops. Avoid using f stops closer than 5.6 This is to avoid the ground glass to be visible in recorded images. Do some tests with the 35mm photo lens in all f stops to see which ones can be used. The camcorder iris must be used from open to 4.0, this is to avoid the camcorder see any dust in apefos optical system. Apefos maker recomends using the camcorder’s ND filter in bright places to keep the camcorder iris between open and 4.0 and the 35mm lens between 1.2 and 5.6 It is good to use ND filters in front of the SLR 35mm photo lens under sun light or other strong light sources to get better pictures. Use just one nd filter at a time in front of the 35mm lens to avoid loss in image sharpness.
The best f/stop of all 35mm prime lenses when used in Apefos is one or two f/stop closed. If lens is 1.4 use 2.0 or 2.8, if lens is 2.8 use 4.0 and so on, but avoid going over 5.6 This is the best setting to avoid vignetting, falloff and hotspot. This settings helps to avoid the vortex / radial blur too. To get to use these recommended diaphragms in the 35mm lens it can be necessary the use of the camcorder ND filter and/or ND or Polarizer filters (not included) in front of the 35mm SLR lens. The user should test all the possible combinations among the diaphragm of the camcorder, the diaphragm of the photographic lens, the ND filter and the light conditions to know what to wait in the results. Situations of low light demand open diaphragms in the camcorder and in the photographic lens.
Camcorder’s automatic iris cannot allways be trusted. When user sets 1.4, 2.0 or 2.8 in the 35mm photo lenses the camcorder ajusts iris well but when user sets f 3.5 or closer in 35mm lens camcorder does not compensate light well. So trust your eyes when looking at lcd or use zebra pattern to confirm exposure. User can chosse a zebra pattern to see the high light and other zebra pattern to see the skin tone. Do tests to your eyes gets the feeling.
Apefos has an optical system that distributes the light and it minimizes the vignetting / falloff / hotspot. However there are photographic lenses that offer better results of light distribution than others. The rule is to choose photographic lenses that has the largest diameter in the rear crystal glass element and that have the widest diaphragm aperture. Fixed focal lenses are almost always better than the zoom lenses. The situation when zoom lenses are better than fixed lenses is in the wide angle range between 14mm and 35mm because some wide angle zoom lenses have the rear glass bigger than fixed wide angle lenses. Stoping down one or two f stops in the diaphragm of the photographic lens helps to reduce the vignetting / falloff and hotspot in the image recorded with Apefos. The zoom 35mm lenses have a point in the zoom scale that presents a better light distribution. Point camcorder against a white wall and find this point. The 35mm zoom lenses are not so fast, therefore, if necessary, use them with the diaphragm wide open. To avoid vigneting and hotspot chose lenses with rear glass with 20mm diameter or bigger.
Use the shutter speed of camcorder among ½ and 1/100. Recomended shutter speeds are 1/24, 1/48, 1/25, 1/50, 1/30 and 1/60. Fast shutter speeds can make the ground glass grain visible even with the vibration on. To use shutter speed over 1/60 to 1/100 the 35mm lens must be at 2.8 maximum.
Use manual white balance whenever possible. Do not use preset 3200 or 5500. Avoid using auto white balance. When doing the set of manual white balance use a big white surface in the same position of person face or object being shoted, under the same light. Other than manual white balance setting can causes images to be recorded with wrong color. If user record wrong colors try to correct in post production. Apefos adapter does not show significant color cast but when more optics are between camcorder and the real world some color difference can happens, so the manual white balance is the best option.
35mm SLR photo lenses are very shallow DOF when the fstop is open. It is possible to use the camcorder lcd to do focus, but it is better to use na external lcd to get a safe good focus. The camcorder’s lcd and viewfinder are between just 100k and 250k pixels and there are external lcd monitors over 300k pixels making focus easier. Apefos maker recomends to use the focus assist or peaking function to see accurate focus when using the camcorder lcd. If the option is to use an external lcd monitor, avoid low resolution monitors. Do not use inexpensive lcd monitors because they are just 1440 x 234 pixels and 1440 is blue, red and green counted separate and it means just 480 in real. These inexpensive monitors shows image in focus but the images can be out of focus in the computer screen. Apefos maker recomends to use external lcd monitors with 2400 x 480 (in real it is 800 x 480) or more pixels. In ebay there are LILLIPUT brand that has good resolution portable lcd screens (native 800 x 480). User can install the external lcd upside down to see image in correct position during recording.
Canon EF (EOS) lenses does not have the infinite focus calibrated at the end of focus ring. Each EOS EF lens have the infinite focus in a different point of the ring. Apefos maker calibrates the infinite focus of apefos EF bayonets to the same point of the canon EOS SLR cameras. In this the EOS EF lenses will work with Apefos but each one will have its own infinite focus point in the focus ring. It is not an Apefos problem. It is an EF lenses issue. Ef lenses cannot change f stop too.
Canon FD, nikon f, pentax k, minolta md/mc and olimpus om zuiko manual focus lenses have the infinite point at the end of focus ring and Apefos is calibrated for it when using corresponding bayonets. These lenses can control the f stop too. The nikon G series lenses cannot control the diafragm when using in the Apefos. Autofocus lenses in general does not have the infinite focus at the end of focus ring and can show some diferences. Used photo lenses can show the infinite focus in another point instead of in the end of focus ring.
Canon FD lenses needs to put a small piece in the bigger pin in rear of lens to let you change f stop. You push the pin and locks it with a small piece of metal, wood or plastic. Be carefull to the small piece do not fall inside the lens. Apefos maker is not responsible if user damage the fd lenses doing this.
To change Apefos bayonets unscrew about one centimeter the four screws in front of Apefos in the black part outside the aluminium body. Remove one bayonet and fit the other and screw in again. When changing the bayonets remember to align the screw holes before screwing to avoid damage the bayonet. User will need a tool (not included). There is only one position to fix the bayonets in Apefos. There is a mark in bayonets to align with the Apefos. It is recomended to clean Apefos with a dust vaccum cleanner after changing bayonets to remove dust in the front lens. It is not recomended so many bayonet changes to avoid misalignment. The bayonet change takes some time and it is better to keep one bayonet in a shoot session.
Apefos ground glass is sealed against dust, but the front and rear sides are
not sealed because user needs to fit the 35mm lenses and the camcorder. So pay
attention if any dust falls in front or rear of Apefos.
The best cleaning process is using a dust vaccum cleanner. Take care to not
touch the lenses with the vaccum cleanner tool. If needed, clean using a clean
and soft brush. Do not rubs the optical surfaces of Apefos because it is easy
to scratch. If user needs to rub use cotton very softly and after doing this,
removes cotton’s for with the dust vaccum cleaner. The dust vaccum cleanner
must be used before and after cotton and soft brush and It is the only way to
remove cotton’s for and small dust. Remember to keep apefos inside the
sealed plastic when not in use.
If there are little things moving in the recorded images user needs to clean the ground glass. It is very better let the Apefos manufacturer do the inside cleaning, but for international users outside Brazil country it can be expensive to send Apefos for cleaning. So Apefos manufacturer provides a tutorial video showing how to clean the ground glass. But remember Apefos manufacturer is not responsible for any damage in the Apefos in the cleaning process.
Images recorded with Apefos are upside down and left / right inverted. This must be corrected in post production. The Virtual Dub free software can do this in AVI videos. The other editing softwares can do this too applying the Horizontal Flip and Vertical Flip filters. Or turning the image 180 degrees. If user are working with progressive videos this is enough. If user is working with interlaced videos it is necessary to do the render with progressive scan setting instead of upper field first or lower field first. It is recomended to flip the videos before the editing to get a better performance in editing.
Before the editing, user can correct the minimal Apefos POP chromatic aberration using the CA Correct, a free VirtualDub plugin for windows or Cheap Lens, a ten usd plug in for Final Cut Mac. Download the Virtual Dub software at virtualdub.org Apefos manufacturer provides the CA Correct plugin. Install the VirtualDub and put the CA Correct plugin inside the VirtualDub plugin folder. Open the video, chose the compression and apply the CA Correct filter with the following settings: RED = 1.008 GREEN = 1.005 BLUE = 1.000 After filter applyed, click in Save as avi in VirtualDub. The saved videos will be chromatic aberration free. This correction is an option, Apefos POP imagens can be used without this correction. Apefos GEM model does not need this correction because it has a sofisticated optical system to avoid chromatic aberration.
Good work..