I often find myself asking the same question whenever I shop for filmmaking tools: "Why does that cost so much?” It’s just a metal stand, or a plastic cap, or a rolling cart to carry things. The answer is always the same, “This is for film.” Ah yes, therefore it must be a magical cart that will immediately make my movie look better! That explains it! Unfortunately we can’t all afford such extravagant and unnecessarily expensive gear. That’s when we turn to companies like Redrock.
Redrock has been a champion of micro-budget filmmakers since they started their little company in 2004 and introduced the micro35 Cinema Lens adapter. The micro35 allowed you to achieve the look of film by using inexpensive 35mm lenses (the kind you would use on your Nikon or Canon SLR) and focusing the image they perceived on a spinning wheel of frosted glass, which your digital camera could then record. When the improved follow-up came out at the end of 2005, it was christened the M2 Cinema Lens adapter. Having been a huge fan of film since becoming a director, I always hated the overly crisp, artificial, and everything-in-focus look that digital projects had, until I tried the M2. Being able to create such short depth of field with a digital camera just wasn’t possible before, at least not without spending ten grand on the adapter made by a German company (insert your favorite German insult), whose name I won’t mention because my parenthetical statement could be interpreted as libel if I did.
Now, while the M2’s abilities were amazing, there was some give and take. Because film lenses actually record their images upside down, you couldn’t use the viewfinder (because trying to monitor an upside down image reliably while moving the camera is very difficult without lots and lots of practice) and would require either an upside down external monitor or previewing software that could flip the image, like OnLocation or Scopebox. Then, when it came time to edit, you would have to flip all your images right side up before you could edit them. While it was worth doing all these things for the amazing images, fortunately, thisis no longer necessary, thanks to the microX.
The microX Flip accessory is a fairly simple yet brilliant solution. It’s a prism that mounts between the M2 Lens Adapter and the camera you are using, flipping the image with a minimal amount of light loss. No batteries required.
Ease of Use There is very little difficulty with the set-up and use of the microX. If you are using it, you are already an M2 owner, and, as such, understand the basics of lining up the camera lens with the ground glass. The only thing that is slightly difficult and time consuming is the initial set-up.
