Mofage Poco - PL lenses for everyone
Вставка
- Опубліковано 23 лип 2024
- The Mofage POCO Variable ND adapter is a brand-new drop-in filter Adapter that allows you to control your image in many different ways. It has a huge promise and delivers on a lot of stuff. This is our review.
---
Mofage POCOVND: amzn.to/43NJKHy
Flunge Distace: bit.ly/3k4Smah
ND & IRND: • IRND Filters: Explaine...
---
Gear we use:
Sony FX3: bhpho.to/33S8GmG
Sony A7SIII: bhpho.to/2CDFqCA
Sony FE 14mm f/1.8 GM: bhpho.to/3DhXvQr
Manfrotto 645 FAST Video Tripod: amzn.to/3kFdXkS
Manfrotto 504x fluid head: amzn.to/3cje7eA
Spiffy Gear KYU-6: bit.ly/3lT7zHQ
Spiffy Gear Spekular: amzn.to/36gFTFq
Pixapro LED100/200: amzn.to/2LKC0zf
Prolycht Orion 300: bhpho.to/3FSdupG
Sennheiser AVX-Combo: bhpho.to/3DtgyYs
Syrp magic carpet kit: bhpho.to/3593xr6
---
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:50 - The Mofage POCO PL adapter
01:09 - PL Lenses and Flange distance
02:36 - Build Quality
02:49 - Mofage POCO offering and value
04:07 - Mofage Poco filters
5:56 - Build quicks
8:50 - Using lenses
9:23 - Conclusion - Навчання та стиль
The Kickstarter campaign is over now and Mofage got the backing for the POCO project. I was one of the folk who invested, and got a POCO unit, variable and clear ND filters and 2 Canon RF mounts to use, like many others, on my RED Komodo. It's been a few months since the order arrived - all looking great - and my time to check it out has been extremely limited, and so I only just have feedback. Kickstarter say "Remember to be constructive - there's a human behind this project". I'm going to try! So on the positive side of things, the unit is well built and solid, the PL mount is equally confidence building, and the Variable ND looks good and has a nice weight to the transition wheel... heck, even the purple looks good in real life. But this is a story about design failure and dumb ignorance, I'm afraid... and a major warning to anyone who is thinking about buying one of these Mofage units.
My first attempt to put the POCO onto any of my RED Komodo rings met with a huge problem. Like many of you I run fairly serious lenses and they need to be held rock solidly onto the camera body, which means that the lens-POCO-mount-body combination has to operate as one without any movement whatsoever. To do this you have to mount the supplied foot to the POCO, and then fasten this to your rails rig. The foot mounts very close to the body of the camera, and as with many rings, the Wooden Camera system I use has a plate to mount the camera onto that protudes a little in front of the front edge of the RED, which allows a bolt to lock into the base of the foot. It works perfectly on Metabones adapters, Wooden Camera adapters and every other one I've ever tried. But it doesn't work on the POCO because for some reason that makes no sense when they designed it they made the foot so long that it hangs down well below the base of the camera - to be more exact I can stick a sachtler tripod plate in the resulting gap between the camera base and where the Wooden Camera base plate has to sit to get under the foot. In fact this is the only way I could mount the POCO to the camera and rails - to insert a sachtler base plate in the hole and then use long bolts to connect them. Major design fault, and even without a baseplate it means the camera can't sit flat on any surface - it has to sit angled with the foot hanging down. The same problem occurred with trying to use it on a Gimbal and directly onto an O'Connor head - you need a big old plate to raise the camera body up.
I contacted Mofage about the problem and asked if they has a shorter foot that would work. They told me that they had made the unit to go with any camera, couldn't offer any solution and pretty much blamed me for having the wrong camera and said it wasn't a design fault - even though any RED camera is a pretty good bet to be a runner when PL lenses are being used, and so many others, like the E2-6, use the same front dimensions. End result of a nice query conversation - tough luck not our problem Mofage.
Once I had the time to get the rig sorted out with my messy makeshift solution a week or so ago I hit the second product design problem. With the ND filter in place there is no way to reach the lens release button on the Komodo, as the POCO wheel completely obliterates the button on the body. I contacted Mofage about this second strike and they sent me a video showing a POCO unit being removed from a completely bare Komodo by pulling out the entire ND filter, wheel and surround to be able to then push the button in and release the lens. Sadly, again like many of you, my cameras all have handles that come forward of the body edge and stop the filter unit being removed without first taking off the left handle.
So I can take the POCO off on location during a shot if I first remove the camera baseplate and the two long bolts plus the spare sachtler camera plate, after finding the normal camera screws I need to use to remount the camera, and putting these safely into a camera case I always have next to me, then remove the entire left side handle assembly to take out the ND filter, leaving the filter exposed and the big hole in the side of the POCO exposed plus the sensor exposed, so I can push in the lens release button to take it off. These are two huge design flaws which make the Mofage POCO unit totally unusable in my professional life.
No problem, I thought, I'll just contact Mofage and explain the problems, and then we'll arrange a refund and I'll send it back... as with any decent manufacturer. Unfortunately, it turns out the Mofage may not be a decent manufacturer who care anything about their clients or reputation. After several emails it turns out that Mofage don't see design faults as refundable or even their fault, only production and total component failures are refundable, as I was told in no uncertain terms. I can get a refund as the product fails my work criteria, but to do so I have to 1) pay to send the unit back to Hong Kong in exactly the same condition and packaging as I received it - not too unreasonable. 2) Pay the tax of around 30%? Who pays tax on a return?? 3) Pay a 3% custom clearance fee - again who pays this on a return? 4) Then after it has all been checked out and any other deductions taken off, presumably, I will get a refund.
So because the product design is flawed and hasn't properly been tested in the field by professionals, we expected to pay around 40-45% of the purchase cost to ask for a refund because it simply doesn't work!!!!
My advice, avoid anything to do with POCO and Mofage like the plague and do not buy this unit unless you can somehow test it out for yourself - and do feel free to contact me if you would like to find out more. My last though goes back to that Kickstarter advice, maybe it should read "remember to be constructive Mofage - there's a human behind every sale of your Kickstarter product, even if you have not done your due dilligance in creating it".
Very well said, thank you for adding your insights on this topic!
a (positive) lock is so so important on any 'real' set (as much as I hate saying 'real set') - but lens wiggle is horrible and noticeable etc. More on topic, love the Mofage Poco, nice. Would love to see more!
Positive lock adapters are important. But locking your adapter down is more important. I have seen too many times adapters in the air (without a foot) inviting thr wiggle back in to their shot.
@@adamfrimer8278 very true and often overlooked!
amazing video!
Nice, so all the different mount adapters on the body side are user interchangeable?
As far as we can tell, yes. That is quite an amazing feature.
What do you think about PL lenses? full breakdownw here: www.diyphotography.net/mofage-poco-review-the-most-exciting-love-story-for-equipment-ive-ever-had/
They NEED to come up with an EF version!
This one does connect to EF bodies, but sadly EF lenses have too long of a flange distance to be adapted universally :(
To be honest, if I were a company like this, I'm not going to invest in EF. EF, to me, is over. Canon is going to move on, 3rd parties are going to move on.
PL lenses are expensive :(
Keep your teleprompter further away. Its distracting to see your eyes moving out.