Well, here's the arguement. (Or at least what I've heard)
The small CCD's in our digital video cameras provide a very wide depth of field.
The 35mm film used in professional cameras, provide a much larger place for light to land, and somehow result in a shallower depth of field.
I'm not sure how the above works out technically, but it is very true.
Okay, the lens adapter, now, has a semi-transparent glass ground plate which the video camera records. This ground plate is supposed to simulate the size and the narrow DOF that 35mm film produces, and the camera simply records that image.
So, following light's path into the camera, you first have the 35mm camera lens, focusing and controlling light that goes to the lens adapter. Inside the lens adapter, the light hits a ground plate, which simulates the size and narrow depth of field like 35mm film. The camera records the image on the ground plate, and viola - super shallow depth of field!
If this doesn't really make sense, a guy on youtube explains it pretty well:
Here's a text explanation as well, about a similar device:
http://www.microfilmmaker.com/reviews/Issue11/M2_2.html
He talks about the small CCD's creating wide depth of field at 2:03
The interesting part starts at about 4:20, when he talks about how the adapter modifies the image.
Thanks for the reply tonsofpcs.
Yes, the adapter does cut down light an f-stop and a half, as well as whatever the SLR lens may cut down. With proper lighting, however, this tool looks like it may be very handy for producing a film-like look.[/url]
