Letus Extreme / M2 purchase

[mvdsanden]

Hi all,

Ever since I heard of 35mm adapters I was going to buy the M2 (when I could afford it). The time has come, and this friday i'll be buying the hvx200. The adapter should follow shortly.

Here comes the thing, after doing some research I found some interesting posts comparing adapters, and found out that the M2 has a few downsides, which are for me:
- light loss (redrock says 1 stop, i've heard 3 on the forums)
- image flipped

All of a sudden the extreme looks more interesting, but I have a few questions since i'm having some budget limitations:

For the m2, I would take the hd bundle, stepdown ring, hardmount kit and eos + fd lens mount. Total price, around $1300

Now with this Letus extreme i'm having trouble figuring out what I need... adapter costs 1200 at the moment, but what else do I need? Since it doesnt includes rods, im gonna need to find those elsewhere right?

Few questions:
- Can the adapter also be mounted on the lens without rods?
- If i need to buy them, where to find good ones cheap? And how to lower the hvx200 then?
- Whats the current time from order to shipping?

Not having the image upside down is for me a big reason not to go for the M2, but as I said, my budget is around $1300 so im kinda unsure at the moment.

Sorry for long post,

Thanks, Martijn

[DavidChia]

Cavision sells rails that wil fit . model : RS15II250MM but it will be $ 170, and you only have $100 from your budget after ordering the Letus Extreme.

[mvdsanden]

Well, adding another 70 bucks might not be such a big deal, as long as nothing else has to be purchased. Only adds up more shipping costs / customs taxes etc...

[DavidChia]

you will realise soon that is not going to be the end of your spending.

You will soon realise that you need a Follow focus ( maybe you can get away ), Mattebox, N.D filters (needed when you shot outside), External monitor, not cheap ones, but those that can handle HD resoultions ( because critical focus is not good enough on a 3.5 " LCD ), many more Lenses because a 50mm is just the basic. A case big enought to keep them all inside. I hope that you have yourself already a good enough tripod to hold the weight of all those items I mention. Also a Lighting set, beacuse you going to realise that a good image need good lighting not only good D.O.F

I'm not trying to scare you , but hey this is the reality that you going to face when you realise that it does takes much more then a camera and a adapter to shoot and give good results.

So good luck, and a big welcome to the world of 35mm adapters .

[mvdsanden]

I totally realise that... Plus i'll need a faster PC, bigger harddisks, more P2 cards etc etc..

I just need a good start, and experiment alot. Got a set of FD lenses already (28mm, 50mm, 85mm, 135mm - all f1.8 except the 135mm = 2.8), and without all the stuff you mention above, I think i'll be able to make some nice outdoor shots. Only the ND filters might be handy yeah.. I was already planning to buy those for my SLR cam, would those also work on it?

Just need to learn working with all this stuff, and hopefully the rest will follow later.

[mvdsanden]

Oh and about the external monitor, i'd like to try it without one first, or maybe a simple sd monitor. Thats also why im interested in this letus extreme, cause investing in a proper hd monitor with flipfunction for the M2, or screw a brand new camera open to flip the screen is not preferred at the moment.

[BlueWorld]

The M2 is also a royal pain to set-up properly and has really bad edge sharpness. We sold our M2 as soon as the Brevis was available.

As for the SD monitor, it's funny how nobody ever believes you when you tell them they won't be able to focus with a SD monitor. The narrower your DOF, the better chance you have focusing with an SD monitor, with a 85/1.4 you might have a chance. Anything wider than 50mm however, and you'll get close, but then just rack back and forth and see absolutrly no difference in the display. There just aren't enough pixels.

[disjecta]

The M2 is also a royal pain to set-up properly and has really bad edge sharpness. We sold our M2 as soon as the Brevis was available.

As for the SD monitor, it's funny how nobody ever believes you when you tell them they won't be able to focus with a SD monitor. The narrower your DOF, the better chance you have focusing with an SD monitor, with a 85/1.4 you might have a chance. Anything wider than 50mm however, and you'll get close, but then just rack back and forth and see absolutrly no difference in the display. There just aren't enough pixels.

Listen to Blueworld, he knows what he's talking about. I've had the exact same issue and, no matter how confident I am that I've pulled sharp focus, it's off about 50% of the time. It's only off by a smidge but keep in mind that when HD is even a little out of focus it's going to look bad...it is not a forgiving medium. You might be able to get away with doing it in SD but not HD....

[livelikeriley]

Not to highjack this thread, but a question on the need for monitors. My DP has a marshall monitor that I use when I'm shooting with him (on my larger projects etc.) but I don't have one for personal use/projects and don't have the cash on hand to pick on up at the moment (have to shoot a few more weddings :) ) My question is this, I'm not showing my stuff in HD right now, I'm shooting in HD (720p on the HVX) and then finishing on an SD medium, I know I would theoretically want focus to be there in HD if I ever move to that as a distribution method, however in some of my smaller projects SD will be fine - my question to get to the heart of the matter - is with the focus being off by a smudge in the HD footage, is this discernible when played in SD resolution?

Thanks,
Mark.

[disjecta]

Hard to say but for anything critical, I would personally not take any chances. My advice would be to hold off using the adapter for paying gigs where quality is important and, when you can afford a decent monitor, start using the adapter.

Unless you are selling a 35mm look as part of your package, you won't lose business waiting.

[bwest]

As for the SD monitor, it's funny how nobody ever believes you when you tell them they won't be able to focus with a SD monitor. The narrower your DOF, the better chance you have focusing with an SD monitor, with a 85/1.4 you might have a chance. Anything wider than 50mm however, and you'll get close, but then just rack back and forth and see absolutrly no difference in the display. There just aren't enough pixels.


So then, could one say the 35mm is good for the HDcamera only, or could one critically focus with a HDmonitor on a dvx100 say on composite/compment connector? That would up your pixel count, but I dont know if the SD signal from the cam would now be your weakest link?

[disjecta]

Not sure why you would be using an HD monitor on an SD cam. In my experience, an SD signal looks worse on an HD monitor than on a SD monitor. That's not scientific though, I think my perception partly had to do with being used to looking at an HD signal on the same monitor

[bwest]

hmmmmmm, Im trying to improve my ability to focus with the dvx and a 35mm adapter and the only way I can do this presently is to use a "Seimans star".
I do have a 7" SD monitor... 800 x 480 resolution. Those wide lenses can be tough!