Letus Extreme & Canon XL HD Lens

[tibobjerome]

I have just a (dumb) question. If with the Letus Extreme adapter we have to focus all the way into the adapter internal glass with the camera zoom and not use the latter again, why would someone buy a very expensive HD zoom lens for the Canon XL H1 when the SOLE use will be with the Letus adapter?

In other words, when using the Canon XL H1 (or any other HD camcorder) in combination with the Letus Extreme adapter, does the HDV quality of the image noticeably vary because of the different camera zoom lens? (Another question could be, can the HD camcorder record HDV without an HD lens?)

Remember, depending on the answer to those questions, somebody can save more than $3,000.

Thank you for your help.

[disjecta]

Letus will be developing a relay version of the Extreme very soon which will fit directly onto the XLH1, no need for additional lenses.

[tibobjerome]

Letus will be developing a relay version of the Extreme very soon which will fit directly onto the XLH1, no need for additional lenses.

Thank you.

So your suggestion FOR NOW is that we don't need the HD lens for the Letus Extreme. A non-HD lens would work just fine and will not affect the final picture enough to spend an extra $3K on an HD lens?

Also, (this is just for my personal education), can an HD camcorder record HDV without an HD lens?

[BlueWorld]

I would not run any SD lens on an HD camera.

I can't wait for a relay for this adapter.

[bwest]

My understanding is a Nikon lens from the 70's is an HD lens [4k], otherwise no one would buy it for the Red. Film is HD.

[tibobjerome]

Thanks but I'm still not quite clear. I really want a bit more info than that and I know I came to the right place here.

[disjecta]

Okay, here's the deal.

You can use an SD lens (such as the 16x that was created from the XL1 and 2 series). That will work but it will not be as sharp as a true HD lens. The construction is different. You will still get a nice picture but you will probably notice some softness. This can actually work well sometimes because it takes off the ultra sharp edges inherent in HD.

Regarding the lenses you attach to the adapter: Any reqular 35mm lens is capable of shooting HD resolution and beyond. Think about it, they were developed for still film cameras capable of recording way more information than a measly 1920 x 1080 so there are no issues with that.

For adapter footage to look good, you want to start with the best lens you can so if you are going to attach an SD lens to the XLH1 and then focus in on the ground glass and deal with even more glass in front of that with Nikon or Canon lenses (whatever your choice is), then you are going to lose quality.

The whole point of using a relay lens version of the adapter is that you are avoiding going through that extra layer of glass (the attached video lens) and thus you will get a clearer picture because the adapter is projecting directly onto the imaging element of the camera, not the video lens surface. Does that make sense?

I'm a little confused by your post because I'm wondering why you are considering purchasing an HD lens for $3000. Did you buy the XLH1 without a lens?

[davidreimers]

with the canon, in this case HD, the picture will always be HD, cause of the chip. how good the picture will be, depends on the lens and the adapter in this case.

[tibobjerome]

Okay, here's the deal.

You can use an SD lens (such as the 16x that was created from the XL1 and 2 series). That will work but it will not be as sharp as a true HD lens. The construction is different. You will still get a nice picture but you will probably notice some softness. This can actually work well sometimes because it takes off the ultra sharp edges inherent in HD.

Regarding the lenses you attach to the adapter: Any reqular 35mm lens is capable of shooting HD resolution and beyond. Think about it, they were developed for still film cameras capable of recording way more information than a measly 1920 x 1080 so there are no issues with that.

For adapter footage to look good, you want to start with the best lens you can so if you are going to attach an SD lens to the XLH1 and then focus in on the ground glass and deal with even more glass in front of that with Nikon or Canon lenses (whatever your choice is), then you are going to lose quality.

The whole point of using a relay lens version of the adapter is that you are avoiding going through that extra layer of glass (the attached video lens) and thus you will get a clearer picture because the adapter is projecting directly onto the imaging element of the camera, not the video lens surface. Does that make sense?

I'm a little confused by your post because I'm wondering why you are considering purchasing an HD lens for $3000. Did you buy the XLH1 without a lens?

Thank you (to you too David). That was what I was looking for. I'm in the process of buying an HD camcorder and I was wondering about the reason why I would buy such an expensive lens if all I'm gonna do with it is to focus on the Extreme GG. And since I can't just attach the (not-relay version) Letus adapter to the camera body without any lens, I wantedt o know the quality implications of having SD lenses. Now I know that the HD camera itself produces HD video even though the lens is SD, and that an HD lens would have made the image better.

But I don't want to buy any lens now from what I learned in your posts. I would prefer wait for the relay-lens version of the Extreme.

My next thing is ... when will the Le brothers release the Letus Extreme RELAY-LENS version? I'm willing to wait even more (I am one of the first people who ordered 2 pieces of the Extreme the day they became available for ordering) to to get what I want. I'm novice in thsi thing and ignorance costs a lot. Thank God you were here guys.

[BlueWorld]

The whole point of using a relay lens version of the adapter is that you are avoiding going through that extra layer of glass (the attached video lens) and thus you will get a clearer picture because the adapter is projecting directly onto the imaging element of the camera, not the video lens surface. Does that make sense?

Just to be picky, the relay is a video lens. However, they tend to be 50mm macro lenses. The advantage over the standard video lens is that 1 - it's a prime lens, 2 - 50mm is a simple optical design, 3 - CAC for this prime focal length is also pretty straight-forward.

The CAC is a huge issue for us since the Canon HD lenses on the A1/G1/H1 are pretty lame under adapter focal lengths. I'm willing to bet the images from the LE on an H1 with a relay are going to be spectacular.




I'm a little confused by your post because I'm wondering why you are considering purchasing an HD lens for $3000. Did you buy the XLH1 without a lens?

I would definitely buy an H1 body only for this use if I could find one.