Got my Letus35 adapter today...... [Archive] - DVXuser.com -- The online community for filmmaking

View Full Version : Got my Letus35 adapter today......

Jay Rodriguez

11-01-2005, 07:03 AM

Anyone here have this adapter? I took the leap and decided to try it out.

Got my adapter today, ordered it on Friday.

Not really sure what I'm looking at here though as one side is completely open. What do I do with this side as it's not threaded?????

Oh and see below.... I didn't get this piece... Was I supposed to?

http://photos.e46fanatics.com/data/500/771535mm.jpg

I'm going to grab a lens and step down today so I can test this thing out. I'll give my full review soon.

Terry_Lasater

11-01-2005, 07:13 AM

That is the front end of the lens attached (permanently) to the Sony camcorder - it's a Sony thing. Not sure, but I believe it houses the zoom and/or focus servo motors.

Just like on this PD-150:
http://www.cameraforrent.com/images/popups/sony-pd-150-popup.jpg

Isaac_Brody

11-01-2005, 07:15 AM

http://www.letus35.com/contacts.html

May as well shoot them a couple emails asking for proper installation directions.

Letus:) know how it turns out. Maybe you could post some photos of the adaptor attached to your DVX as well. That camcorder picture not convincing me to buy this puppy.

Jay Rodriguez

11-01-2005, 07:26 AM

Ok, I just got a response from Quyen (the maker).....

This guy is frustrating the hell out of me to be honest with you.... I asked him three questions in my last email and he only answered one of them.... wtf kind of service is that? lol He did this in my last set of emails to him where I'd ask a question and he hardly gives a straight answer and when he does it's a two or three worded response. grrrrrrrr

Anyway, I have some PM's out and waiting to see what these other fellas have to say....

I'll keep you guys posted.

UncleBenji1977

11-01-2005, 07:33 AM

Not sure... Have you shot anything yet? I'm curious to see how it performs.

thisiswells

11-01-2005, 07:33 AM

Thanks for the link, Isaac. Interesting place. Here is a quote:

We focus on ... Abberation, Grains, Barrel distortions,
If the adapter does indeed focus sharply on the areas mentioned, this doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the product!

Letus

11-01-2005, 07:36 AM

Coffee.

You should have better explanation on your problem so I can help you out, thanks.

Quyen

Jay Rodriguez

11-01-2005, 07:37 AM

Quyen, my email is as better explained as it could get my friend.

thisiswells

11-01-2005, 07:38 AM

Jay(coffee)

Email Obin @ DV3productions.com He also has a DVX Letus Edition.

limehouse

11-01-2005, 07:38 AM

I second the request for example shots. The lack of customer service thing is a big turn off, but if it performs, maybe it's worth it.

Terry_Lasater

11-01-2005, 07:38 AM

Jay Rodriguez

11-01-2005, 07:40 AM

not sure Terry. But, I think I have my answers now.....

I'll let you guys know how it goes after a day or two.....

Jay Rodriguez

11-01-2005, 07:41 AM

I second the request for example shots. The lack of customer service thing is a big turn off, but if it performs, maybe it's worth it.

Don't write it off yet....... The emails are resonded back but there's just so vague that it still leaves me guessing. Anyway, I'll shoot somethings this evening and let you all check it out.

Jay Rodriguez

11-01-2005, 07:42 AM

Jay(coffee)

Email Obin @ DV3productions.com He also has a DVX Letus Edition.

Thanks my friend. :)

thisiswells

11-01-2005, 07:46 AM

Uh, Terry how does PK keep winning the Pimp My Site contest? I mean, it's Day One of November and you've already declared him the winner? Inconceivable. Where are the entry forms for this supposed contest? See, I'm beginning to wonder if there really is any contest at all. :undecided

Terry_Lasater

11-01-2005, 07:49 AM

BLUESPIDER

11-01-2005, 12:14 PM

Actaully, out of everyone, M2,G35,etc. This guy has the fasted email responses! Hell, the dude responds to you with in 10min of your email. That's pretty phucken good customer service! M2 dude, has never even gotten back to my ass! I sent him a PM like 5 months ago! Talk about muthaphucken service there. Anyway, I might order one my self just to have something to play with. So I'm just waiting on Coffee for his review!

Even with his vaugeness, I still got what he's trying to say. I think its the asian senses. J/K

Let us know bro how it works!

Luis Caffesse

11-01-2005, 12:20 PM

Even with his vaugeness, I still got what he's trying to say. I think its the asian senses. J/K

Was your spidey sense tingling?
:)

(okay, I admit that was bad.... )

WaveRiderXIX

11-12-2005, 12:14 PM

How much was your letus?

Isaac_Brody

11-12-2005, 02:35 PM

Coffee, do you have any Letus footage? What are your impressions?

Norm Sanders

11-28-2005, 12:28 AM

Jay Rodriguez

11-28-2005, 06:49 AM

I have no footage.... The one sent to me is screwy or something. I can't get an image in focus without having the frame holding the GG in view. Sucks but the DOF that I did get is awesome! I sent it back for an exchange on Saturday and can't wait to get it back.

Oh the one thing that I don't like is the loss of light... It's pretty bad imo.

235 Studios

11-28-2005, 07:31 AM

waltind and I were just at Quyen's place today (located just across the river from where I live), and checked out the Letus35 in person, testing it on my DVX100a. I'll post a few screen grabs in the hardware section since that's where I'm seeing other 35mm stuff.

It seemed to do what it says- I loved the DoF! Very nice indeed. We shot a resolution chart with the adapter, and it seemd to work well, but you can check out the stills Envision will post in the Hardware section. What impressed me most was that you could attach either Nikon OR Canon lenses. all of the adapters you are stuck choosing one or the other. But the Letus35 can let you attach either. A huge plus in my opinion.

I have no footage.... The one sent to me is screwy or something. I can't get an image in focus without having the frame holding the GG in view. Sucks but the DOF that I did get is awesome! I sent it back for an exchange on Saturday and can't wait to get it back.

I wonder if you are focusing it correctly? You first have to zoom into the GG so that you do not see the edges of the frame. Then you have to adjust the focus of the DVX, and the focus of the lens on the end of the Letus35. It took alittle of playing with for me to get it focused, but once I did it worked great. I used the chart from http://www.rondexter.com to focus to and that helped a lot.

Oh the one thing that I don't like is the loss of light... It's pretty bad imo.

Yeah, with this adapter you will loose about 1 stop of light, which from what I read from the other adapters, is standard, as the other adapters loose about 1 stop as well. So I think it has more to do with how the adapter works, then the actual adapter quality itself.

235 Studios

11-28-2005, 07:33 AM

For those of you that are lazy, and don't want to try and find the thread hear it is:

Envision & WaltInd 's stills from Letus35

http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread.php?t=39668

Slimothy

11-28-2005, 10:22 AM

Thanks for the post. Was going to buy this, this may be the motivation.

Jay Rodriguez

11-28-2005, 10:32 AM

hey waltind,
I tried so many times to get it right but nada... Pretty frustrating to say the least. When I zoomed until the GG frame wasn't in frame, I couldn't get a focus at all, not even close. Then I zoom out, GG edges in frame, and then was able to focus on an object.....

When I ordered the adapter, Quyen swapped the mounts to make existing Canon mounted adapter to be a Nikon mounted adapter. The GG positions are different between the two from what everyone on the other site is saying so maybe this is where it's failing.... ?? I have no idea, all I do know is that I don't get a focused image until I zoom way out.

I emailed Quyen this and a few other concerns that I won't mention and asked for an exchanged product or just send my money back... I'll keep you guys posted. :(

Norm Sanders

11-28-2005, 10:58 AM

He did mention there were three (to be precise) that apparently went out with a less than desireable macro ground glass ... he said he's replacing/exchanging them, so I'm assuming yours was one of those.

From speaking to him in person, I truly believe the guy's got integrity, so will stand behind his product to the best of his abilities. There may be a bit of a language barrier, I'll admit, so that could be cause to some of the delayed/confused communications ... not sure.

Jay Rodriguez

11-28-2005, 11:14 AM

I hope that everything turns out ok with him and these issues. I mean so far everything with him has been ok, some miscommunication but overall everything is ok.

235 Studios

11-28-2005, 11:24 AM

some miscommunication

I think that it more due to a language thing, as he seemed very willing to answer questions.

Jay Rodriguez

11-28-2005, 12:21 PM

I think that it more due to a language thing, as he seemed very willing to answer questions.

Yep, that's what I meant. :thumbsup:

Jack Daniel Stanley

12-13-2005, 06:18 PM

since waltlind and envision posted here i will too :)
here's my cabbage35 footage
http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread.php?p=372784#post372784
:cheesy:

Jay Rodriguez

12-14-2005, 05:50 AM

looks good jack!

Update on my adapter, sent it back to Quyen and he sent me a new one... Much much better then the first one. I think it was defective somehow but it's all good now.

Slimothy

12-14-2005, 07:38 AM

what was wrong w/ it?

Norm Sanders

12-14-2005, 09:21 AM

If I remember correctly, it was something with the achromat ... or whatever it's called/spelled.

c.g._eads

12-14-2005, 11:52 AM

okay, i'm confused as hell. what IS this thing? Is this an adapter for the DVX? Or just for standard cameras? how much does it cost? Where do I get it?

Amerikan123

12-14-2005, 12:01 PM

hey, i have a Sony DCR VX2100, the camera in the picture of the letus 35 you had. the part you thought was missing is actually a part of the camera it houses the "steadycam" that the sony camera uses.

Norm Sanders

12-14-2005, 01:27 PM

okay, i'm confused as hell. what IS this thing? Is this an adapter for the DVX? Or just for standard cameras? how much does it cost? Where do I get it?

c.g., check out www.letus35.com (http://www.letus35.com)

Jay Rodriguez

12-19-2005, 04:53 AM

what was wrong w/ it?

I believe it was a miss aligned achromat. Good memory Envision! :thumbsup:

Oh and also, I bought a really cool paint (forget the name) and now my Letus35 looks sexy as hell! I'll post some pics in a day or two.

Beat Takeshi

12-19-2005, 01:57 PM

if this thing vibrates, then doesnt it vibrate everything its attached to? Wouldnt the footage always be extra soft because the camera itself is always vibrating even if its slightly.

Norm Sanders

12-19-2005, 03:09 PM

Hmmmm. Good question, I never really thought about that. You can't feel the camera vibrate that I've been aware of (perhaps my hand's gone numb from all the vibrating?!), but you can feel the adapter itself vibrate, if ever so slightly. While I've not seen the image go soft when it's on, I have seen the few small visiable specs that are on the achromat disappear once it's turned on (vibrating) ... meaning, it's working correctly.

jdanstan, in his thread he posted above, stated how he cranked up the core detail & some other functions to help make up for the softer image ... something I wish we'd tested PRIOR to shooting the bulk of our footage for our sci-fi short. I'm going to test it out, when I get time (hopefully sooner than later), and post some results.

My personal thought is that there always seems to be pros & cons to EVERYTHING. With the spinning ground glasses, I've heard issues with swirling, the PS Technic is insanely expensive, some have slight barrel distortion, etc. ... but any of those can be trade offs for that incredible DOF most of us desire & love for artistic reasons, dramatic focus, etc.

Jay Rodriguez

12-20-2005, 02:51 PM

Aram, You'd be surprised how minimal the vibrating is and with it being tightened down to the DVX's threads the weight of the DVX makes the minor vibrating null. It simply isn't an issue in my opinion.

Envision, You're so right my man. Everything has a trade off. I studied the images from all of the adapters and honestly I think the Letus35 hangs with them all. I swear by it now after seeing it for myself through my own camera and dumped into my own NLE.