Lenses for SGpro or Letus Flip - XHA1 - HELP!

John Scott 3

John Scott 3

Well-known member
I've received a ton of information from everyone and am currently bidding on this lens:
NIKON/NIKKOR 28MM F2.8 AIS MNT LENS

I just want to make sure this will mount properly on either the Letus Flip or the SGpro with a Nikon mount.

And I've still yet to recieve information about focussing using an adapter and the XHA1. I've heard from some that I'll need a monitor and from others that I can just eyeball it using the camera. Any suggestions?
 
That lens is perfect for your adapter with Nikon mount.

good information about Nikon mount here:

http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/index-frameset.html?Lens-F.html~mainFramehttp://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/index-frameset.html?Lens-F.html~mainFrame

And what comes to monitoring the both horizontally and vertically flipped image, you should indeed get a high quality external lcd (Marshall, Ikan etc.) I know that one guy opened his A1's viewfinder and physically fipped that tiny lcd inside so he gets correct looking image. Although there are more benefits using a high rez external lcd: it's easier to get tack sharp focus and sometimes it helps with operating.

Hope this helps.
 
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This helps a lot. I emailed the guy at Letus to ask a bunch of questions, which I'm sure you're not interested in answering, but do you have experience with the Letus? And do you know if the guy will respond promptly? I wanted the SGpro and after talking with Timur Civan, it sounds amazing. But the website says they can't ship until Aug 15th, which is a little late for me. Is this common?
 
I haven't used the letus, but I have seen it produce quite nice images in Disjecta's hands. Still I would definitely go with the Sgpro, it just is worth the waiting. Lets hear my story. Last christmas I had this 35mm adapter -fever and so I had to have it just before christmas eve, nothing else was acceptable. So I was about to buy the Sgpro and got to know that it wouldn't ship until January. (oh would I have waited :D) Then I just ordered the Go35pro and was happy for a while until I moved from DVX to A1. The grain was unacceptable and slight vignetting occured. Now I have swapped the Go35 for the wdr35pro (spinning GG adapter) and still not happy at all :(( This summer I'll get the "damn" Sgpro and leave all others aside. It just is the best adapter on the market after the P+S mini35.

So my advice is, be patient. It's worth it. You can use the waiting time to get a nice set of lenses and getting knowledge of what's it like to shoot with that shallow DOF.
 
Very nice. Loved the story. I've got the itch right now, but that's only because I'm ordering everything at once. And there is a competition that I wanted to enter and so far the entries are very very low quality and if I can shoot my 30 second piece with the adapter, it will look great. Along with my "fantastic story" (;)), I'd be a shoe in. Kidding, of course. But I guess I'll have to wait, unless the Letus can really perform as well as others say.
 
The Letus can produce great shots, they all do if used properly. The great advantage with the Letus (flip enhanced) is you don't have upside down pictures to worry about in production or in post production which will cost more money (external monitor) and a lot more time (flipping images in post). Most people work around it but you've got to be aware of it.
 
What do most of you use to edit? I'm currently using Final Cut, but I havne't seen much written about that and if it can handle the HD aspect. I'm buying the XHA1 soon and haven't even thought about that til now. Any help?
 
iDV8 has good points. There are also downsides in that flip module: more light loss and added weight. The letus does not come with rod support so you can't use longer lenses safely and can't attach a follow focus unit unless you buy rods.

Most of A1 users seem to use Cineforms Aspect HD capturing program which has an option to flip the image during the capture, so no hassle on that anymore. Also the external monitor is not only for flipping the image,
it's more for checking the focus is nailed all the time.

edit: Aspect HD works as a stand-alone software and as a plugin. What it does? It captures your highly compressed mpeg-video to a lightly compressed intermediate avi so your computer can handle the editing smoothly. It was impossible to edit those straight from camera mpeg-files with my 3200+ amd. Now it works as good as with normal DV-video. As I mentioned, it has also the built in image flip during the capture!!

check this:

http://www.cineform.com
 
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badlaa is right about the rods, but I think it's a good idea to have them anyway, especially with the longer lenses.

I primarily use Avid to edit though I also have use Premier sometimes.
 
Where can I buy rails then? If I go with the Letus Flip Enhanced and the A1, with a Nikon 28/50/100mm lenses, what kind of rails am I looking at? Price? Where? Thanks.
 
What kind of rails can I use and where can I buy them from? I'm interested and will spend the money. I don't want to break the camera.
 
I'm buying some rails today from www.hysonfilms.com . You may want to get the longer rails so you can add a matte box to it some day. He'll make them what ever length you want.
 
Thanks. I'm going to look into that. If I get the Matte Box, do I need to get other rails or just use the rails from the Matte Box to secure the adapter? I'm just curious. Also, these are the lenses that I purchased. Do they seem like they'd be good for shooting with the adapter (since this is the lens thread..haha)?

50mm:
Nikon Normal 50mm f/1.4 AIS Manual Focus Lens

100mm:
Nikon 100mm f/2.8 Series E - MF Mediaum Telephoto
(came with a quantarary UV filter)


Thanks so much guys.
 
Dang. I wish I would have known about this earlier. I just purchased the ones I was talking about off ebay. But thank you for the offer. I hope you do, indeed, find a seller. Those lenses look great.
 
John Scott 3 said:
Dang. I wish I would have known about this earlier. I just purchased the ones I was talking about off ebay. But thank you for the offer. I hope you do, indeed, find a seller. Those lenses look great.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot John Scott 3, enjoy your new lenses!
 
John Scott 3 said:
Thanks. I'm going to look into that. If I get the Matte Box, do I need to get other rails or just use the rails from the Matte Box to secure the adapter?
Click to expand...

You just use the one set of rails. The matte box doesn't come with the rails, they come with the Base Plate. The matte box comes with an opptional clamp to mount it to the rails.
 
Thanks guys. All this info is great. One final question. I keep hearing that it's good to have the rails, but as I've just dropped a pretty penny on the camera (A1), Letus, and three new lenses, do I absolutely need the rails to shoot right away. I won't be using the 100mm lens for a while (longer), so I just was wondering if it will, in fact, hurt the camera to shoot without rails for a few weeks. I'm going to buy them in a few weeks when I get paid. Thanks.
 
You can shoot quite safely with those 28mm and 50mm lenses. Just don't put any additional stress on your A1's lens threads (for example clamp on mattebox or telephoto lenses).
 
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