Everything you wanted to know about the Letus Extreme and were too afraid to ask

disjecta

disjecta

Lucky Duck
Given that there has been a lot of info getting kicked around in multiple posts about the Extreme, I thought I would consolidate all relevant information in one post. Sorry if I left anything significant out.

The Letus35 Extreme flips the picture right way up. This feature is built into the design already.

Improvements being made to the full production version of the Extreme are:
  1. Hex key for adjustment/installation (Changed so that it will use 1 hex key for all the screws)
  2. End caps
  3. Solid form fitting packaging (no peanuts)
  4. Logo (will be where the switch is right now)
  5. Light switch brought to the back to avoid distraction to the audience and easy to be seen by the shooter
  6. 3 screws to the mounts
  7. Threaded holes on the bottom of the front of the tube to be ready for support system
  8. Choice of 72mm or 82mm ring
  9. A custom bracket will be available for the Letus Extreme that will work with any standard rails support system
  10. Warranty for the Extreme has been extended to 1 year
  11. Letus is offering a 100% credit on any Flip purchased within 30 days previous to the launch of the Extreme for anyone wanting to upgrade. Purchases 30-60 days previous will receive a $500 credit toward the Extreme.
  12. Current ship time in approximately 3 weeks

FOOTAGE -

Disjecta:

OUTDOORS:
The first one was taken at my son's baseball game with a mixture of dull and sunny skies at sunset. Nice for showing sharpness and color as well as bokeh. Lenses used are identified in the footage.

http://www.dvxuser.ramjetfilms.com/extreme_cc_720.wmv

INDOORS:
This second one is a test I did with one 250w spot to demonstrate the lowlight capabilities of the Extreme. Nikon 50mm f1.8 and Nikon 100mm f2.8 used here.

http://www.pinelakefilms.com/XHA1/extreme_interior_2.wmv

INDOORS:
Third one is also demonstrating the lowlight capabilities of the Extreme. This was shot under 4 x 50w spots over the stove in my kitchen. The lights are just simple practical stove lights, nothing special. Again, for 200w of light, this is quite amazing footage coming from a 35mm adapter. I used a Nikon 50mm f1.8 lens for this.

http://www.pinelakefilms.com/XHA1/extreme_interior_720.wmv

INDOORS:
Natural lighting shots and 250w keylight shots (with subtle backlight and fill)...all indoors

50mm f1.8 zoomed to 35mm Academy size. The Nikon was open to f1.8, Canon lens was set to f3.4 for the 250w test...can't remember details of natural light shots.

http://www.pinelakefilms.com/XHA1/extremetara.wmv

ZOOM LENS TEST:
I used a cheap Tamron lens (with Canon EOS/EF fitting, the only zoom I had available). It's a 28-80mm f3.5-5.6 and has some serious softness on the edges...it is also soft around the edges when using it with a still camera so don't judge sharpness. The weather was dull and wet and I was shooting out an office window with lots of reflection. It couldn't be much worse. I am posting this because I want to demonstrate that there is no vignetting when using a zoom lens.

http://www.pinelakefilms.com/XHA1/zoom.wmv



Ryan Walters’ shutter/slowmo tests:

Sample Video- Interior- Letus Extreme & HVX- (7MB)

http://www.235studios.com/REW-LEFootage-Glass-Chess.mov

Sample Test Video (Shutter speeds & over cranking)- Exterior- Letus Extreme & HVX- (7MB)

http://www.235studios.com/REW-LETest-ShutterSlowMo.mov

The Latest Full res Test stills: (43MB)
http://www.235studios.com/Test02.zip

The original full res test stills: (31MB)

http://www.235studios.com/REW-Logo-LETest.zip


Brett from Resonance Productions: http://www.letusdirect.com/LetusExt.zip



REVIEWS –


Ryan Walters: http://ryanewalters.235studios.com/...533-0C18A26D3F34_files/LetusExtremeReview.pdf


Disjecta initial impressions: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=110557
 
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Thanks for doing that D! Much appreciated. Here is one more link:

Ok, so I got a hold of the Zeiss lenses last night and I shot a test of the res chart. You can download the full res results at this link: http://www.235studios.com/comparison.zip

In that file you will find the Letus Extreme with the HVX and nikon lens that i have, then one with the Zeiss lens that I used, and finally you will find sample stills from the M2 that I had. The stills with the M2 were taken a while back, and while they were not taken at the same time, they were taken with the same gear - HVX, chart, and light.

What I did find out last night, that if you zoom in too far the image starts to really suffer from loss in edge sharpness. Also, I was not able to get the image edge sharp 100% like it is in the center- however, there was a considerable difference between the nikon and the zeiss lens- and an even bigger difference when compared to the M2 pix.
 
Other discoveries to add:

Yes it is confirmed the adapter loses 1/2 stop of light in total.

Yes you can use a VistaVision-sized frame size if you want. Hien says the actual size of the Letus ground glass is 46mm x 36mm, way way bigger than VistaVision. However, as a practical matter the tube limits the size of what you can see to about VistaVision-sized.

The optics of the Extreme have changed from the L35FE such that the camcorder doesn't need to be zoomed in nearly as far on the Extreme as it did on the L35FE. This gives a practical benefit of more light sensitivity, since camcorders' maximum wide-open iris typically stops down the further the lens is zoomed in. On the L35FE my HVX needed to be zoomed to 44.0mm to deliver an Academy 35mm frame; on the L35 Extreme I get comparable framing at a zoom setting of 29.3mm. At 29.3mm the HVX lens can open up a half stop wider than it can at 44.0mm, which means in practical terms that the footage is 1/2 stop brighter. When zoomed out to the VistaVision-sized frame at 20.2mm, I can open it up another 1/3 stop, meaning an L35 Extreme at VistaVision frame size is almost two full stops faster than an L35FE at Academy 35mm frame size (one stop from the adapter itself, and an additional 5/6 stops from the fact that the wider zoom setting yields a wider maximum-open iris).
 
This thing really is manna from heaven. It's totally the RED ONE of adapters as Barry stated.

Amazing. I just spoke to Hien about 5 minutes ago. These guys are so soft spoken, so devoid of hype I'm amazing they've been able to contain themselves this long.
 
Thanks for collecting everything in one place and for all of your amazing demo footage!
 
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I know there's been discussion back and forth in other posts on how to measure this so comparisons can be made between different adapters but is the 1/2 stop of total light loss measured with a lens attached or not? If so, what type of lens?
 
i just ordered.these guys are some realy nice people and they said that i won't be disapointed with this adapter as some are saying it out performs the mini35.i was about to get the brevis until this $1200 scientifical breakthrough.hein i hope you guys hook up with a powerhouse maketing team,which this adapter will virtualy sail itself.
 
The 1/2 stop of light assumes no lenses are attached. Final light loss will depend on the speed of the lens attached.
 
FYI, as new info and footage becomes available, I am updating the first post in this thread so keep an eye on it.
 
Thank your disjecta for all your effords that's truely helpful!

Quick question on the adapter:

Does the adapter have some kind of hook, where you can attach a tape measure for exact focus?

Can you do mini adjustments (please forgive, I don't know the proper terms in English) to the lens mount so the numbers on the lens match exactly the tape measure (in case they don't) ?

Sorry, for having to put this so complicated, but I hope you guys get what I'm saying :)

Thanks a lot,

Max.
 
The adapter des not have a hook. I find that since the adjustments to the lens are so small, I just use an external monitor to focus and less actual measuring. The increments on your typical Nikon lens are pretty small.
 
MaxZenk said:
Thank your disjecta for all your effords that's truely helpful!

Quick question on the adapter:

Does the adapter have some kind of hook, where you can attach a tape measure for exact focus?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately not. I've talked with them about this, and unfortunately ther is not a way to attach one because of the thickness of the wall at that location. (It would create too many other issues with the adapter.) They will howver have the film plane marked, so you can take accurate measurements.

MaxZenk said:
Can you do mini adjustments (please forgive, I don't know the proper terms in English) to the lens mount so the numbers on the lens match exactly the tape measure (in case they don't) ?

Sorry, for having to put this so complicated, but I hope you guys get what I'm saying :)

Thanks a lot,

Max.
Click to expand...

Yes you can do mini adjustments to the lens mount. The latest lens mount has three screws that will allow you to fine tune the mount. I have not tested it out yet to see if it allows for the correct adjustment- but my Nikon lens marking are very close to being right on (They are only a couple of inches off from the measured distance.).
 
Ryan,
I've looked at the comparison between the Nikon and the Zeiss stills on the test charts and something looks wrong about them to me. My experience with my Nikon lenses on the Brevis is that you should have much better edge to edge sharpness. I'm also confused by the Zoom numbers (Z72 for the Zeiss and Z81 for the Nikon) - shouldn't you be more zoomed in for the Zeiss Academy lens? Did you use the full SLR frame for your Nikkor lens? (You're not using a Digital only Nikon lens are you?)

I would love to see sharpness comparisons bewteen the Zeiss (at Academy) and Nikkor lenses (at full SLR Vistavision and zoomed in on Academy framing) but this one doesn't compute to me.
 
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Z72 is the widest that I was able to get without any vignetting. Z81 is the same field of view as the 50mm Lens on the RED camera that i used as a reference image. (I believe that I mentioned that in the review.) Anyway, here is the Zeiss lens with the HVX at Z81.

http://www.235studios.com/LetusZeiss-Z81-MF47.png

Something that i've noticed with this one and with the M2 is that the more that you zoom in, the softer the image gets- so while it is nice to get the same FoV as a 35mm lens, I wonder if it is that benificial?
 
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