About 35mm adapters...

[EDV]

Can someone explain to me what 35 mm adapters do?
I mean....$4500 for the Letus Ultimate...and it seems you need a specialized lens on top of that...(another $5000?)
I'm basically going for a more cinematic look, with a nice bokeh and greater color clarity on the HVX200, but $1500 is as much as I'm willing to spend on an adapter.
The Letus35 Extreme may do it for me, however....would I need to purchase a specialized Lens to go with it? Is the Letus useless on its own?

 

[Gabriel Berube]

Alone, the Letus Extreme won't do anything at all, you gotta put a 35mm lens in front according to the lens mount bought with the adapter (Nikon F mount for all Nikon lenses for example). Usually people buy either wide aperture zoom lenses or build a prime lens kit (for example, 28mm, 50mm, 85mm, 105mm). In any case, you wide aperture lenses (f/1.4, f/2 or f/2.8 for example) are a must since you're gonna loose a lot of light from the adapter alone.

Problem is, you're gotta have to budget accordingly to the fact that there are lots of hidden costs for 35mm adapters : aside from the adapter itself and lenses, you're likely to need a rails system (if you don't want to strain too much your adapter's body and mounts because of the weight of the prime or zoom lenses), a follow focus (not mandatory but well worth it since critical focus is important for shallow DOF, especially in HD), and mattebox with filters (again, not mandatory but it helps control light with neutral density filters if you want a shallow DOF for your scene and there's too much ambient light for a wide aperture).

Search around the forums for more info about prime lenses, zooms, follow focuses and every other pieces, because there's plenty of threads already around explaining well what to look for.

So, in light of this, ask yourself if you can shill more than 1500$, because you will have to if you go down the 35mm adapter road. Unless you buy used equipment of course, but then you'll have to be very patient!

Hope this helps!

 

[EDIT-XTREEM]

For $1500 it seems like it could be a stretch. I'd say to keep your eyes on the forums for a used brevis or letus, then get a rails system and some canon fd/nikon lens off ebay. It isn't a superb setup, but it should be decent to get started with.