Lenilenapi
Carbonite Member
SG Blade/Letus tests on EX-1
Finally after getting my Blade many months ago and undergoing many setbacks I finished some tests comparing RR1, RR2 , the Letus Extreme and a little bit on the Ultimate. All these are shot with the EX-1 wide open at f1.9. I think this is very important and I'm surprised how many testers don't do this step. Lots of optics look good at 4 and 5.6, but wide open reveals the real world flaws. Its also a very common shooting situation.
Caveat: These are not perfect tests. I did them alone and any tests run alone are subject to mistakes . But I did try to double check them as much as I could. I have been a very happy user of my Letus for 2 years and had no axe to grind, but the results were surprising.
1. The Blade is quite sharp. Corner to corner sharpness was better than my Letus Extreme at f1.9 on the EX-1. Center sharpness seemed best on the RR1 and the Ultimate which were roughly comparable. I think the RR2 was roughly similar to the Extreme in the center, but its hard to be certain. I did not shoot perfect side sides with the Ultimate on the same day so take this with a grain of salt though.
2. Surprisingly my RR2 was about 1/3 stop faster than my RR1 ( Its supposed to be the opposite) and the RR1 speed was comparable to both Extreme and Ultimate. I don’t know why this happened. Wayne thought it may have something to do with a new manufacturer, but I don’t know if my RR2 was unusually fast or the RR1 slower than normal.
3. As expected the RR2 has lower DOF than the RR1. RR1 and the Letus Extreme and for that matter maybe the Ultimate seem to have a similar look with similar DOF and contrast, but that's not gospel esp about the Ultimate.
4. Vignetting was worst on the Extreme though it was balanced, while on my Blade it was only on the Right side. Blade and Ultimate were somewhat similar. I didn’t see serious CA issues on any of them but I wasn’t looking for it. You can see some on the charts and the Blade charts seem to have more color from the interference patterns - maybe that’s CA or perhaps Moire - I don’t know.
5. Oddly both my SGBlade and also the Ultimate I tested both seemed slightly off axis with the lower right hand corner focusing a little bit after the left side and the center - So that corner seems a touch softer (though no softer than any of the Extreme's corners). I was very surprised to see this on the Ultimate as well and it was consistent across several EX-1’s. In most real world situations you won’t notice though.
Memory tells me that when I tested another Blade a few months ago it focused evenly , so I thought this was just a slight error on my Blade. After the Ultimate did it also I didn’t know what to think. I’d like to test another Blade and also try resetting my XY axis ( which was way to the side) to see if that has something to do with it.
BTW on the RR2 charts I have one that is focused on the center and one that is a "best" compromise with the softer corner.
Conclusion: Both units are great, but the RR2 on the Blade is the prettiest look to my eyes and since on my tests its also the fastest and plenty sharp I’d say the Blade is one hell of a good deal and the RR1 seems reasonably similar to the Ultimate (unless CA looks different to you guys). The worst thing about it was the ungainly charging unit , but Wayne has just replaced that with a battery compartment like the Letus.
To my eyes on a 2 camera interview RR2 and Ultimate - the main difference was DOF.
7. MORE CAVEATS:
The pictures of my daughter Mira were shot with less control. The light on the window was changing but probably not too much. I wanted to see how the screens handled flare (note the bare bulb on the Rt) and they didn’t seem very different. I don’t know why the RR2 seems more contrasty - might be the room light or just or the costume change. The Ultimate Chart was shot with a different lens on a different day under mixed lighting - its only for general comparison.
Lenny Levy
Finally after getting my Blade many months ago and undergoing many setbacks I finished some tests comparing RR1, RR2 , the Letus Extreme and a little bit on the Ultimate. All these are shot with the EX-1 wide open at f1.9. I think this is very important and I'm surprised how many testers don't do this step. Lots of optics look good at 4 and 5.6, but wide open reveals the real world flaws. Its also a very common shooting situation.
Caveat: These are not perfect tests. I did them alone and any tests run alone are subject to mistakes . But I did try to double check them as much as I could. I have been a very happy user of my Letus for 2 years and had no axe to grind, but the results were surprising.
1. The Blade is quite sharp. Corner to corner sharpness was better than my Letus Extreme at f1.9 on the EX-1. Center sharpness seemed best on the RR1 and the Ultimate which were roughly comparable. I think the RR2 was roughly similar to the Extreme in the center, but its hard to be certain. I did not shoot perfect side sides with the Ultimate on the same day so take this with a grain of salt though.
2. Surprisingly my RR2 was about 1/3 stop faster than my RR1 ( Its supposed to be the opposite) and the RR1 speed was comparable to both Extreme and Ultimate. I don’t know why this happened. Wayne thought it may have something to do with a new manufacturer, but I don’t know if my RR2 was unusually fast or the RR1 slower than normal.
3. As expected the RR2 has lower DOF than the RR1. RR1 and the Letus Extreme and for that matter maybe the Ultimate seem to have a similar look with similar DOF and contrast, but that's not gospel esp about the Ultimate.
4. Vignetting was worst on the Extreme though it was balanced, while on my Blade it was only on the Right side. Blade and Ultimate were somewhat similar. I didn’t see serious CA issues on any of them but I wasn’t looking for it. You can see some on the charts and the Blade charts seem to have more color from the interference patterns - maybe that’s CA or perhaps Moire - I don’t know.
5. Oddly both my SGBlade and also the Ultimate I tested both seemed slightly off axis with the lower right hand corner focusing a little bit after the left side and the center - So that corner seems a touch softer (though no softer than any of the Extreme's corners). I was very surprised to see this on the Ultimate as well and it was consistent across several EX-1’s. In most real world situations you won’t notice though.
Memory tells me that when I tested another Blade a few months ago it focused evenly , so I thought this was just a slight error on my Blade. After the Ultimate did it also I didn’t know what to think. I’d like to test another Blade and also try resetting my XY axis ( which was way to the side) to see if that has something to do with it.
BTW on the RR2 charts I have one that is focused on the center and one that is a "best" compromise with the softer corner.
Conclusion: Both units are great, but the RR2 on the Blade is the prettiest look to my eyes and since on my tests its also the fastest and plenty sharp I’d say the Blade is one hell of a good deal and the RR1 seems reasonably similar to the Ultimate (unless CA looks different to you guys). The worst thing about it was the ungainly charging unit , but Wayne has just replaced that with a battery compartment like the Letus.
To my eyes on a 2 camera interview RR2 and Ultimate - the main difference was DOF.
7. MORE CAVEATS:
The pictures of my daughter Mira were shot with less control. The light on the window was changing but probably not too much. I wanted to see how the screens handled flare (note the bare bulb on the Rt) and they didn’t seem very different. I don’t know why the RR2 seems more contrasty - might be the room light or just or the costume change. The Ultimate Chart was shot with a different lens on a different day under mixed lighting - its only for general comparison.
Lenny Levy
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(though I've been looking at getting the Blade for a while...)