focusing letus FE

C

crs127

Well-known member
OK, I went through about 30 pages looking for the answer and I really didnt find the answer I was looking for.
How do you focus the Letus FE?
This is what I have been doing, start out with motor off, focus camera to the groundglass, then turn the motor on and then focus lens.
The groundglass is only a few inches away but on the focus mark on the lcd reads alittle pass 6 feet.
Where is the focal plane, where do I measure from?
Do I have to refocus everytime I put up a new lens?
Does anyone have this mattebox that they are using with their Letus FE? I cant seem to line up the mattebox to the lens, any thoughts?
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/434136-REG/Cavision_MB45HVX200_4x5_65_Wide_Hard_Shade.html

I have a job on friday with the adapter, please help!
Thanks!
-C
 
You set the focus to the ground glass once, and it sounds like you're doing that right.

For the individual 35mm lens, the focus distance is the distance to the ground glass, which is about an inch from the front of the adapter.
 
Barry,
On the lcd the focus says somewhere in the 6 feet area, for things to be in focuse, when I go to the macro I cant focus on anything. Shouldnt the focus be in the macro reading since the ground glass is so close?
Where is the focal plane?
-C
 
The LCD's focus means nothing. You're shooting through a close-focus diopter lens so the numbers are completely off.

Again, the focal plane is not marked, but it's about an inch from the front of the adapter.
 
thanks for the quick reply Barry!
What do you do about the unit moving while you are trying to focus? My 1st ac is gonna hate me trying to pull focus while the unit moves.
Do you have a pic of your set up?
-C
 
Welcome to the hell of using a 35mm adapter. People go ga-ga over how good the footage can look, but they frequently don't understand what a royal pain in the patootie these things can be to use.

If you're moving the camera, it's going to be very difficult to keep shots in focus. There's a reason that 35mm movie-camera shoots have a dedicated person whose entire job is to pull focus during shots -- and if someone wants to use one of these adapters, they'll have the same need for someone to handle that task. Neglecting it will lead to out-of-focus shots.

And while that's standard workflow with 35mm, usually 35mm shooters are using cine lenses which are designed to execute proper focus pulls. Still-camera lenses are not. So it's going to be more difficult with a 35mm adapter using still-camera lenses. No less necessary, of course, but just as necessary and even more difficult.
 
Barry_Green said:
Welcome to the hell of using a 35mm adapter. People go ga-ga over how good the footage can look, but they frequently don't understand what a royal pain in the patootie these things can be to use.

If you're moving the camera, it's going to be very difficult to keep shots in focus. There's a reason that 35mm movie-camera shoots have a dedicated person whose entire job is to pull focus during shots -- and if someone wants to use one of these adapters, they'll have the same need for someone to handle that task. Neglecting it will lead to out-of-focus shots.

And while that's standard workflow with 35mm, usually 35mm shooters are using cine lenses which are designed to execute proper focus pulls. Still-camera lenses are not. So it's going to be more difficult with a 35mm adapter using still-camera lenses. No less necessary, of course, but just as necessary and even more difficult.
Click to expand...


And that plainly ''Says It All'' ,,, this issue should the the first disclaimer concerning 35mm adapters for the begginner. I have wretsled with the need for one, and quite naturally, I may own one someday. But for right now, as a Nubee, I am entirely focussed on getting the most out of the cam 'As Is'...
Constantly refering to Barry's book and concentrating on how to light my scene to emulate good film makers.
It's really to bad that instead of developing the 35mm adapter, that Panny had made this cam (dvx100) to accept other lens, not unlike the Canon XL which easily can be fitted with many Canon lens. I'd happily pay 2000. dollars for a servo lens tht goes right into my cam right out of the box without the need to worry about zooma nd focus, spacers, adapter rings and all the other little itshies you's need to scratch along the way...
 
I realize now what a whole new discipline 35mm shoots are. It can't be had cheaply through one of these adapters. I'm starting to believe that the look that it gives is not worth the pain and the senseless go arounds you're forced to work with.
Everytime I come off of an adapter shoot, I appreciate how easy it is to work with the camera as is... and appreciate the look it gives.. as is. And that's me talking about the DVX. It's still a good camera.
 
Focusing on the GG never seems to change for me. I always zoom all the way in to Z99 and set the focus to about 54/55. Because the distance between the camera and GG never changes and I always set my zoom to the same settings, the focus is always the same.
 
82 focus or zoom? I can zoom out to 82 without catching the edge, but the focus is still 54/55. The reason I zoom to 99 is because when I zoom out to 82 I get some vignetting.
 
Fixing Loose Letus-itus

Fixing Loose Letus-itus

crs127 said:
thanks for the quick reply Barry!
What do you do about the unit moving while you are trying to focus? My 1st ac is gonna hate me trying to pull focus while the unit moves.
Do you have a pic of your set up?
-C
Click to expand...

If you are referring to the unit moving because it's loose (and not moving as in a "dolly shot") this has helped me solve the problem. I copied this from another thread that I posted on.

"Any way, the loose thing can be fixed easily. Mount your step down ring to the unit and gently work the silver piece out and off of the unit. It's easy to do with the step down ring attached. Once it's off you can snugly attach the step down ring back onto your camera. Make sure the silver part (sorry I don't know the names of these parts) is screwed on snug to the step down ring as this will be your new stop point. Then you can put the Letus back on in the exact position you'd like it to stop at when you screw it on.

"This brings me to your next problem/question. Many people are having trouble with that part coming loose (not the threaded part but the silver thing and the Letus), especially with the long and heavy lenses. I was making a lens support for the rods I bought and had an epiphany. I took the silver thing out again and just put a thin coat of glue (super glue-be very careful!) and let it dry before putting it back on. I even smeared it with a cloth so it wouldn't be too thick. I just wanted to add a smidge (that’s a metric term) of thickness to it so that the silver thing would fit tighter yet still allow me to take it off if necessary. That's all it took. It fits very tight, I have the threads stop where I want it to when screwing it on tight and I don't need the support even with the long heavy lenses."

So now when I go to pull focus the Letus doesn't turn with it. It's all tight.
 
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