Letus 1/3" Relay Lens

Hi folks,

Any updates on the subject?

Hammerhorror, did you get your replacements?

Jamski, thank you so much for the images... What lenses was you using?
How do you feel about this setup? Seems to be little soft or am I wrong? Maybe due to compression rates?

Jeff Regan, you said you saw the Letus 35FF 1/3 relay and it had a lot of vignetting... was this with the Ultimate? What lenses where you using... wide-angles or normal? Maybe Zeiss ZFs?

All your feedback is really invaluable and very deeply appreciated!

My best to all...

Henry Epstein
 
CinemaElectronika said:
Hi folks,

Any updates on the subject?

Jeff Regan, you said you saw the Letus 35FF 1/3 relay and it had a lot of vignetting... was this with the Ultimate? What lenses where you using... wide-angles or normal? Maybe Zeiss ZFs?

Henry Epstein
Click to expand...

Yes, if you stop down below f2.8-4.0, vignetting was very bad. There was an edge to edge issue as well and the relay was sent back and found to be faulty. I'm waiting for the replacement. We used two different Ultimates, Zeiss 85mm and a wider Zeiss prime, maybe a 35mm? Can't remember.

There is vignetting on the 2/3" relays as well, but not as bad, presumably because they are Academy vs. FF35.
 
Dino said:
Yes, if you stop down below f2.8-4.0, vignetting was very bad. There was an edge to edge issue as well and the relay was sent back and found to be faulty. I'm waiting for the replacement. We used two different Ultimates, Zeiss 85mm and a wider Zeiss prime, maybe a 35mm? Can't remember.

There is vignetting on the 2/3" relays as well, but not as bad, presumably because they are Academy vs. FF35.
Click to expand...

Jeff,

Thank you so much for replying...

Your updates with the replacement relay will be mostly appreciated.

My best.

H.
 
We sent our 1/3" relay lens back too due to the prominent vignetting we get under certain conditions (low light with open iris).
 
So is the Letus combo fit for purpose? or is it teething problems with the HPX?
 
I just saw the repaired(revised?) version of a friend's 1/3" relay lens. Originally, vignetting was very bad, now it is much, much better, about the same as my B4 Pro relay lens. It looked pretty sharp with an Ultimate, good edge to edge.

Vignetting is pretty hard to see unless stopped down and shooting flat fields. My friend is now a happy camper, although he doesn't know what Letus did.

I feel confident that this is a very good setup for the HPX300 now, or other 1/3" detachable lens cameras. It seems to be very good as far as white shading error, sharpness and contrast, edge to edge focus, very similar to my B4 Pro, which does need white shading adjustment to be done with various 2/3" cameras. I would recommend against using any of the relay lenses wide open, if possible, however.
 
Dino said:
I just saw the repaired(revised?) version of a friend's 1/3" relay lens. Originally, vignetting was very bad, now it is much, much better, about the same as my B4 Pro relay lens. It looked pretty sharp with an Ultimate, good edge to edge.

Vignetting is pretty hard to see unless stopped down and shooting flat fields. My friend is now a happy camper, although he doesn't know what Letus did.

I feel confident that this is a very good setup for the HPX300 now, or other 1/3" detachable lens cameras. It seems to be very good as far as white shading error, sharpness and contrast, edge to edge focus, very similar to my B4 Pro, which does need white shading adjustment to be done with various 2/3" cameras. I would recommend against using any of the relay lenses wide open, if possible, however.
Click to expand...

Jeff,

I'm so glad to hear that now this 1/3" Relay really works!

Having a 35FF relay with almost no vignetting, coupled with the Ultimate, might bring the HPX300 to a new level of digital cinematography... and that is what many of us are looking for!

So, as per your advice, using the relay wide open means using external NDs in front of the lens to control light...

Well, if that's the case, I would also recommend using an IR Hot Mirror Filter since this camcorder, the HPX300 is certainly affected in some degree by IR pollution with external NDs, mostly with .9NDs and 1.2NDs. I'll have to buy an IR Hot Mirror Filter and an extra filter stage & tray from RedRock to fix it.

Do you think if it would be possible to see some tests from your friend's?

Cheers!

Henry Epstein
 
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CinemaElectronika said:
Jeff,

I'm so glad to hear that now this 1/3" Relay really works!

Having a 35FF relay with almost no vignetting, coupled with the Ultimate, might bring the HPX300 to a new level of digital cinematography... and that is what many of us are looking for!

So, as per your advice, using the relay wide open means using external NDs in front of the lens to control light...

edit

Do you think if it would be possible to see some tests from your friend's?

Cheers!

Henry Epstein
Click to expand...

Henry,

I wasn't sure how Letus could do a FF35 relay since there is already vignetting at Academy. I saw the 1/3" relay for the first time with bad vignetting. When it came back from Letus with much less vignetting, I was wondering if it had been cropped to Academy. According to my director's finder the relay still has FF35 field of view.

I recommend against using the relay lenses wide open because sharpness and contrast are reduced. This could be said of any lens.

When my friend shoots something, I'll ask him to send me some footage.
 
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Returned for a refund

Returned for a refund

Hi,

I just wanted to follow up with everyone regarding my personal experience with the Letus 1/3" relay and the Letus Elite adapter.

When I first received the relay/elite, I was getting some vignetting on the right side of the frame. I sent it back to Letus to be repaired. They replaced the relay with a brand new one, and said they repaired the Elite. After some testing I was still getting significant vignetting on the right side of the frame.

I sent the relay/elite back to Letus a 2nd time and told them the vignetting still existed. They said they determined the problem to be the Elite adapter and repaired it once again. Once I did additional testing I found the Elite to have lost it's initial sharpness and to still exhibit a small amount of vignetting.

I finally asked for and received a refund from Letus since I no longer wanted the headaches and worries that went along with owning this combo. It was too big of a purchase price to have to send it in for repair constantly.

I hope everyone doesn't have the same experience I had. Maybe I just got a lemon. I wish I could have been more patient, but time is money.

Thanks,

John
 
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Some stuff I shot with the 300 and relay and letus elite.
 

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Great looking pics.
Any problems with rolling shutter? Did you keep the camera locked down for most of the shots?
 
Certainly... Indeed these are really great looking pics, Joey!

May I ask you what lenses was you using... and some about your file settings?

Wonderful job... My respects!

Henry
 
Puredrifting: Thanks.

Zeke: The cool thing about using the letus setup is the angle of view, so rolling shutter wasn't a problem. I did a lot of steadicam and jib stuff, and no problems. Granted, I wasn't whipping the camera around willy nilly, but under normal conditions, it performed very well.

CE: I was using nikon primes. 20, 35, 50, 85, 105 and 135. As far as camera settings, I think everything was flat except the master pedestal was at -7
 
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