Letus Ultimate problem

G

Gogu

Well-known member
Hello guys,

Today was a great day. I've got my Zacuto kit along with a Ultimate for my Ex1. All was fine and dandy until I opened the box containing the Ultimate and took a close look at it.

First of all it has some dents on the body. Not very nice but it doesn't bother me that much. But here goes...the front glass, the one that you see when you take the front lens cap off had some kind of black specks on it. I took care of it with some compressed air (the specks were some pieces of the front cap) but it still has lots of mini dots when you look at it into the light. Also on the edges of the glass I can see glueing marks.
The circular front end of the adaptor has scratch marks on it.

The backfocus ring didn't work at first. It turned out that it was stuck. It moved just 2-3cm at first. Then it started moving all the way. While it was moving grease marks could be seen on the threads...i believe this is normal ? It also has some kind of grease marks on it and some parts look clean and shiny while others are a bit more opaque.

The back glass element (the part that goes into the Ex1) isn't cristal clear also. The front cap of the Nikon mount looks like the cheapest plastic I ever saw and doesn't close very well.

I don't know what to say. I think I expected a bit more from a 4500$ product. Maybe i'm paranoid and all the above things are normal. The only things i care about is the image quality which I hope will be as advertised.
Ultimate owners please post some opinions on this. I'm pretty dissapointed.

I'll post some photos below to illustrate my point.
 

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yeah, I had the same experience with my Brevis.
It's sad to see such expensive products we so poorly taken care of in the factory
 
Gogu,

I gotta tell ya. Most 35mm adapters are hand made and it is possible that you should expect some imperfections from any adapter that costs around 1K or less. But for $4,400 this thing should be built like a tank, in prestine cosmetic condition, and have the utmost professional materials used to make it.

This pisses me off and I'm not the one with the problem here. Wow, you should really contact Letus. They are claiming to be the best and you should have gotten the best.
 
I agree with the others, and from the pictures, totally unacceptable. Who did you buy everything from? Letus has great support, I'm sure they'll make things right...
 
Great....:crybaby: I bought everything from Zacuto which in turn got the adapter from Letus themselves I believe. My day couldn't have been worse.

Thanks for the quick answering guys!:beer:
 
I wouldnt worry too much about Zacuto. They stand behind what they sell and are some fantastic people to do business with. I had a z-arm that was acting funny and they overnighted me a new one while I cross-shipped the other one. Give em a call, they'll make it good.
 
Return it. I bought my extreme and pretty much everything else from them and they are a great company. and will exchange it no problem. For that much money it should be perfect. Hand made or machine made.
 
If he purchased everything from Zacuto then there's a possibility that the problem does not lie with Letus... but Zacuto itself. May have nothing to do with the manufacturing and everything to do with the middle man, although Zacuto tends to be up to snuff on deliveries there have been reports of gear coming in damaged or out of tune.

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST IS NOT AN ACCUSATION.
 
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Last week I bought Zacuto's indie baseplate kit...all in all had more than 15 pieces to it and everything was perfect, absolutely no problems. You should take the problem up with Letus if you ask me...and get a replacement.
 
Khoki that is not true. Gogu purchased over 40 items in this transaction and the only issue he has is with the Ultimate which was shipped in the Letus Pelican case. We are very serious about quality control but we have some limitations when it comes to non Zacuto products. Gogu will get taken care of, I will see to it. We will do anything to make our customers happy.
 
Hey Steve,

That's why I said a possibility. I do know that there were posts here (that Joseph Stunzi relayed) about some Zacuto gear coming in that was out of order. Again, it was said possibility as I've received stuff from middle-man dealers before that's come out that way. Not Zacuto or Letus Gear, but batteries and even a phone that was supposed to be brand new from Apple.

That was a strange one.

As long as all is rectified then it's fine! Just watch those forest fires.
 
That's a shame about the parts. I had a few QC issues with my Ultimate but Hien at Letus quickly rectified it. I understand at that price you should get great fit and finish right out of the gate. Regarding Zacuto, they'll make good right away. Without a doubt aside from great products, the extra money you spend on Z stuff goes to great customer service. Worth every penny. I wish the rest of the manufactures coming up short on QC and customer service follow suit. I stopped long ago cutting any manufacturer any slack when it comes to picking up the phone and back up their merchandise.

Good luck. Once you get your Ultimate tweaked out, you'll love it. It truly has an amazing image.
 
Gogu,
Check out Letus's forums. There are several users on there that have posted their own issues similar to those experienced by Tim and other users who've purchased Letus products. Email DeGray or Hien at Letus and they should help you get things fixed up really fast!
 
Thought I would vouch for Zacuto as well. I have dropped thousands upon thousands with them and will continue doing so because I have never once had a complaint or a faulty product. They pick up the phone, answer emails, and respond to customer requests properly. I am amazed by this middle ground limbo that 35mm adapter folks get put into with these companies that fail to answer emails completely or ever answer a phone (if they even offer a number to reach them at).
 
jstunzi said:
Gogu,
Check out Letus's forums. There are several users on there that have posted their own issues similar to those experienced by Tim and other users who've purchased Letus products. Email DeGray or Hien at Letus and they should help you get things fixed up really fast!
Click to expand...

I appreciate some of the sentiment behind "user" forums but it seems companies like Nebtek or Zacuto don't do the user forum thing for a few reasons: Their stuff works, they answer the phone or get back to you within 24 hours. User forums often in many cases (can you say, Apple?) are the companies way of saying, we can't afford real customer service.
When I go to the Zacuto sight, I can see exactly how to set up my rig, complete with pics and video. The customer service thing is a gripe I've had since buying adaptors 2 years ago- from lack of detailed instructions, to being charged to have motor failures repaired, to slow or no updates on orders. I don't know whether it's because they've no business sense or were raised by used car salesmen, but it has to stop. I'd love to see a separate section dedicated to customer service to excoriate the bums and give praise to the folks who get it.
 
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