rawfa
Veteran
Hi Guys,
A couple of month ago I bought a Letus35 and here are my conclusions:
I tried the Letus35 with both a Gl2 and a FX1 (both Pal models). I made tests with 3 canon fd lenses (28mm f2.8, 55mm f1.2, and 85mm f1.8).
Lets start with the Gl2 - as soon as I hooked up the Letus35 to the GL2 I was amazed with the incredible DOF, but pretty soon, I started realizing how much I had to sacrifice for the DOF (and wondered if it would be worth it). The GL2 is 6lux (barely a great low light camera) and its' image is naturally soft. With the letus35 hooked to it, it lost like 2 stops. Even in extremely well lit conditions, the resulting image was way too soft (a strange, almost blurry kind of soft). Maybe that is the look some people are going for, but not me. I tried all kinds of different camera settings, light conditions, CC and the image was always too soft and still too video like. I consulted Lee a couple of times and received replies almost immediately. He is a very very nice guy and the support is truly awesome. Unfortunately, the Gl2+Letus35 didn't work for me.
In the meanwhile I sold my Gl2 and bought a FX1E (very very sharp and very nice in low light). I bought a 72-58 step down ring and hooked the letus35 to the FX1 straight away. I thought that I would not have the same issues with the FX1 but sadly all the same happened again. Again, I used the same lenses and tried all possible conditions, but no go for me. The image still looked very soft and video like.
Another thing that I was not very please with was the place where the 58mm ring connects to the Letus35...it really feels like it'll come off if you move the camera too fast (I shoot a lot of run and gun, so this would naturally be important for me).
I visited the Letus35 website recently and read that there is a new version available (letus35A), which apparently uses a better achromat and already has a 72mm thread (for about 400 bucks)...but so far I didn't see any FX1+Letus35 footage that would make me want to buy it. I feel bad about it, because I feel that the letus35 could be a nice option to those who cannot afford more expensive solutions. More and more I'm convinced that what you pay for is what you get. I will save some more money and invest on the Guerilla35 (very very sharp, loses way less light, increases the cameras latitude...which really helps overcoming the FX1 "videonish"). Anyway, I hope that Mr.Lee can make some improvements on his product, because I feel it could have potential as a run and gun adapter and I know a lot of filmmakers could benefit from it.
Cheers,
Rafa
A couple of month ago I bought a Letus35 and here are my conclusions:
I tried the Letus35 with both a Gl2 and a FX1 (both Pal models). I made tests with 3 canon fd lenses (28mm f2.8, 55mm f1.2, and 85mm f1.8).
Lets start with the Gl2 - as soon as I hooked up the Letus35 to the GL2 I was amazed with the incredible DOF, but pretty soon, I started realizing how much I had to sacrifice for the DOF (and wondered if it would be worth it). The GL2 is 6lux (barely a great low light camera) and its' image is naturally soft. With the letus35 hooked to it, it lost like 2 stops. Even in extremely well lit conditions, the resulting image was way too soft (a strange, almost blurry kind of soft). Maybe that is the look some people are going for, but not me. I tried all kinds of different camera settings, light conditions, CC and the image was always too soft and still too video like. I consulted Lee a couple of times and received replies almost immediately. He is a very very nice guy and the support is truly awesome. Unfortunately, the Gl2+Letus35 didn't work for me.
In the meanwhile I sold my Gl2 and bought a FX1E (very very sharp and very nice in low light). I bought a 72-58 step down ring and hooked the letus35 to the FX1 straight away. I thought that I would not have the same issues with the FX1 but sadly all the same happened again. Again, I used the same lenses and tried all possible conditions, but no go for me. The image still looked very soft and video like.
Another thing that I was not very please with was the place where the 58mm ring connects to the Letus35...it really feels like it'll come off if you move the camera too fast (I shoot a lot of run and gun, so this would naturally be important for me).
I visited the Letus35 website recently and read that there is a new version available (letus35A), which apparently uses a better achromat and already has a 72mm thread (for about 400 bucks)...but so far I didn't see any FX1+Letus35 footage that would make me want to buy it. I feel bad about it, because I feel that the letus35 could be a nice option to those who cannot afford more expensive solutions. More and more I'm convinced that what you pay for is what you get. I will save some more money and invest on the Guerilla35 (very very sharp, loses way less light, increases the cameras latitude...which really helps overcoming the FX1 "videonish"). Anyway, I hope that Mr.Lee can make some improvements on his product, because I feel it could have potential as a run and gun adapter and I know a lot of filmmakers could benefit from it.
Cheers,
Rafa
