Looking into purchasing a LEX Setup
- Thread starter Film it
- Start date
How much you expect to spend depends on what all you want. Your probably going to want some rails to support the Letus. That kit will set you back like 1700 bucks. You can go with a different rail setup to save money. I know a lot of people who use Cavison rods or indiefocus rods to support the Letus. These cheaper systems will get the job done as well. I personally like the letus rods but some people don't, it's a prefernce thing. I'm going to assume that you have an EX1 so You'll need to through in the Optimazation kit for the Letus ($200). You don't need this but without it you can't achieve edge to edge sharpness. As for glass I would only go with a nikon mount to start. At the SLR Level they make the best glass. For cheap glass check Ebay. While you can't ever truly be sure of it's quality you can get some great deals. I have the following
Nikkor AIS 28mm 2.8,
Nikkor AIS 50mm 1.4,
Nikkor AI 55mm 2.8,
Nikkor AIS 85mm 2.0,
Series E 100 2.8,
Series E 70-210 4.0
I got all of these for under 500 dollars. If you shop araound on Ebay you can find most of these lenses for under one hundred dollars. Just search for AI, AIS, or Series E (these are great bargins) lenses. Try to stay away from newer digital lenses as thee prices are higher. If you don't trust Ebay you can try http://www.lenses35.com It's good site for lenses like this and all of this guys glass is in excellet condition.
As for Zeiss lenses we are doing a comparison next week with brand new Zeiss SLR lenses vs. My Nikkon Glass vs. Zeiss PL mount Primes. I understand that the PL mount lenses will whip the SLR lenses but we are curoius to see how much. I'll post the videos up on our Vimeo channel next week.
http://www.vimeo.com/mld
Nikkor AIS 28mm 2.8,
Nikkor AIS 50mm 1.4,
Nikkor AI 55mm 2.8,
Nikkor AIS 85mm 2.0,
Series E 100 2.8,
Series E 70-210 4.0
I got all of these for under 500 dollars. If you shop araound on Ebay you can find most of these lenses for under one hundred dollars. Just search for AI, AIS, or Series E (these are great bargins) lenses. Try to stay away from newer digital lenses as thee prices are higher. If you don't trust Ebay you can try http://www.lenses35.com It's good site for lenses like this and all of this guys glass is in excellet condition.
As for Zeiss lenses we are doing a comparison next week with brand new Zeiss SLR lenses vs. My Nikkon Glass vs. Zeiss PL mount Primes. I understand that the PL mount lenses will whip the SLR lenses but we are curoius to see how much. I'll post the videos up on our Vimeo channel next week.
http://www.vimeo.com/mld
Last edited:
spa_edwards
Active member
MLDman, I would like to know when you purchased all your lenses? I bought some recently and they are more expensive than what they seem to be before. I think its the rise in the need for these DOF adaptors that are raising the price.
I got all fully manual AI nikkon nikkor lenses,
24mm f2 (amazon)
50mm f1.4 (ebay)
85mm f1.2 (American ebay, I got hit with £80 import tax on this, it was not a happy day, lol)
and these bad boys set me back about £600, cant remember the exact price. This was extensively searching for a long period of time. I personally would not go with the carl zeiss lenses if you dont have the money to at the moment. Lenses hold their value and you could upgrade at a later date. Also you could put the money you saved into a decent tripod to comfortably hold all the stuff.
I managed to get some zacuto rails with 7inch extentions off ebay for £180 so there are deals to be had if your willing to search for a while.
I ordered the letus extreme from letusdirect.com for about £800 and waiting for it to arrive, Im so praying that it slides through customs (probably not), but the cheapest I have found it is £1500 incl tax....... i know, the British government pains me too! So the gamble is worth it.
I would guess it more at about $3000 if you go with nikkon lenses.
I hope this helps you also......... let us know what the final price of it all came to in the end and what bargains did you get?
I got all fully manual AI nikkon nikkor lenses,
24mm f2 (amazon)
50mm f1.4 (ebay)
85mm f1.2 (American ebay, I got hit with £80 import tax on this, it was not a happy day, lol)
and these bad boys set me back about £600, cant remember the exact price. This was extensively searching for a long period of time. I personally would not go with the carl zeiss lenses if you dont have the money to at the moment. Lenses hold their value and you could upgrade at a later date. Also you could put the money you saved into a decent tripod to comfortably hold all the stuff.
I managed to get some zacuto rails with 7inch extentions off ebay for £180 so there are deals to be had if your willing to search for a while.
I ordered the letus extreme from letusdirect.com for about £800 and waiting for it to arrive, Im so praying that it slides through customs (probably not), but the cheapest I have found it is £1500 incl tax....... i know, the British government pains me too! So the gamble is worth it.
I would guess it more at about $3000 if you go with nikkon lenses.
I hope this helps you also......... let us know what the final price of it all came to in the end and what bargains did you get?