Question for LETUS EXtreme HMC users

L

lirany

Active member
Hi,
I just got my new Letus extreme.
I've noticed that when shooting in low light I get visible grain, more than what I got without the adapter.
I'm using nikon 50mm f/1.4 fully open(camera and lens), Shutter off, everything is in focus, the adapter is on and motor is running, tried 1.2v NIMH batteries as well as 1.5v alkaline.
The picture is sharp enough but I get some grain.

Is this what I should expect or am I doing something wrong or my adapter is faulty?
Thanks for your help.
 
I don't know the answer to your question -- the truth is that I just signed on to post a Letus question -- and since this was at the top of the list -- I thought I'd join in with my Letus question.

I'm about to pull the trigger on the Letus Ultimate.

QUESTION: Do I need to re-back-focus and readjust everything when I switch lenses, or (hopefully) when I've got everything properly adjusted can I just switch lenses and be ready to go?

My HOPE is that once everything is set -- I can just switch lenses with the same ease of my Nikon DSLR. Is this "hope" naive and stupid?
 
@ Lirany - You will get a bit of extra grain with the adapter with the spinning glass but it usually shouldn't be all that noticeable. I've found that it shows up against skies a bit more. Do you have a screen shot of what you're getting? You probably already did this but check your hmc shutter speed to make sure its set to something like 1/48. I've heard that if your shutter is set too fast that you will get problems.

@ AGMedia - Yep, as far as I know once you have your focus set for the the glass in the adapter you should be good to go. I use a 28mm and 50mm and I can switch in between them without any further adjustments.
 
hey everyone,

first off the letus35 extreme is not a spinning glass it is a vibrating one. second, one of the posters above is correct, with the letus35 you will see just a small amount of "noise" because of the vibrating ground glass. however, this is not noise, it is grain from the ground glass and many including myself believe it adds a more filmic looking image, this is one of the reasons why 35mm adapters have that texture on their ground glass. And yes it is noticeable when shooting things that are very contrasty like skies or light sources. Also, once you set the back focus you can put some camera tape over the zoom and focus rings of the camera so they aren't moved accidentally. The only reason you may need to adjust during shooting is if you bump it out of where you set it or if the temperature has changed a lot since you started shooting ie: going from outside cold to inside set with hot lights. I have used the letus35 extreme with HVX200, HVX200A, HPX170, and of course the HMC150. It works wonderfully on all of them!!!

Cheers!!!
 
Hi,
Thanks a lot everyone!
First I'll try to post some stills with/without adapter shots so you can help me verify that my unit is OK.
Second, the letus looks great with the HMC it really gives an amazing picture.

Also the HMC has the cool ability to switch the Focus ring to an Iris control ring, so no need for tapes and such, zoom still can't be locked...
 
OK,
I've just conlcuded my first tests.
It seems that the noise from the HMC150 is high no matter if I use the adapter or not.
So the grain is probably mostly camera related, but I'll look further into that later.

To use the letus the HMC must focus till Z76.
Shooting with the letus extreme with a nikon 50mm f/1.4 with camera iris fully open is equivalent to F/3.4 without the letus.
This is quite a lot of light loss, but that's how it is with these adapters.
I guess the EX1 will handle the letus much better since you don't lose light with the zoom and it is 1/2"...

Anyways, I guess I'll have to shoot only very good lit places with the letus.

Does anybody know how get the least amount of noise with HMC?
 
lirany said:
Thanks but I meant something more like Scene settings.
Click to expand...

I am not trying to be funny, mean or anything else, but if you are getting excessive noise, either your camera is broken, or you are not putting enough light on the subject.

Many have gone around and around with this, and 99% of the time, the result is not enough light. You might think the subject is exposed properly, because you are looking at the screen, but in fact, once you open up more, then suddenly the noise goes away.

You also have the gain settings that makes things lighter as well, and really adds little noise compared to what you get in return.

IF you still think you have too much noise, then you wouldn't be happy with anything except a 2/3 " camera...it really is that good, and if it isn't, it is broken or you are doing something wrong.

The scene settings really don't make it have more noise, at least not enough to make a point of it.
 
Ok thanks I just thought I read somewhere that some scene settings deliver more noise etc. also there's the Detail coring and detail/vertical detail that clearly adds more noise or eliminate it.
I know I have to expose it properly but with the letus, since I'm losing tons of light I don't always have the privillage of getting proper lights in my footage.
Also, the problem mostly is with the darker parts of the picture even if the subject is properly exposed all the other parts produce quite a massive amount of noise.

I know it's a problem with Panasonic and when I bought this camera I was fully aware of that, all I want to know is if some people found certain settings less noisy.
 
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