The Letus Ultimate -- Experience Thread

K

Kholi

Section Moderator
I'm going to use this thread to post up my test footage and findings on the Letus Ultimate adapter. Keep checking the first and second posts as this is where I'll update constantly.

I'll be using the HVX200A + Ultimate + and Zeiss Standard PL Primes on a number of things in the next two weeks, the first being a dedicated test shoot, the second a global brand commercial (probably have heard the name a few times) and third Time Warner Classics spots.

Yes, I have received a Letus Ultimate Unit and will be writing up more to come. Does the Letus Ultimate Let Us?

Absofreakinlutely.

I find everything that Disjecta said in the Ultimate news thread to be true. And the backfocus adjustment on the fly? Swoon. Adjusting backfocus is a BREEZE. Literally twist and turn. I can't say enough about this feature as it's a life saver when using different lens mounts frequently. I have yet to try the X/Y Adjustment for my camera but will go into this process soon. Stay Tuned.

Footage Samples -- http://www.vimeo.com/1093520
Footage w/Cooke S4s -- http://www.vimeo.com/1176984
Steven Dempsey, Canon XHA1 + Ultimate + Nikon -- http://exposureroom.com/members/disjecta.aspx/assets/dc56f92e4bd04ba6ab498ba635e4d82a/
Steven Dempsey, Canon XHA1 + Ultimate + Nikon -- http://exposureroom.com/members/disjecta.aspx/assets/6f24747558d14efe8bc611e9188b4560/
Steven Cahill - Summer Day - http://exposureroom.com/members/stevecahill.aspx/assets/33d2b44c5fcb4c3ebcadf62d527d0b86/#1405

Unit Pictures -- http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?p=1281703#post1281703
Unit w/Cooke S4's and Redrock FF working together perfectly -- http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showpost.php?p=1300668&postcount=190

Demo Footage -- Will be posted later this week or early next week. Controlled lighting indoors, bokeh testing, and shutter examples outdoors.

Stills Here --
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=134597&page=3
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=134597&page=4
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showpost.php?p=1333271&postcount=211 - ULTIMATE PRODUCTION MODEL AND CANON XH-A1 STILL by DISJECTA Nikon 100mm f2.8
ultimate_tara.jpg


HVX200A + Ultimate + Cooke
1213051979.jpg


1210896005.jpg
 
Last edited:
Dust: A 35mm Adapter's Worst Friend-- And it used to be such a hassle to deal with. One thing that dust will do (And this goes for ANY adapter) is disable you from stopping down the Camera itself (HVX, A1, EX-1, etc.) to further control light. Additionally, it's been proven that stopping down the camera from 4.0 - 6.8 or so (5.6 is the best place to rest) gets you a sharper image. So, ideally, you'd want to be at 5.6 but alas, stopping down the camera when there's dust on condensers and ground glasses actually forces all of that grime to come out!

Blech!

The Extreme, admittedly, had a bit of a lock-off for users. Cleaning dust wasn't hard, but if it's behind the condenser then you've got to send it in for cleaning (it's a quick turn-around at that). You really don't want dust in your unit. The added benefit of controlling exposure with the HVX's iris is lovely as I've come to learn you REALLY want to avoid using internal ND filters; they seem to soften the image up more-so than I would like!!!

Being that this is a beta unit I did have two specs which were noticeable when stopping down. The Ultimate is a COMPLEX machine, man, and I was afraid of opening it up and trying to clean this on my own.

I'm VERY pleased to announce that the Le Team has made every single part of the Ultimate FULLY accessible to the end user!!!

From the Condensers to the Prisms themselves, you can clean every single piece of this puppy with minimal risk to damaging internals. I managed to crack open the Ultimate (it's very pretty inside) in a matter of moments after receiving PRE-WRITTEN detailed information on how to clean the elements, blowing away dust with my Giotto rocket. Dust free down to F22 Taking Lens F11 HVX lens.

Also, I was informed that replacing the ground glass with a new one would be a snap for anyone. This is really good news, as I've damaged a ground glass or two in my day. I highly doubt this ease of access is due to any sort of "image upgrade" in the future, like interchangable film plane's/ground glasses. Letus has been a company that finds an image and sticks with it, showing total confidence in the picture they give their customers. They stand by it, I like that. Aside from that, I feel that every aspect of the Letus Ultimate is already magnificent and needs no updating, upgrading, upselling. That goes for Bokeh too folks.

In short, Dust Cleaning is as easy as pie with the Ultimate. I think once you crack it open to clean and do your X/Y Adjustment that's it. Oh... and SPEAKING of X/Y Adjustment.

X/Y Adjustment makes HVX Sensor Happy -- Yeah, it's built in. Yeah, it rocks. And it's solid. The X/Y Adjustment for the Letus Ultimate is a one time deal, but, if you ever need to adjust it again? Incredibly easy. The system isn't a mere "bolts on the side hold this side further than that." I don't find that appealing nor do I find it stable although some people MAY be fine with it. The Le Team approach is a hard-wired solution, offering maximum stability after the adjustment. I've actually got a little clip of this, I hit record on the camera as I went along.

Now the Letus Ultimate's opening is centered! Sweet. It's allowed me to zoom out to 25.4mm on my 17mm (yup, 17mm!) with no signs of dark edges on a 42" LCD output. I should mention that I also have the Letus Extreme HVX200 82mm Ring for this unit. I got the EX-1 ring by mistake for the Ultimate and I need the HVX200 specific ring which should allow me to zoom out even more. Wicked for those SLR frame-sized fans. I may take advantage of this when I do some more Anamorphic Lens Testing.

And about lenses...


Backfocus On The Fly Saves Ac from embarassment -- Today I did a bit of lens testing with my Zoom and an Anamorphic (the latter of which I am not happy with at all). Leni, over in the backfocus thread, mentioned that his zooms properly tracked once his backfocus was set, or after he had collimation done. So, I dedicated a little block of time to testing my own Zoom lens, seeing if it tracked properly. Along with that, I did some backfocus testing with my M42 mount and Takumar lenses.

The Nikon Zoom required testing it on my DSLR first, seeing if it actually tracked as I zoomed in and snapped a photo which it did. Great. So, I sat with the letus and put an object within the focal distance of my zoom, popped in to 35 (it's a 17-35/2.8~4) and focused then popped out. Naturally, it did NOT track on the first go even though I thought I had backfocus down. Oops! After a few minutes of figuring it, rotating the Backfocus ring, I got my zoom to track properly. Focus sticks between 17-35 with no issue, I even double checked by outputting directly to a 42" HD LCD @ 1080p.

Of course, that also put my infinity focus spot on, and although I could only measure by eye, the focal marks on the lens are accurate as well. The new Letus Ultimate Backfocus integration is kick ass all around. I've personally never been appreciative of good backfocus but now I think this is my absolute favorite feature of the Ultimate. Especially since I switch Lens Mounts quite often.

In the future, a laser meter (they rock so hard) would be beneficial for proper calibration but I was able to do with just the tape measure. Again, I love this feature of the unit.

A little on the actual Backfocus adjustment: It's a ring with two knobs adjacent to each other. These two knobs are thumbscrews that you loosen a tad bit to get the ring moving. Then, you spin the ring clockwise or counter-clockwise to begin adjusting back focus on the fly. You've got about three full rotations before it reaches the end of it's travel. The backfocus adjustment itself has a very tiny footprint, and, it barely changes the dimensions of the Letus Ultimate's lens mount. Fantastic.


LED Percentage Counter and Battery Life -- If you've been following the Letus Ultimate release, a new feature (similar to another adapter) or upgraded feature of the Ultimate is the Power Percentage counter. When I say Power Percentage I mean that it measures the rotational speed of the Ground Glass itself. At 99 it's essentially at full power.

The Micro-processor inside takes care of everything, naturally, and you simply worry about what speed works for the project that you're doing. The Display reads battery life, 12v power in, an UP arrow to increased speed and a DOWN arrow to decreased speed. The ON and OFF button rests, in RED, right aside that. It's all on one single panel and is integrated well with the entirety of the unit.

For regular work I've surmised that you only need to be at 60 to 70. At 60/70 with shutter speeds of up to 1/48 (180.0d) this power setting will allow you to stop the lens down to F22 without seeing a grain pattern on full batteries or 12v Phantom In. There's no spinning in the sky, no weird anomalies, you've got the full range of your taking lens to work with which is pretty cool. I don't think I'd ever get that low, in fact F11 is where I'd draw the line given that lenses tend to begin dropping in performance above F8 or so. Being able to hit F8 and 5.6 without a hitch is really exciting, and not having to avoid skies is seriously refreshing.

At 250 and 500 on full battery or 12V you increased speed to 80 - 99, allowing you to stop down to F22 once more without seeing grain pattern in the sky. This was on my first pass and I did some zoom-ins when powered off of brand new batteries and 12V today. I'm going to do a more in-depth pass on it to find out for sure, but I'd say here again avoiding skies is no longer an issue.

I still need to fully test 1/1000 shutter, from my initial glance I found that I could stop down the camera all the way on full battery or 12v supply but couldn't get past 5.6 before starting to see spinning. Is this a limitation? uh, no. Being able to hit 1000 with an adapter on is incredible all it's own, being able to actually stop down is beyond this realm. I still need to sit and do more tests with that, the fact is that there wasn't enough light when I got to doing this part to really test it for sure. Safe to say that you CAN do 1/1000 with the Ultimate. Yee ha.

The new feature is great, although it may not be new to adapters in general (P+S did it first I think) it's great to have it in one that I own. Speakin' of all this power gaugin'...

Battery Life and Why I began to buy Rechargeable -- I don't think the Ultimate, at 60% speed, eats up any more energy than my M2 used to do on 9V batteries. And at 60% you're good for any situation you would use your M2 or SGpro in (speaking of these because now we've entered into the Spinning GG realm and most of our users aren't familiar with P+S personally). With all of these adapters you need to keep a store of batteries and folks, this isn't good for our environment. Let me go Green here and say that people should start to invest in rechargeable batteries or a Phantom Power Solution. I know a certain feature film shooting right now with an adapter and they change the batteries once or twice EVERY day. That's a LOT of Alkaline!

The battery life on the Letus Ultimate is no different than what you're used to, although once you begin to tap on 80 to 99 you should expect a power trade-off. Ideally, you'd be ready to have Phantom power from a D-Tap or Tekkeon going for these situations. So don't think that you're gonna be going through batteries more than you already are, you won't.

Let's all look into rechargeable for our units. You save more money in the long run anyway.
Speaking of Lens Mounts...

New Nikon Locking Mount grabbed me too hard-- Very wicked. In fact, maybe it's too tight? But, I guess you can NEVER be too secure and I think this is what everyone was asking for in their requests to the Le Team. I didn't have much play in my first mount, this one has absolutely zero and is Marked LETUS-NIKON; mmm, Flashy! I like. The pin is a lot sturdier, feels more secure indeed. This should probably become the base mount for both the Extreme and Ultimate.
__________________
 
Last edited:
Are these test units or early releases?

I'd love to check one out with my cooke and zeiss stuff. I'm writing up my thread regarding my jet promo vid shot on 3 diff adapters and would love to add the ultimate since the letus was missing from the shootout.

looking forward to your findings. I'm on board already given the build quality (if it is as good as they say)
 
This is a Beta Unit, correct. The Logo and a few other tiny tid bits are missing, but overall it's a complete unit. The build is exactly as Disjecta, Ryan and Phillip bloom reported.

Pretty much the same size as the Extreme, same very tank-like build and just slightly (I mean BARELY) heavier. My Cavision setup still works with it although I am switching rails this week.

I'm using Zeiss Standard and Super speeds over the coming weeks, and might be trying some Hawk Anamorphics and Cooke's as well. Lots of stills and footage to come, although no resolution charts from me.

Sorry on that one.
 
LoL. Whatever it is they're doing it makes sense. Although the backfocus alignment isn't quite like yours. It's footprint is absolutely small as well.

I love how you can lock it down the second you snap in backfocus. This also makes it possible to use lens adapters! Theoretically you could use only a Canon EOS mount and purchase any lens and any adapter for the Canon EOS and just adjust backfocus for it.

I just tried it for my M42 > Nikon adapter and it works like a friggin' charm.
 
Tell us about the light loss when compared to Extreme? Is it as bad/good as when compared to latest SGpro (that loses more than Extreme)

Thanks in advance,
T
 
we didn't get to test it with the extreme but it seemed to lose the same amount when compared to the sgpro(as the extreme did)
official testing done soon.
 
Matt is correct. The unit still loses .5 stops or extremely close to what the Extreme is rated all while retaining the spinning ability. I will provide some basic stills between today and tomorrow.
 
Kholi said:
Matt is correct. The unit still loses .5 stops or extremely close to what the Extreme is rated all while retaining the spinning ability. I will provide some basic stills between today and tomorrow.
Click to expand...

That's bad, I really hoped that I will lose at least in this aspect so I wouldn't be forced to buy one.

Are you using it on A1 btw?

Thanks,
T
 
LOL. I was like "Is he crazy?" Then I saw what you posted. It's definitely in the .5 stop range!

I'm using it on an HVX200A which is the perfect pairing. I still can't control the exposure properly. I find myself blowing out the image very easily thanks to the 200A's increased light sensitivity and the Ultimate's speed.

Good thing I can stop down to F22 with no issue. :B Hur hur.
 
You've NEVER had to shoot six feet away from the sun? I've done it SO many times.

:P I'm just messin'!
 
Kholi said:
You've NEVER had to shoot six feet away from the sun? I've done it SO many times.

:P I'm just messin'!
Click to expand...

Lemme tell ya how many times I've just taken off my shirt when I need a bounce ;) I'm sure you'd be at f22 if you pointed the camera at me in direct sunlight.
 
Dust: A 35mm Adapter's Worst Friend-- And it used to be such a hassle to deal with. One thing that dust will do (And this goes for ANY adapter) is disable you from stopping down the Camera itself (HVX, A1, EX-1, etc.) to further control light. Additionally, it's been proven that stopping down the camera from 4.0 - 6.8 or so (5.6 is the best place to rest) gets you a sharper image. So, ideally, you'd want to be at 5.6 but alas, stopping down the camera when there's dust on condensers and ground glasses actually forces all of that grime to come out!

Blech!

The Extreme, admittedly, had a bit of a lock-off for users. Cleaning dust wasn't hard, but if it's behind the condenser then you've got to send it in for cleaning (it's a quick turn-around at that). You really don't want dust in your unit. The added benefit of controlling exposure with the HVX's iris is lovely as I've come to learn you REALLY want to avoid using internal ND filters; they seem to soften the image up more-so than I would like!!!

Being that this is a beta unit I did have two specs which were noticeable when stopping down. The Ultimate is a COMPLEX machine, man, and I was afraid of opening it up and trying to clean this on my own.

I'm VERY pleased to announce that the Le Team has made every single part of the Ultimate FULLY accessible to the end user!!!

From the Condensers to the Prisms themselves, you can clean every single piece of this puppy with minimal risk to damaging internals. I managed to crack open the Ultimate (it's very pretty inside) in a matter of moments after receiving PRE-WRITTEN detailed information on how to clean the elements, blowing away dust with my Giotto rocket. Dust free down to F22 Taking Lens F11 HVX lens.

Also, I was informed that replacing the ground glass with a new one would be a snap for anyone. This is really good news, as I've damaged a ground glass or two in my day. I highly doubt this ease of access is due to any sort of "image upgrade" in the future, like interchangable film plane's/ground glasses. Letus has been a company that finds an image and sticks with it, showing total confidence in the picture they give their customers. They stand by it, I like that. Aside from that, I feel that every aspect of the Letus Ultimate is already magnificent and needs no updating, upgrading, upselling. That goes for Bokeh too folks.

In short, Dust Cleaning is as easy as pie with the Ultimate. I think once you crack it open to clean and do your X/Y Adjustment that's it. Oh... and SPEAKING of X/Y Adjustment.

X/Y Adjustment makes HVX Sensor Happy -- Yeah, it's built in. Yeah, it rocks. And it's solid. The X/Y Adjustment for the Letus Ultimate is a one time deal, but, if you ever need to adjust it again? Incredibly easy. The system isn't a mere "bolts on the side hold this side further than that." I don't find that appealing nor do I find it stable although some people MAY be fine with it. The Le Team approach is a hard-wired solution, offering maximum stability after the adjustment. I've actually got a little clip of this, I hit record on the camera as I went along.

Now the Letus Ultimate's opening is centered! Sweet. It's allowed me to zoom out to 25.4mm on my 17mm (yup, 17mm!) with no signs of dark edges on a 42" LCD output. I should mention that I also have the Letus Extreme HVX200 82mm Ring for this unit. I got the EX-1 ring by mistake for the Ultimate and I need the HVX200 specific ring which should allow me to zoom out even more. Wicked for those SLR frame-sized fans. I may take advantage of this when I do some more Anamorphic Lens Testing.

And about lenses...


Backfocus On The Fly Saves AC from embarassment -- Today I did a bit of lens testing with my Zoom and an Anamorphic (the latter of which I am not happy with at all). Leni, over in the backfocus thread, mentioned that his zooms properly tracked once his backfocus was set, or after he had collimation done. So, I dedicated a little block of time to testing my own Zoom lens, seeing if it tracked properly. Along with that, I did some backfocus testing with my M42 mount and Takumar lenses.

The Nikon Zoom required testing it on my DSLR first, seeing if it actually tracked as I zoomed in and snapped a photo which it did. Great. So, I sat with the letus and put an object within the focal distance of my zoom, popped in to 35 (it's a 17-35/2.8~4) and focused then popped out. Naturally, it did NOT track on the first go even though I thought I had backfocus down. Oops! After a few minutes of figuring it, rotating the Backfocus ring, I got my zoom to track properly. Focus sticks between 17-35 with no issue, I even double checked by outputting directly to a 42" HD LCD @ 1080p.

Of course, that also put my infinity focus spot on, and although I could only measure by eye, the focal marks on the lens are accurate as well. The new Letus Ultimate Backfocus integration is kick ass all around. I've personally never been appreciative of good backfocus but now I think this is my absolute favorite feature of the Ultimate. Especially since I switch Lens Mounts quite often.

In the future, a laser meter (they rock so hard) would be beneficial for proper calibration but I was able to do with just the tape measure. Again, I love this feature of the unit.

A little on the actual Backfocus adjustment: It's a ring with two knobs adjacent to each other. These two knobs are thumbscrews that you loosen a tad bit to get the ring moving. Then, you spin the ring clockwise or counter-clockwise to begin adjusting back focus on the fly. You've got about three full rotations before it reaches the end of it's travel. The backfocus adjustment itself has a very tiny footprint, and, it barely changes the dimensions of the Letus Ultimate's lens mount. Fantastic.

Speaking of Lens Mounts...

New Nikon Locking Mount grabbed me too hard-- Very wicked. In fact, maybe it's too tight? But, I guess you can NEVER be too secure and I think this is what everyone was asking for in their requests to the Le Team. I didn't have much play in my first mount, this one has absolutely zero and is Marked LETUS-NIKON; mmm, Flashy! I like. The pin is a lot sturdier, feels more secure indeed. This should probably become the base mount for both the Extreme and Ultimate.
 
Last edited:
LED Percentage Counter and Battery Life -- If you've been following the Letus Ultimate release, a new feature (similar to another adapter) or upgraded feature of the Ultimate is the Power Percentage counter. When I say Power Percentage I mean that it measures the rotational speed of the Ground Glass itself. At 99 it's essentially at full power.

The Micro-processor inside takes care of everything, naturally, and you simply worry about what speed works for the project that you're doing. The Display reads battery life, 12v power in, an UP arrow to increased speed and a DOWN arrow to decreased speed. The ON and OFF button rests, in RED, right aside that. It's all on one single panel and is integrated well with the entirety of the unit.

For regular work I've surmised that you only need to be at 60 to 70. At 60/70 with shutter speeds of up to 1/48 (180.0d) this power setting will allow you to stop the lens down to F22 without seeing a grain pattern on full batteries or 12v Phantom In. There's no spinning in the sky, no weird anomalies, you've got the full range of your taking lens to work with which is pretty cool. I don't think I'd ever get that low, in fact F11 is where I'd draw the line given that lenses tend to begin dropping in performance above F8 or so. Being able to hit F8 and 5.6 without a hitch is really exciting, and not having to avoid skies is seriously refreshing.

At 250 and 500 on full battery or 12V you increased speed to 80 - 99, allowing you to stop down to F22 once more without seeing grain pattern in the sky. This was on my first pass and I did some zoom-ins when powered off of brand new batteries and 12V today. I'm going to do a more in-depth pass on it to find out for sure, but I'd say here again avoiding skies is no longer an issue.

I still need to fully test 1/1000 shutter, from my initial glance I found that I could stop down the camera all the way on full battery or 12v supply but couldn't get past 5.6 before starting to see spinning. Is this a limitation? uh, no. Being able to hit 1000 with an adapter on is incredible all it's own, being able to actually stop down is beyond this realm. I still need to sit and do more tests with that, the fact is that there wasn't enough light when I got to doing this part to really test it for sure. Safe to say that you CAN do 1/1000 with the Ultimate. Yee ha.

The new feature is great, although it may not be new to adapters in general (P+S did it first I think) it's great to have it in one that I own. Speakin' of all this power gaugin'...

Battery Life and Why I began to buy Rechargeable -- I don't think the Ultimate, at 60% speed, eats up any more energy than my M2 used to do on 9V batteries. And at 60% you're good for any situation you would use your M2 or SGpro in (speaking of these because now we've entered into the Spinning GG realm and most of our users aren't familiar with P+S personally). With all of these adapters you need to keep a store of batteries and folks, this isn't good for our environment. Let me go Green here and say that people should start to invest in rechargeable batteries or a Phantom Power Solution. I know a certain feature film shooting right now with an adapter and they change the batteries once or twice EVERY day. That's a LOT of Alkaline!

The battery life on the Letus Ultimate is no different than what you're used to, although once you begin to tap on 80 to 99 you should expect a power trade-off. Ideally, you'd be ready to have Phantom power from a D-Tap or Tekkeon going for these situations. So don't think that you're gonna be going through batteries more than you already are, you won't.

Let's all look into rechargeable for our units. You save more money in the long run anyway.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top