Thinking of a Letus 35FE... Hope these grabs & review help.

Simplified it goes like this:

Adapter itself without a lens looses .5 to 1 stops of light. Then you add the light loss of your lens f1.0 lens would technically loose 0 stops of light. f1.4 lens looses one stop of light, 2.0 two stops, 2.8 would already loose three stops. So if you got 3.5 stops of lightloss with a 2.8 lens it sounds like M2 really does loose only 0.5 stops.

F-stops however aren't totally accurate, so they may vary from lens to lens. T-stops in pro lenses are always the same, no matter what lens you use.

You shouldn't use camcorders own ND-filter with these adapters, it messes the picture up.
 
A good way to put it. I think a lot of people who are mad about the extreme light loss are failing to remember that there's another lens with another aperture in addition to the device.

Interesting advice about the ND filters... in what way does the filter mess up the picture? I haven't really noticed anything, but I may not be looking for the right thing. 35mm ND filters are cheap enought, but I was just wondering what your reasoning was.
 
Hi Guys

Looking at all the setups using the letus35FE, is it just me, or do all the setups look cheap and nasty, has anyone gota pic of a pro setup. cause Im saving up to buy one but if it looks shonkey, forget it, I'II look for an alternative, btw is there a alternative at the same price which at least looks pro?
 
Sky Test

Sky Test

Here's a quick grab of the sky using the Letus 35 Flip

The reason I posted it was because there was some issue of the Letus and it's grain pattern when filming the sky.

MF67
Z100
28mm Nikon
Shutter - 0FF
24PA

1167323485.jpg


I have noticed that if you change your battery in the Letus and it dosen't start working correctly you will see "blotches" for lack of a better word. If you tilt the untit down or to the side the vibrator will start working correctly and the blotches will disappear.

My main issue so far is the dust. Dust I cant get at to clean. I'm going to write and see if I/we can get some instructions for the proper disassembly and cleaning of the unit. Compressed air dosen't do the trick.

Kip
 
The sky glitch I'm talking about is definitely blotchy. And it happens on white skies/clouds, not on blue skies. The whiter the image (shot some white boats, etc) the more it shows.

It's definitely not the same look as when the motor is off. The motor is unquestionably running. I'll try the tilt trick and see if the blotches go away.
 
rapsucks said:
Interesting advice about the ND filters... in what way does the filter mess up the picture? I haven't really noticed anything, but I may not be looking for the right thing. 35mm ND filters are cheap enought, but I was just wondering what your reasoning was.
Click to expand...

This was explained in another thread, here specifically.

Basically, if you think of the ground glass as a piece of film that the camera is recording, you don't want to over expose the film.
 
Great analogy, and you're almost spot on except for a tiny part....

Overexposing film (if you know what you're doing) is okay because of its great latitude.
Ground glasses in 35mm adapters on the other hand......well that's another story lol.

Here's an advice!
Switch your zebra on and close your camera's iris to just before it's fully closed. If your zebra is still showing major blowouts, then you're overexposing your groundglass!
Either stop your prime lens down or get a mattebox on with an ND!

Have fun!
 
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There looks to be a little bit of the issue in that clip, but not like what I'm seeing. I've tried lots of combinations of shutter, iris, and ND filter; some lessen it, some exaggerate it, but it's always there. What ways around it would you suggest?
 
eureka said:
Hi Guys

Looking at all the setups using the letus35FE, is it just me, or do all the setups look cheap and nasty, has anyone gota pic of a pro setup. cause Im saving up to buy one but if it looks shonkey, forget it, I'II look for an alternative, btw is there a alternative at the same price which at least looks pro?
Click to expand...
It may or may not be just you, but when professional DPs with major awards ask you how to help them put one together like the one I have pictured above, it makes me think it is just you.

What would you like them to look like? No matter which setup you use they're all pretty much going to look the same because they all boil down to the same simple concept: Matte box, lens, follow focus, adapter, camera, rails.

If you think the exterior look of the equipment is more important than the images you capture with that equipment maybe you should realign your filmmaking priorities. I've never walked out of a great movie saying "man, I bet their camera setup was pretty."

Below is Panavision's top of the line F900 package. Over $150,000 worth of great equipment, but externally it's a matte box, lens, follow focus, camera, and rails.

hdcomp.jpg
 
Barry_Green said:
It drops two stops of light, not five.

In outdoors situations I'm concerned about the static grain pattern that shows up in the skies and in whites. Is anybody else seeing this? It's like a layer of grit that muddies up the brightest elements in the picture. Nowhere near as gritty as when the motor's off, of course, but when it's on, it's like it's perfectly syncronized with the shutter and delivers a static, gritty pattern, like fixed-pattern-noise over the image.
Click to expand...


Thats odd barry the brightest part of the image should be the cleanest. if youre going to see the grit its gonna be in the middle tones. Static adapters, tend to show grain the most in the middle tones, and moving solutions whether vibrating or spinning tendto show up in the Darks.
 
jeremytuttle said:
This was explained in another thread, here specifically.

Basically, if you think of the ground glass as a piece of film that the camera is recording, you don't want to over expose the film.
Click to expand...


That shouldnt matter because the GG is going to trnadsmit light at a constant rate. Overexposing the CCD is what you have to worry about. I have tested 5 different 35adapter, and all ofthem behave EXACTLY the same way except the go35.

The more light you get to the gg the better. However if you felt that yo uwanted deeper DOF outdoors, closing the Iris on the 35 lens down to F16, and opening your DVX/HVX/a1 lens to open produces the same results, as leaving the 35iris open, and closing down the DVX iris, with regard to exposure and picture quality. This is the firs time in history that you can practically choose your DOF, then adjust expsure, without a massive lighting package and stacks of NDfilters.

The go35 and G35, static adapters NEED the GG to be fully and prperly exposed at Wide open on the lenses, otherwise static Grain shows up
 
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StormFactory said:
It may or may not be just you, but when professional DPs with major awards ask you how to help them put one together like the one I have pictured above, it makes me think it is just you.

What would you like them to look like? No matter which setup you use they're all pretty much going to look the same because they all boil down to the same simple concept: Matte box, lens, follow focus, adapter, camera, rails.

If you think the exterior look of the equipment is more important than the images you capture with that equipment maybe you should realign your filmmaking priorities. I've never walked out of a great movie saying "man, I bet their camera setup was pretty."

Below is Panavision's top of the line F900 package. Over $150,000 worth of great equipment, but externally it's a matte box, lens, follow focus, camera, and rails.

hdcomp.jpg
Click to expand...

This is something I brought up earlier. And I think it's a relevant point. If you walked onto a set of experienced DPs with that setup, they'd know exactly what was going on. But when you add actors and producers and crew who don't know diddly squat about cameras and they see something that looks cobbled together (even if that "cobbling" is only cosmetic), that might cause some to assume the production isn't as professional as it really is. Don't tell me there isn't a difference in the excitement level of a production when someone comes out with a camcorder and when someone comes out with a Panavision 35mm camera. There are a lot of idiots out there. And as much as you'd like to be able to pass if off as their problem, their invovlement in the film/commercial/video makes their opinion matter.
 
Just picked up a four-month old Letus 35FE with a Canon 50mm lens for $520.

Someone tell me I did right...
 
Sad Max said:
Just picked up a four-month old Letus 35FE with a Canon 50mm lens for $520.

Someone tell me I did right...
Click to expand...

Look i havent got a Letus35FE, but i think youve done the right thing LOL
 
StormFactory said:
If you think the exterior look of the equipment is more important than the images you capture with that equipment maybe you should realign your filmmaking priorities. I've never walked out of a great movie saying "man, I bet their camera setup was pretty."


hdcomp.jpg
Click to expand...

All i meant was, your paying good money for the equipment, which looks insane, then you purchase a Letus35FE and it degrades the look.

"someone show me a pic that looks the part please"

Peoples perceptions are very important.

Cause if it wasnt the 3chip Panny Ive been using for the last 5 years, would have done the job.

"Believe me, If i could have bought an imitation HVX202 And used the small handheld next to it, i would have.

Customers have to be pleased, and if they see you using a cheap old camera and there paying top dollar for the production.
They feel like there being ripped off.

Im not talking about low budget Productions either, Im talking about commercials for TV.

Were the customer owns the business and your spending his money, not some multi-national, with a massive budgets.

Regards



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