[Letus Extreme] Is it okay to zoom through?

[Josh Dahlberg]

My Letus Extreme just arrived, plugged it into my XH A1... wow.

Something I didn't realise before purchasing the adaptor is that after setting it up with a prime lens, it is possible to zoom through much of the camcorder's zoom range while maintaining focus.

So, for instance, I bought Nikon 50mm and 105mm lenses. By using the XHA1's zoom on the 50mm prime I can zoom through all the focal lengths in between (so, do I really need to buy an 85mm prime?).

Is there any reason I wouldn't want to do this? By applying zoom in camera am I degrading image quality in some way? Although I haven't done extensive testing the image looked pretty good zoomed in a tad.

Sorry if my questions sound dumb/naive, this is my first experience of the 35mm adaptor and this zoom through ability seems too good to be true.

[Ben Winter]

Originally Posted by Josh Dahlberg

Is there any reason I wouldn't want to do this? By applying zoom in camera am I degrading image quality in some way? Although I haven't done extensive testing the image looked pretty good zoomed in a tad.

Yes and no. If it works for your purposes, go for it. The only way is to try.

Technically you are optically enlarging the ground glass in the system which makes the grain in the glass bigger as well and is not advised.

You are essentially minimizing the available resolution given to you by the lens. Not to mention you are losing light, and adding to the likelihood of chroma aberration and distortion.

[Josh Dahlberg]

Originally Posted by Ben Winter

Technically you are optically enlarging the ground glass in the system which makes the grain in the glass bigger as well and is not advised.

You are essentially minimizing the available resolution given to you by the lens. Not to mention you are losing light, and adding to the likelihood of chroma aberration and distortion.

Thanks Ben... I thought the ground glass and lens resolution may be an issue but wasn't entirely sure. I hadn't thought of chroma aberration and distortion being exaggerated. That clears it up for me, much appreciated.