Letus Extreme for the JVC110?

[Benjamin Richardson]

We are now at the end of May and with no relay lens for the JVC or Canon cameras. Any word on its release date?

[Michael Galvan]

Same here ...

I certainly would like to know at least the status of this thing for the XL cameras.

I was told it was suppose to come out in April.

At least give us an update ...

[Mike Altman]

Here's what they told me in e-mail when I contacted them through their website:


We plan to release a modular addon for the Extreme in early July. The relay will attach to the existing Extreme and will allow you to attach the adapter straight to the JVC body.

Here is a picture of the prototype of our B4 mount relay: http://www.letusdirect.com/images/misc/letus-relay.jpg

We are finalizing the optics now and full production will begin soon.

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... Next, I'll follow up on the price and post the details.

[Mike Altman]

"The B4 mount will be around $3,900. That is just a rough estimate right now until we get the final optics lined up. The XL and JVC relays will hopefully be less."

[Mike Altman]

Did this mount ever get released? Is there a prototype getting tested?

[Michael Galvan]

I must say I have lost faith in Letus. Back last March, they told me that I should buy the Letus Extreme as the XL relay lens was near completion and that it would be an add-on to the adapter, so I should buy the adapter and be ready for the new relay in a couple weeks. They told me that's what a lot of their customers were doing.

So I bought one ... and when a month past and nothing ... and no response from them, I sold the adapter. And to this day, still nothing.

I'm personally sticking with P+S for now and will get their mini35c system for an upcoming feature I'll be shooting. As a professional, I can't rely on a company that tells me one thing and then doesn't deliver and doesn't even attempt to update us on realistic timeframes of their products ...

[Stuart Campbell]

This comes down to simple business method.

We opted for the Letus back in April purely on the basis that a relay was imminent and from the start we had no end of trouble with the adapter. We stuck with it only because the relay was due to be released. Every month we heard...'oh apparently it'll be next month', then 'next month' and so on and so on. Even today there has still been no communication from Letus to its customer base. The faults, obvious incompatibility and continued delay in releasing the 'wonder cure relay lens' cost my company money and I've proved myself an idiot by going against my own advice to others. If your business depends on it for income don't mess around with cheap, unproven products, promises and rumours.

If you require a 35mm adapter for your JVC for BUSINESS purposes (i.e for income to pay salaries and bills) buy or rent a P+S Technik.

You get what you pay for!

From what I read it seems the Letus company are currently unable to cope with the demand currently experienced. As soon as demand for my work grew beyond what I could physically deliver I hired more staff. If you don't continue to deliver, your customer eventually goes somewhere else. Fact.

[Mike Altman]

a year later... but out of my price range:

Letus Relay Lenses*::*LetusDirect


Close to $5,000 for the whole system... I'd like them to bring back the LetusHD for about $900 again. I'm willing to compromise a couple thousand dollars for some loss of light and graininess.

[Michael Galvan]

It's just $6,000 for the high-end relay lens. You still have to add the Letus adapter to it, which is another $1200-$4500 on top of it.

But these are the B4 versions ... wonder when the XL or JVC versions are coming, and how much?

[Stuart Campbell]

Originally Posted by Mike Altman

a year later... but out of my price range:

You missed the best bit, printed underneath the price;

NOTE: This is a pre-sale. The relay will be shipped on a first come first serve basis once we receive delivery of the final production run. You will be charged at time of purchase. Delivery time is currently slated for mid March.


Yeah. Right! We've heard that one before!

Nice one guys.

[Bob Hart]

To be fair on the brothers, getting it right has likely been a far more daunting task than the brothers might have expected or they might have been ambushed by a severe setback after they had published, especially if they have outsourced and gotten burned by a substandard development.

I imagine Dennis Woods might likewise be experiencing a stressful time with his own direct relay lens development.

Such things can and have happened to biggies like Sony (EX1 problems) and JVC (the HD100 split-screen debacle) and those costly products were actually turned loose on the marketplace.

This would have been the most ambitious technical R&D effort either undertaken or commissioned by the brothers. For a small entity, it has also to have been the most intimidating because of the up-front outlay. Making the money back is not a given.

It might explain the two relay lens models and prices.

In regard the deja-vu thing "Yeah. Right! We've heard that one before". Yes indeed you have and I guess you have every reason to be cynical. It would seem the brothers believe they have the goods now.

Having gone through the chagrin and embarrassment of making what turned out to be a previous vaporware announcement, I think they will have been doubly careful that they can deliver this time around.

There exists now a fairly confined window of opportunity for them to recover their investment in direct relay before the groundglass relay adaptor becomes subordinate to a next generation of digital SLRs with fullframe sensors. The existing videocamera systems the relay is tailored for will remain in use for some time yet but the clock on their wearing out is ticking. Therefore, running a pre-sale campaign is a reasonable business decision.

As for a 1/2" and 1/3" relay. Whilst the general design principles might have been worked out on the 2/3" relay, the only constant in the equation for the other sensors sizes is the area of groundglass image chosen which appears to be the academy movie frame. Everything else is different. Each relay will require its own equal R&D effort and investment. There is unlikely to be common optical elements across all relay lenses so no cost savings or shortcuts to be found there.

This is all highly speculative and uninformed comment by me, based on no facts whatever.

Treat my comments with the grain of salt they deserve.