LEX motor noise!

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Yeah, the whole confusion between us, Paul, resulted from the fact that I was talking about the original rail system from Letus, while you're using the Zacuto. If I were you, I think I'd also be mounting it that way (i.e. with the switch button up), to keep the camera' COG as low as possible.

Of course, I am sure that my problem of leveling the GG while securely mounting to the rails can and will be solved - it's just that one would expect a device like this to be usable out of the box...

BTW, supporting the adapter's nose on the rubber elements rather than fixing it with a screw could in theory help with the vibrations; but you said yours is as noisy as mine?

[Stuart Campbell]

Piotr,

You really don't sound impressed with the Extreme. Do you feel that it is cheap in build quality?

We are placing an order this week hopefully and after much research this is the best 35mm adaptor on the market second to P+S (which sadly we don't have budget for at the moment).

Stuart

[Piotr Wozniacki]

No Stuart - I'm not impressed at all. Granted it doesn't cost as much as P+S system does, but I was expecting a better quality. Yes it is solid, but lacks the finesse one would expect from a high-tech, electro-optical device.

Disclaimer: being very busy now, I still haven't really checked my LEX; in fact I have bough a couple of Canon FD lenses on eBay only a couple of days ago. After all, it'd be unfair to pass a final verdict without even shooting some stuff more serious than just the basic functionality tests.

People like Phil Bloom (more creative and perhaps less technically demanding) do shoot really beautiful stuff using Letus.

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Using the EX1's peaking function, I am focusing the camera on the Letus GG - how uniform is the peaking supposed to be with the new achromat, optimized for the EX1? Can anyone post a picture of the peaking in the camera's LCD, perhaps using zoom at Z70, Z75 etc? Because mine is not uniform at all; I'd like to compare with what others are getting. TIA.

[Paul Frederick]

Piotr,

That makes sense why we had confusion! I'm not familiar with the Letus rails at all. The rubber gromets I have under the Letus do help a little with vibration, it also makes a better fit to the rails then using the supplied one from Letus.

Check out this blog:

http://web.mac.com/stevecahill/Steve...Blog/Blog.html

Steve has some great tips for using the Letus Extreme and EX1, including how to focus it on the GG. Some great video in there. Very informative.

Good luck, I'm sorry to hear of your problems with the LEX, once you start shooting more with it, I think you'll quickly overlook the shortcomings and fall in love with the imagery! It takes my footage to a new level.

[Sami Sanpakkila]

Originally Posted by Piotr Wozniacki

Using the EX1's peaking function, I am focusing the camera on the Letus GG - how uniform is the peaking supposed to be with the new achromat, optimized for the EX1? Can anyone post a picture of the peaking in the camera's LCD, perhaps using zoom at Z70, Z75 etc? Because mine is not uniform at all; I'd like to compare with what others are getting. TIA.

Mine isnt very uniform neither if you look at the peaking. But the end results are VERY sharp edge to edge. Ill try to post some pics soon, but I've been shooting with the new achromat and it is amazing in my opinion. Using FD lenses you are bound to get a bit softer image but the edge to edge is as sharp as I could wish.

You should zoom in to z75 or z80 depending on the lenses. (35mm and wider go with z80, anything more tele can go even to z70) This way I've managed to get a picture absolutely free of vignetting even with my 20mm f2.8 which was quite a pain with the stock achromat.

Recarding the alignment of the gg to level with the image. Im having no trouble getting it to sit tightly on my Cinevate rails. Have you tried first putting the Letus in level with EX1, then attach it to the rails. It might seem like forcing it a bit but once you get it in place you will see it fits. Im pretty sure if you try it this way it should be fine.

And a few hints to get the cleanest sharpest image:
Always keep the FD lens at full aperture (Buy lenses with f2-f1.2)
Try to keep EX1 aperture around f4-6, use ND1 if needed. (This is going to have great effect on how sharp your image will be. You dont want the DOF to the GG to be too much or too little.)
Dont use ND2 on EX1, if you need more ND put one in front of the FD lens.

Dont take my word though, test it, this is only in my experience. I havent done any proper chart tests or anything. But I have not used a single shot I've shot on EX1 without the LEX. LEX is what to me transcends my footage from video to real cinematography :)

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Thanks for the hints, Sami. I cannot wait for getting some other paying project finished soon, so that I can start real shooting with my Letus.

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Has anyone tried the new "Elite" upgrade for LEX?

Letus35 Elite Upgrade Module*::*Letus Accessories*::*LetusDirect

I still am having problems with the internal, cumbersome back focus adjustment; I need to re-adjust it quite often, and when I do, I usually end up with different vibration/noise level (usually higher).

Would this upgrade let us adjust the GG posts once and for good (possibly leaving it in a position where it generates least noise), and do the actual back focus fine adjustments outside?

[Bob Hart]

Pietr.


I listened to your sound grab. The gain is high enough that I can hear the switch click and also hear another hum, a phantom-power hum you get on some Sony's.

The sound is consistant with what I hear with my own ear close to the Letus body and does not seem abnormal.

The Letus may be "nearly" silent but it is not silent.

The position of your mike is very close to the Letus body with the Zacuto setup, not much more than an inch or 25mm or so separating.

This is not a good setup for sound. The closeness of the case will also be altering the pickup pattern of that mike.

There are not many of us who would use an on-board mike or leave it there if we are as serious about adding value to our projects that buying a 35mm relay adapter suggests.

If you want to keep the mike on the camera, you need to reposition it higher or furthur forward away from the Letus casework.


In regard to peaking and the new achromat, I think you will find that if you manage the exposures with in-camera or mattebox ND filters to keep your camcorder iris at about f4, you will get the best edge-to-edge sharpness in the image relay. Other iris settings seem to be still good for the end-product but this seems to be the sweet spot.

[Laffan Nasser]

what is the ideal mount for the LCD70P on 5D and EX1