LEX motor noise!
 

Just got the LEX for my EX1. First thing I noticed: achromat glass slightly chipped off; lucklily out of view (I hope so, didn't check properly yet due to lack of time). Secondly: the GG rectagle not level when mounted on rails and fixed to the camera (twisted some 5-10deg). Again - hopefully, can be adjusted.

But what's most disappointing is the noise of the GG spinning! Do all make so much noise? Frankly, recording sound with on-board mic is impossible!

Or is mine defective? Comments welcome.

Talk to Letus, your issues are not normal. Mine is so quiet that I literally cannot hear it from 3" away.

Here is a sample of the vibrations that the onboard mic of my EX1 records. You must listen to it using full freq response monitors.

I feel your pain, Piotr. My mic audio is useless also. Infact, I even mounted a really good Sennheiser mic on my HVX with LEX EX and rails. The audio contains a constant hum with the motor vibrations. Good thing we were running a second system.

-C

Barry, we are having different opinions here; some are saying this is normal with Letus (if it is, I feel cheated by their marketing the LEX as almost inaudible in operation).

I'm attaching a new sample - this time with the Sony ECM 763 shotgun. Compared with this, the sample I posted yesterday (with the E1's own mic) can really be considered silent :(

Yes, it sounds pretty much the same what I hear as well. Here is a sample. No normalizing or anything done to it, just straight render to mono Wav file from Vegas. The click in the beginning is me changing picture profiles from the top handle joystick.

The biggest problem indeed is the vibration to the mic, I cant hear the Letus at all if Im behind the camera (as I normally am :).

Sami

Sami, did you listen to my second file (with the Sony shotgun)?

Your's virtually silent compared to mine - even the first one (I assume this was recorded with the EX1's own mic)!!!

Was your setup on the rails & tripod?

I opened a ticket with Letus support and uploaded the samples - no answer so far.

Yes I listened to your both files and the second was very loud indeed. Its all vibration I assume though. Not the actual sound of Letus.

The example I sent you was on Cinevate rails but not on tripod so this will make a huge difference in the way the sound carries to the mic. Yes this was recorded with the EX1 mic.

I doubt there is anything wrong with your Letus. Try again holding your rig in your hand and you will hear the difference. Also there is unfortunately not much Letus people can do I think.

If you are familiar with audio and vibration charasteristics you could try and cut the vibration before it travels to the mic.

Sami,
I have tried the rig out of the tripod, just holding it in my hands. Unfortunately, even the the on-board mic is still pickig up the same amount of vibration noise from the Letus.

On the LCD, with dead silent room, the audio level indicators are fixed at two bars - regardles of wheter on tripod or not.

I guess my unit's spinning assembly is unbalanced, which translates into the increased vibration noise. In fact, the whole camera body is vibrating; I'm afraid it may suffer some damage in the long run.

Piotr,

Mine makes the same amount of noise as yours. Unfortunately....

Have you adjusted the angle of view so that it is no longer 10-15 degrees at an angle? It's quite easy to do. With the LEX mounted on your camera, no lens on, turn camera on, zoom out until you can see the inner workings and the "whole" frame. Now loosen the 3 allen screws closest to the camera. This will free up the main unit, you then turn the LEX until the rectangle is perfectly straight, then tighten the 3 screws.

I'm using the LEX on my V1, I'm not sure if the EX 1 has an expanded focus button, if so, I find this the best way to focus on the ground glass. Just punch that and focus away (again, no lens on, pointed at a window), the bright light makes it easy to focus on the GG.

Happy shooting!

Paul, thanks for reassuring.

However, your recipe for leveling the Letus - while sounds easy when the adapter can be rotated around the camera lens axis - is not practical when both are mounted to the rail system. Unfortunately, the adapter can be fixed to the lens in one position only, and this is when it's rotated relative to the camera.

I'm not sure I follow you? Do you mean that you want the adaptor in a position other than straight up or down? The red button needs to be either on the top or the bottom in order for the image to be squared up. If yours is at an angle that is different then up or down, loosen those screws and rotate the adaptor until it's up or down. Then make sure your threaded on the lens nice and tight with the other part and finally tighten the screws again. You may have to take it off the rails to get it correct, but once it's done. It'll be good to go and can be mounted on the rails in a perfect manner. I suspect you want the button off to the side, and while I agree this makes it easier to see, it won't allow you to square up the adaptor.

Paul - now I am not following you at all :) Are you talking Letus Extreme? If so, which button do you mean?

I am mounting the adapter (and the camera, of course) on rails in the only obvious way possible. Now, suppose that before mounting on the rails, I have rotated the adapter around the thread ring in the camera's lense so that the GG rectangle is level in the viewfinder (that's pretty easy, of course), and re-tighten the three screws. BUT, with the setup assembled this way, the hole underneath the adapter "nose" (where the rails front supporting bracket's screw is going) is NOT aligned with the bracket's screw, and I cannot attach the adapter to the bracket when on rails!

I hope it makes sense to you now :)

I tried again, and it's even worse: with the adapter twisted to align the gg rectangle in the camera's viewfinder, its nose doesn't even fit the front support cradle :(

Well, I hate to be picky, but for the price the Letus is definitely not a masterpiece of precise engineering. And precision is essential for getting good pictures! The mounting should be much more flexible (see my problems with leveling); the lens mounts mounted more precisely than with those crappy three screws (backfocus adjustment, involving pulling the mount out of the adapter, cannot assure its being planar); finally - everything should have some firm but soft contact surfaces for dumping vibrations (like rubber verges etc).

Well, I guess I'm expecting too much...

Piotr,

I guess it has to do with your rail system. The button I refer to is the big red one that turns the vibrating glass on and off. I'll attach a few pictures to show how mine is set up. Maybe it'll help? I'm not even using the bracket that came with the Letus Extreme, I use a couple rubber gromets and the Zacuto rails to hold it up. I see alot of people mount theirs the other way, with the red button down, but this is working for me. If I were to do it that way, I would have to raise the camera way up.

It is sort of complicated to set up. These adaptors are new and stem from a "cottage industry" of enthusiasts. It could be easier I suppose, but it could also cost even more.

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

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 :)

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.

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?

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.

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