Purchasing dilemma

[Ethan Cooper]

Ok all you Letus owners, I need some advice on purchasing a unit. Here's my indecisive thought process:
I own an FX7 and HV20. The only product Letus makes that will work with both of them is the LEX, but I mainly use my FX7 on a Stedicam Merlin and thus won't use it often with the LEX other than interview situations which would be well lit and in that case it's perfectly ok to shoot with the HV20 anyway.
For my outdoors bridal shoots I'm planning on hand holding the HV20 and Letus or mounting it to a tripod and would love the smaller size of the Mini for this use so I don't have to bust out rails and all that. (ok, so I'm cheap) Am I too fixed on wanting a smaller unit like the Mini, or should I just get the multi-camera friendly LEX?
Anyone using the LEX with the HV20? Are rails a necessity?

[Christopher Drews]

Hey Ethan,

I just used the LEX with the HV20 on my shoot two weeks ago. It was fastened to the Letus Rails package because we were using it on our smooth shooter steady cam. I wouldn't recommend using the LEX with the HV20 without rail supports. It is just too flimsy in my opinion - athough you could probably get away with it in a pinch.

The best setup in my opinion is mounting the HV20 on THIS. Which provides great stability.

My overall response to the HV20 and LEX is a mixed one. I had difficulty getting the HV20 to the right fixed aperture (not a LEX problem) and had to zoom more than I'd like to into the GG.

That said, you will of course need to buy the necessary rings to accommodate the unit (step up rings).

My main use with the LEX is with my HVX-200. This combo is awesome! I use two 32GB cards and roll at 1080i, 24pA with very nice results. I mainly use the Zeiss Planar glass because of the great color accuracy and high contrast ratio.

Here is the kit I bought from Letus.

LEX
LEX Custom Case
72mm adaptor
82mm adaptor
Canon FD, Nikon, OCT-19 lens mounts
Letus Rails

The lenses I bought with the adaptor were:
CANON - 28mm 2.8, 25mm 2.8, 50mm 1.4, 50mm 1.8, 55mm 1.2, 100mm 2.8, 135mm 2.8
NIKON - ZEISS 50mm 1.4 planar
LOMO OCT-19 - 28mm - 2, 35mm 2, 50mm 2, 75mm 2, 75mm 2 Macro

Overall, the LOMO glass is amazing but still not as contrasty as the Zeiss planar. The LOMO doesn't breath like the SLR's and I can adjust the aperture on the fly without clicks.

As far as cost and ease of aquiring - I'd probably just go with Canon FD "L" series lenses instead of pulling my hair out with Russian glass. It's majestic and great but you really have no idea what you are buying. Luck plays a part in LOMO. Plus paying nearly 400 dollars from Letus just for the mount doesn't help.

Anyway, hope this helps.

[Bhanu Neti]

Hi
I have difficulties with canon FD 55mm 1.2 lens mounting with Letus Extreme. I was not able to mount this lens with the latest FD mount from Letus. The breach lock ring do not rotate. Can u please share if you have done any thing to make it work.

Thanks,
Bhanu

[Bob Hart]

Bhanu.


I might be sending you off on a wrong track with this comment.

Take a look at the back of the Canon lens. You may find a very fine pin sticking out of the flange face on the back which will be holding one side of the lens off the flange face and making it impossible to lock down.

It is a problem I found with a Canon mount Carl Zeiss Jenazoom.

I think you may find that if you move the aperture lever or any other controls or adjustments in back of the lens while putting only a very, very small amount of pressure onto the pin, that the little pin will become loose and go in with very little or no pressure needed to make it move.

Then you should be able to mount the lens normally.


EDIT:

On having another think about this, the FD mount works like a Nikon mount, twist the lens and it locks.

You mention a breach lock ring. Is there a silver or black loose ring on back of your Canon 50mm f1.2 lens? If there is, I think this lens may not fit up to a FD mount which is an older type. Hopefully others who know more about Canon than I do will advise you correctly.