Review of Quyen Le's Letus35

[Eric Brown]

Quyen, wanted to quickly thank you for the quick shipping of the Letus35, prompt e-mails and advice on lens choices.
I echo everyone's comments on the solidness of the design and the ability to effortlessly swap out parts in the event that something should break. Awesome!
The only problem I'm seeing is the possibility of the 72mm threaded end of the adapter coming into slight contact with the 20x lens of the XL2.
If my measurements are correct it is either a hair's breadth away or touching it when screwed on all the way.
The lens on the XL2 is fairly convex and Chris Hurd, on the main Watchdog site, reported that it had a problem excepting a Century 6x wide angle that fits fine on the XL1/XL1's 16x.
Century has made another adapter that fits onto the XL2.
At this point I'd say for anyone getting ready to test this adapter with an XL2, they should leave on the UV filter( they hopefully purchased along with their XL2) and mount it to that instead of directly to the camera lens.
Stacking glass is not fun but it's better than a scratched or damaged 20x.
If anyone has found the same results or completely different results I'm sure Quyen would like to hear about it.

[Quyen Le]

Thanks Eric, a UV filter is a good option to protect the original lens. You can test if it touch by putting some kind of paper/film in between when screw it in. If it can be moved, it's fine, if it can't then it touched. I am waiting to see some test footages on the cameras, thanks.

Quyen

[Eric Brown]

Hello, Quyen. I was thinking of something similar. Although I suppose the sheer fear of lens damage has gotten the better of me. Perhaps I can do a multiple series of tests with the adapter screwed on in ever tightening phases. Nice and easy. I'll try and get to this and let you know the results.

[Eric Brown]

Okay, quick turn-around on this.
I took a small piece of paper and placed it between the Letus and the 20x lens and powered up the camera.
The results were slight movements in the paper when settled at the fringes of the lens but it stuck going towards the middle when moving the camera about enough in order to make the paper slide.
This was not quite fully screwed on which tells me the lens adapter would most likely make contact with the 20x if fully screwed on.
This is not the most scientific of methods but I think it does address the issue as to whether the glass elements are coming into contact and I would say there is about a 95-99% certainty.
Bottom line?
Get a Tiffen 72mm UV filter for a spacer. The well in front of the filter's lens is deep enough to accomodate the XL2's fairly convex lens.
My Canon 50mm 1.4 is en-route and once I get it I will post my results about other aspects of the adapter.
Thanks again, Quyen.
Hopefully someone else will post with results of their own or a more accurate method of testing this to be 100%.

[Douglas Akers]

I can't believe I got my 35mm lens today!
There are still some good people left on Ebay!
Okay.
I'm using my trusty vx2000 and the 50mm canon f1.4.
Putting it all together the first time was actualy very easy.
It was a little akward threading the Letus onto the VX but it went on just fine.
The Canon lens fit perfectly the first try.
After I adjusted the orientation of the imager, I then had to zoom in to fill the screen.
I noticed the bottom of the GG imager drops off the frame before the top does. It's a small amount but it's there with my camera.
It seemed like I had to zoom in just a bit more than necessary to fill the frame.
OK then.
I did the quick viewfinder flip trick so I can see the image right side up but still backwards.
I shot some simple rack focus shots across a table at different objects.
Looks go so far.
It seems to lose very little light. I would guess 1 stop or less as Quyen has said.
I went out to the back yard to get some bright sunlight shots.
More radical depth changes this time. Racks from a foot and a half to near infinity.
This is the first time I've ever had shallowness and the ability to isolate with a video camera. I'll need alot of practice to make this stuff look good.
Back inside I hooked up to my Sony pvm-1354q monitor.
I didn't take the time to capture or process the image in any way because my computor resources are being taken up by my first feature that I'm just finishing editing.
Oh yeah, I turned the monitor upside down so I don't have to stand on my head!
Grain? What grain?
I looks to be *almost* non existent.
I'm no expert on these GG adapters but, I haven't seen any better test shots posted around.
The image looks really smooth save for 1 tiny speck of dust that I can't seem to locate.
I did turn the vibrator on and off a couple of times to see what it looked like.
The grain would come into focus and then just sorta disappear almost like applying a gaussian blur to it.
This design is simple, elegant and light weight.
I would highly recomend this as THE minimum cost solution to your depth of field needs.
I have a total of $200 dollars into this so far.
Another $150 for a couple of more lenses and I'll be good to go!
If nothing else, this is great training for the day ,someday, when I have a real budget and might use some top notch, pro gear.
Playing with the DOF is gonna be fun, I know I'll learn alot!

[Wayne Kinney]

Originally Posted by Douglas Akers

I did the quick viewfinder flip trick so I can see the image right side up but still backwards.

Just a tip, most camcorders have a 'mirror' mode that is on by default, but you can turn off in the cams settings menu's, therefore getting a properly orientated image using the magnet flip method. My panasonic cam puts it under 'selfshoot on/off. Maybe something to try.

HTH,
Wayne.

[Quyen Le]

The VX2000 doesn't use magnet, it uses physical switch that require open up the plastic cover or drill a hole on the plastic cover then use a stick to turn the switch on. The stick need to be hold down for the image to flip, otherwise, it will be back to up side down with this adapter on, thanks.

Quyen

[Douglas Akers]

Yep, no mirror mode on the VX.
The switch flips it over but not backwards.
Just takes a little getting used to.
I almost forgot, the piece of dust was on my VX lens!
DOH! My Bad.
All clear now.

[Quyen Le]

Douglas,

There is a mode that can work with the switch on VX2000. After pushing the switch, go to menu ?ETC/DISPLAY/V-OUT and it will correct the orientation for you.
The frame on the Letus35 is 1.5"x1" = 38.1mm x 25.4mm, a little bit bigger than the 36x24. Losing a little bit will give you a hair smaller than the regular 35mm frame. If you want to adjust, loosen the flat screw then adjust the macro lens' orientation a little bit, it will give you the full 24x36 frame. Thanks.

Quyen

[Douglas Akers]

Thanks Quyen, that works great!
I didn't realize there was an adjustment for the macro lens.
Funny thing this VX, I put the pin in to flip the lcd but it remains backwards until I push the menu button, then it mirrors while the menu is displayed.
But closing the menu returns it to backwards.
It will record while the menu is on however.
The only effect the display/lcd/v-out has is to turn the info on and off to the external monitor, unless I missed something.
All in all, more than I could have hoped for.
Thanks again.

[Marius Luessi]

I also just quickly wanted to thank Quyen for all the help and EXCELLENT cutomer service provided.
We are looking forward to be testing the LetUs35 in the very near future...

Cheers,
Marius
http://vidled.com

[Obin Olson]

when do we get some pro footage?

[Chad Schultz]

or any footage would be good.
this thread was started on august 22 and no ones posted anything yet?

[Obin Olson]

footage from a progressive camera would be really nice ;) maybe a dvx100?

[Quyen Le]

Obin Olson,

Are you going to post some soon? thanks.

Quyen