Hey everyone,

I recieved my new LetusXL v.2 last night, but did not get a chance to film until this morning. I put together a short reel to show what this adapter is capable of, and it's pretty amazing.. There's a bit of a learning curve to using the adapter, but I'm getting a hang of it.

The footage is uncolor corrected, and I listed the preset settings inside the footage so I won't have to answer that later on.

For bandwidth reasons, the file is pretty compressed and does not do any of the footage justice as far as resolution and sharpness are concerned. I may post some screenshots later of the uncompressed footage. :)

LetusXL v.2 - First Test (http://www.zack-vohaska.com/videos/tests/zv_letusxl_v2.mov)
(.mov | h.264 | 15MB)

All the footage was shot handheld, so sorry for the shakyness of some of the shots, but I only had time for run & gun.

Just as a side note, I'm using both the Redrock M2 and LetusXL v.2, and I just wanted to point out some brief pros & cons of each adapter that I think would be useful to some fo you.

LetusXL Enhanced
Pros
-Relay Lens. Good news -- you no longer need to have the 20x stock lens mounted, plus, it's lighter than the stock lens, making it less front-heavy (but still front heavy).
-Interchangable Lens Mount. I find it very nice that I can switch between Canon FD and Nikon mount lenses.
-Quiet. The motor that vibrates the ground glass is much quieter than the M2's motor.
-Mobile. It's easy to transport and store because of the XL mount; also, it is not necessary to have support rails with this adapter. Nice!
-Flipped image. Once again, the reason I love this adapter so much is the fact that it flips the image without the need of an external monitor with the flip function.

Cons
-Loose fit. I find that it's very easy to accidentily push the adapter so that it jars the picture for a split second. The adapter fits the camera very well, but it's not so 'rock-solid' that it keeps from moving. In other words, I wouldn't recommend ever supporting the camera by gripping the body and lens like you might do with the 20x zoom.
-Light loss. All adapters lose light; the LetusXL is no exception. From what I've heard, it loses much less light than the previous version (which blows my mind because I couldn't imagine this adapter eating more light than it already does). If you open up the relay lens iris all the way, you'll start seeing the ground glass when focusing at telephoto...it's pretty obvious, so you should always keep the relay lens at the preset f2.8 aperature.
-Wires revealed. The wires the connect the battery to the motor are not (in my mind) a safe place to be kept; they're clearly revealed, and could get easily severed or ripped out if you're not careful. There's things you can do on your own end to perhaps protect the wires a bit more, but I feel that it's something that should be addressed/fixed.
-No OIS. While removing the 20x zoom is nice because it doesn't make your XL2 an even larger leafblower, you do end up losing your 20x OIS, so your handheld shots end up being really shaky (try shooting from the hip for more than 20 minutes...you'll see what I mean).

Overall, this is a very nice adapter, and I'll be using it a lot.

Redrockmicro M2 Adapter
Pros
-Professional design. I like the fact that the M2 adapter is a high quality product; the box my adapter came in was the best packaged item I've ever seen/recieved. Plus, you're backed with a warranty by the guys @ Redrock. Good stuff.
-Exceptional groundglass+motor. I find that rotating ground glass is superior to vibrating groundglass; as long as your battery is charged, you'll never see the groundglass moving like you might with the LetusXL.
-Light 'lossless.' I'm probably not too accurate with this assessment, but to my eye, the Redrock loses about 1 f-stop compared to the LetusXL, which loses around 2-2.5 f-stops. However, the primary reason for the LetusXL lightloss is due to the fact that the image is flipped.
-Multi-camera/lens functionality. The adapter can be modded to fit any camera, and use every kind of lens - even cinema lenses.

Cons
-Unweildy. It's not impossible to go handheld with M2, but it's big, clunky, and VERY front heavy. The big benefit you get with going handheld with the M2 is that the relay lens -- your camera's stock lens -- uses it's built in OIS, eliminating any shake you may get when using the Letus.
-Loud. If you're in a quiet room and try recording the ambience with your camera, you'll hear the motor running on the M2. There's obvious ways to avoid this from happening, but it may cause problems if you're shooting without an external mic.
-No image flip. The fact that it doesn't flip the image makes it almost essential to have a field monitor that flips the image for you so you can see what you're shooting. However, you should have a field monitor anyways, even if you're not using an adapter.

Great adapter, but I'll be selling the M2 as it does not fit my needs as well as the Letus does.


Anyways, I'll try to answer any questions you guys may have, but so far, I'm thrilled with my adapter and will be making good use out of it!

Peace.

Zach,

An excellent post. This is exactly the comparison that I have been looking for. I have been wondering whether to get the letus or the Redrock M2 for my JVCHD100. My concern with the latter was just how unwieldy it looks on the camera. But the Letus is looking very very good. It would be great if you could post some more images at some point and report any issues with the Letus as I very definitely leaning in that direction for the reasons that you have mentioned.

Rob

Robert.

I have a modified AGUS35 for PD150 design I have furthur modified for a HD100. I had to make furthur revisions but have no HD100 to test on as the camera I originally tested it on is in Vietnam for making a documentary and may be committed to post production when it comes back.

Is there any chance to fit it up to your camera to see if the adjustments worked? It does not have a relay like Quyen's Letus35 but relays through the Standard Fujinon lens via a Century Optics +7 dioptre so in terms of image quality, the Letus35 will be superior.

If you do happen to buy in a Letus35 for HD100, Derek Hobbs ( Dir. of "The Bouncer" ) might be interested in seeing it working. He has a HD100 project coming up which I understand he wants to use an adaptor on.

Dear Bob,

Jeez, you live in Perth. I thought I was the only fool interested in such things in one of the remotest cities in the world.

Can you believe that my JVCHD100 is currently in Ireland until October being used on a shoot. However, I am buying a second one in the next several weeks - one of the new (HD110?) ones from Expandore which actually flips the image in the viewfinder and LCD I understand. So, absolutely, as soon as I have the camera, lets give it a whirl. I would love to see what you have made.

The Letus is looking very promising to me: simple. light, no need to flip image, apparently excellent image quality, reasonably inexpensive etc I have always had my doubts about just how ungainly the M2 looks on the stock lens on the HD100. Again I am hoping to get the Letus in the next few weeks assuming no adverse reports come in about it. The images I have seen produced with it thus far look awesome.

Give us a call on 0411 849 021 and we can have a coffee in Freo to discuss.

Rob

are you selling your m2? If your lookoing for a buyer, let me know.

Rob.

There's two others from Perth metro who post here from time to time.

As for JVC HD100, I understand there to be the one which has gone to Vietnam. Steve the documentary maker is apparently going to look at a Mini35 setup in europe. He already uses the Les Bosher adaptor for Nikon SLR primes direct-to-camera.

Derek Hobbs I believe is looking to buy one. I think he may be intending to use it and maybe a second on an upcoming feature later this year. He is examining relay devices.

There is another HD100 in use down your way as well.

Cons
-Loose fit. I find that it's very easy to accidentily push the adapter so that it jars the picture for a split second. The adapter fits the camera very well, but it's not so 'rock-solid' that it keeps from moving. In other words, I wouldn't recommend ever supporting the camera by gripping the body and lens like you might do with the 20x zoom.
-Light loss. All adapters lose light; the LetusXL is no exception. From what I've heard, it loses much less light than the previous version (which blows my mind because I couldn't imagine this adapter eating more light than it already does). If you open up the relay lens iris all the way, you'll start seeing the ground glass when focusing at telephoto...it's pretty obvious, so you should always keep the relay lens at the preset f2.8 aperature.


loose fit - I picked up some Cavision Rods for my XL2 / Letus35XL Flip Enhanced and it really helped add some needed stability to the whole package. The Rods are pretty light and you can add shoulder support, hand grips, matte box, etc..

light Loss - I get pretty good results with the aperature on the Relay set at 2.8 also. The light loss is much more tolerable on the new unit. The original Letus XL flip required alot more light.

I really like the new Letus35 XL flip Enhanced.

Can someone please tell me how to get or find a 28mm lens that's as fast as f1.2... I didn't think that could exist!

Zack I had a couple questions for you. I tried to email through the boards, but you have that blocked. Could you please send me an email through my profile?