Z7U Still camera lens adapter & Letus35 Extreme Question

[Pasha Hanover]

Is a Letus35 Extreme still required for the Z7 to use still camera lenses even though Sony makes this:

Sony | LA-100W Alpha Lens Adapter | LA-100W | B&H Photo Video

Assuming you will use the Sony Alpha lenses?

If not then what are the advantages in using the Letus35 Extreme over just using a basic adapter (such as the link above) to attach a still camera lens to the Z7? Can you still get the depth of field effect without using the Letus35 Extreme and just mounting the still lens directly to the Z7 via adapter?

Hope my question made sense. Thanks.

[Greg Laves]

Pasha, there is some one in Europe (England, I think) who makes an adapter to mount Nikon lenses on the Z7. I thought I had a link earmarked but I couldn't find it right away. It is something like $280, if I remember correctly. You should be able to search here and find it easily. I think the Sony Alpha adapter is more like $600.

[Bob Hart]

The guy I think you are referring to is Les Bosher. He makes one for the JVC GY-HD*** camera family and I think it may fit the Z7 which I think has the same mount plus a tiny panel of hot connectors which is recessed down a little below the flange surface.

I think his website may be Les Bosher - Camera Engineer or something like that.

Using stills lenses on a 3 x sensor camera may cause some CA on junctions of hard contrast in an image.

The field-of-view for given focal length will be narrower going direct-to-camera versus going via the 35mm adaptor for the same lens. However there should be a contrast, light gain and slight resolution bonus.

You will not get any better shallow depth-of-field effect by going direct-to-camera with stills lenses over using the existing supplied zoom lens.

The 35mm adaptor will give you greater ability to achieve shallower depth-of-field for a given field-of-view or angle-of-view.

[Gary Nattrass]

Mike Tappa is a guy who makes a Z7 to nikon adaptor:Nikon to Sony HVR-Z7 & HVR-S270 lens adaptor on eBay, also, Lens Mounts Adaptors, Camera Lenses, Photography (end time 20-Jan-09 17:48:08 GMT)
MTF Services Ltd
I have one and it works very well although bear in mind that the adaptor adds a X7 magnification

[Zach Love]

Originally Posted by Pasha Hanover

If not then what are the advantages in using the Letus35 Extreme over just using a basic adapter (such as the link above) to attach a still camera lens to the Z7? Can you still get the depth of field effect without using the Letus35 Extreme and just mounting the still lens directly to the Z7 via adapter?

If you want the DOF (depth of field) of a 50mm lens on your Z7, just zoom until the lens is at the 50mm point. (There are markings on the side of the camera)

If you want the DOF of a 50mm lens w/ the same FOV (field of view) that a 35mm camera has when it has a 50mm lens attached, then you need a Letus.

The nice part about the Sony or MTF adapter is that you can get SLR lenses for dirt cheap in comparison to HD video lenses.

Stock Z7/S270 lens is 12x (or 4.4mm-52.8mm).
Fuji sells a HTs18x4.2BERM (4.2mm-75.6mm...151.2mm w/ doubler) for around $10k.

You can get TWICE as close to the action w/ a 300mm SLR lens for about 5-10% of the cost of the Fuji. That is what is nice about the Sony & MTF adapter.



PS Sony alpha is the same as Minolta, so you can use those lenses too.

[Pasha Hanover]

Originally Posted by Zach Love

If you want the DOF (depth of field) of a 50mm lens on your Z7, just zoom until the lens is at the 50mm point. (There are markings on the side of the camera)

If you want the DOF of a 50mm lens w/ the same FOV (field of view) that a 35mm camera has when it has a 50mm lens attached, then you need a Letus.

The nice part about the Sony or MTF adapter is that you can get SLR lenses for dirt cheap in comparison to HD video lenses.

Stock Z7/S270 lens is 12x (or 4.4mm-52.8mm).
Fuji sells a HTs18x4.2BERM (4.2mm-75.6mm...151.2mm w/ doubler) for around $10k.

You can get TWICE as close to the action w/ a 300mm SLR lens for about 5-10% of the cost of the Fuji. That is what is nice about the Sony & MTF adapter.



PS Sony alpha is the same as Minolta, so you can use those lenses too.

Thanks for your answer. However, just to clarify, so you'd still need the Letus35 Extreme to get the same optics a 35mm camera would (hence to mimic a real major movie camera)? It's not possible by just using the Sony/Minolta or MTF Nikon adapter?

What other advantages does the Letus35 Extreme give over just using the Sony/Minolta or MTF Nikon adapter?

The point is I'm trying to weigh the extra cost of getting a Letus35 Extreme if the same can be acheived with just using the regular adapters.

Thanks.

[Bill Petropoulos]

Pasha,

There is a 7x increase when using the SONY lens adapter.
So, a 50mm lens will give you the look of a 350mm lens.
A wide angle 20mm will be 140mm.
So not practical unless you need telephoto reach.

You get that "film movie look" with the Letus because the lens that is used, projects the image onto a 35mm sized glass screen, THEN it is recorded.

The difference is the 35mm sized screen. That is what gets you shallow depth of field.

So the SONY adapter still uses the cameras 1/3" chips.

-Bill

[Pasha Hanover]

Originally Posted by Bill Petropoulos

Pasha,

There is a 7x increase when using the SONY lens adapter.
So, a 50mm lens will give you the look of a 350mm lens.
A wide angle 20mm will be 140mm.
So not practical unless you need telephoto reach.

You get that "film movie look" with the Letus because the lens that is used, projects the image onto a 35mm sized glass screen, THEN it is recorded.

The difference is the 35mm sized screen. That is what gets you shallow depth of field.

So the SONY adapter still uses the cameras 1/3" chips.

-Bill

Excellent. Thank you. That's exactly what I wanted to know.

Currently I have a Sony HVR-A1U and wanted to get the Letus35 mini for it. I'm planning on getting a Z7 soon and since the Letus35 mini won't work on the Z7 and didn't want to buy a Letus35 Extreme for that as well assuming it wasn't needed but I guess I will need it for the Z7. So I'll just skip on the Letus35 mini and get the Letus35 Extreme now and get an adapter to mount it to the A1U until I pick up the Z7.

[Bill Petropoulos]

I was about to invest in a Letus as well...
but I bought a 5D Mark II instead.


-Bill

[Pasha Hanover]

Originally Posted by Bill Petropoulos

I was about to invest in a Letus as well...
but I bought a 5D Mark II instead.


-Bill

The 5D Mark II is a DSLR camera. I know it shoots video but is it comparable to a Z7 with the Letus35 Extreme? Also can it do 1080 at 24P?

[Bill Petropoulos]

I wouldn't recommend the 5D as an "A" camera.
But I would as a "B" camera.

Use the Z7 for your main camera.

For the type of things I shoot, it's great to pull out the 5D for specialized shots.
Easier than trying to rig up a 35mm adapter to your main camera.

I'm just saying there's another option to 35mm adapters now.
I wouldn't suggest the 5D could replace the Z7.


-Bill


p.s. I see you're in Tustin, we're neighbors. I'm at the 5fwy @ 4th st.

[Pasha Hanover]

Originally Posted by Bill Petropoulos

I wouldn't recommend the 5D as an "A" camera.
But I would as a "B" camera.

Use the Z7 for your main camera.

For the type of things I shoot, it's great to pull out the 5D for specialized shots.
Easier than trying to rig up a 35mm adapter to your main camera.

I'm just saying there's another option to 35mm adapters now.
I wouldn't suggest the 5D could replace the Z7.


-Bill


p.s. I see you're in Tustin, we're neighbors. I'm at the 5fwy @ 4th st.

Ok thanks. I'm going to keep the HVR-A1U as a "B" cam when I get the Z7.

I'm off the 5 and Tustin Ranch.

[Zach Love]

*sigh*

this will be a novel...


I was confused by this for a long time. And I feel like I was confused b/c people weren't using the right vocabulary.

If you're looking to be a professional photographer, first things first:

Know, understand & comprehend the difference between DOF & FOV / AOV (AOV aka FOV aka AOV aka FOV aka...).
Depth of field - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Angle of view - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Field of view - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Before we can move on, we have to know DOF vs FOV. If you're having trouble, stop reading here & do more research. Take a trip to the library & look up photography books. Talk to experienced photographers. etc. etc. etc.

Once we understand the difference between DOF & FOV, we know:
DOF is determined by TWO factors: length of lens & F-Stop.
FOV is determined by TWO factors: length of lens & chip (CCD or CMOS) size or film-negative size.


Bill, with respect, I'm going to correct you on a few things:

Incorrect:

Originally Posted by Bill Petropoulos

There is a 7x increase when using the SONY lens adapter.
So, a 50mm lens will give you the look of a 350mm lens.
A wide angle 20mm will be 140mm.

Correct:
There is a 7x increase in FOV when using the Sony lens adapter on the Z7U in comparison to a 35mm-film camera.
So... a 50mm lens on the Z7U will give you the FOV of a 350mm lens on a 35mm-film camera.

A wide angle 20mm lens a 35mm-film camera w/ a very wide FOV. But that same "wide angle" 20mm lens on the Z7U will give you a narrow FOV, the same FOV a 35mm-film camera would have w/ a 140mm lens attached.

Incorrect:

Originally Posted by Bill Petropoulos

The difference is the 35mm sized screen. That is what gets you shallow depth of field.

So the SONY adapter still uses the cameras 1/3" chips.

Correct:
The difference of FOV comes from the difference in size of a 35mm-film negative vs the 1/3" chips in the Z7U.

The Letus has a 35mm-film sized screen whichs "preserves" the FOV of a 35mm-film lens.

The Sony adapter lets light pass directly through to the chips.



Here is something that might help:

Aprox 30miles north of Down Town Chicago there is "Half Day Road," it is named after Potawatomie Chief Halfda, but most people believe it has that name because it used to be a half day horse ride from Chicago to that point. Let us believe that the rumor is true:

100 years ago horses were the standard.
It took "half a day ride" (or 4 horus) to get 30 miles to Half Day Road.
The trouble with this as a standard is that a distance ie being measured w/ a unit of time is being.
If we use this standard today, my car can drive "8 hours an hour" on the interstate.
Does that make a lot of sense?
Not really, what makes better sense is to say my car can drive "60 miles an hour."


The standard in cameras used to be based around 35mm film SLR cameras. This was the standard. No video cameras. No DSLRs. No camera phones. Nearly every pro / simi-pro used a 35mm-film SLR. 35mm-film was the standard & everyone learned that 50mm lens was normal, 35mm lens was wide, 500mm was a nice telephoto.

The problem w/ saying that a 50mm lens is a "normal" lens, is like saying it takes "half a day to get to Half Day Road."

A 50mm lens is ONLY "normal" when it is on a 35mm-film camera.
Half Day Road is ONLY 4 hours away when you travel 7.5mph.

A normal lens has a FOV that resembles the FOV of the human eye. Which means:

With a 35mm-film camera:
50mm lens is "normal" (Normal FOV)
25mm lens is "wide" (0.5xNormal FOV)
200mm lens is "telephoto" (4xNormal FOV)

With the 1/3" chip Z7U camera:
6mm lens is "normal" (Normal FOV)
3mm lens is "wide" (0.5x Normal FOV)
24mm is "telephoto" (4xNormal FOV)



Did I help? Or just make it a LOT worse?

[Bob Hart]

Zack.


Thanks for the intervention. You have said it all more precisely and with more efficient use of wordstuff than I would have achieved.

[Zach Love]

Originally Posted by Bob Hart

Zack.


Thanks for the intervention. You have said it all more precisely and with more efficient use of wordstuff than I would have achieved.

Happy to help where I can.