Budget-Friendly Lens Recommendations with the Letus Extreme - what do you use?
 

Hey guys -

Ordering my Letus35 for my A1 this weekend, and I wanna start putting together a small arsenal of lenses... Ideally, a 50mm, something wide - 25, 35? And a 200mm-ish, something telephoto... I guess that'd be a practical start. Is 200mm too much, too little? Is 100mm more practical? I'm kinda unsure when it comes to lenses, it's new to me.

But, y'know, as affordable as possible.

I'm going to get the 72mm Canon FD mount, is this the best way to go? I saw this lens, and I love the price on it, and it's a 1.8 F-Stop:

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-50mm-1-8...5836016&sr=8-1

Thoughts to help a brotha out? Is it garbage, or a deal for $90?

Also - my buddy has the Canon EOS3, his lenses (really nice ones) are threaded at 72mm, I wanna say EF series, or something... They're autofocus as well, I think... Is it worth getting the EOS mount for 100 bucks in case I wanna borrow one or two? How will those puppies work, if anybody has had some experience with 'em.

So if you guys have any suggestions or recommendations, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!!

-Anthony

Hey Anthony,
I started using my Letus XL (2nd generation from Letus) and only used canon FD glass with it. There are pros and cons. First and foremost, I hated the mount. It would slip and slide like crazy. The flange was all over the place. Letus fixed this with the extreme though.
The lenses I used were, the canon FD 28mm 2.8, 35mm 2.8, 50mm 1.4, 50mm 1.8, 55mm 1.2, 100mm 2.8, 125mm 2.8. I used all the lenses for various projects but I ditched them all except one (collecting dust in a storage case) - I stayed with the 55mm 1.2 (for a while anyways) and shot part of a feature with it. This lens is stellar and leaves most of the FD glass behind (which I add is a good start for the money).

This is all before I switched to Zeiss. See Zeiss started making new lenses for the ZF Nikon mount (called Planar). These lenses, for whatever reason, kick the crap out of all SLR glass (IMHO). The detail, the clarity, the freaken color representation is outstanding. But what sold me most was the contrast gained. I am huge fan of skip the bleach processing in Post but this only works if your image has a decent amount of contrast. Zeiss contrast explodes off the screen while Canon FD just delivers. Let me add also that format plays a huge role in latitude of contrast (as do many other factors) but I am just talking Lens to Letus Ground Glass.
For my latest project, I strictly keep the Zeiss Planar 50mm on my LetusXL most of the time (I switched to LOMO glass for flashbacks).

So here is my recommendation - if you can find a 55mm 1.2 for 200 bucks on ebay - get it! Great glass. But if you have 500 bucks for a Planar ZF 50mm 1.4, you'll know you have the best (SLR wise - anyone could really get into the game with the PL mount from Letus and use real cine lenses!).

Hope this helps,
-C

Let me reinforce one thought if you're on a budget (it may be controversial). Don't buy many lenses - if you pool your money and get a nice 50mm - you can always zoom deeper into the lens to emulate increased focal length. If you move your 50mm closer to your subject and zoom into the ground glass - pow! - it looks like a 85mm. I've done this on some high profile shoots and most people won't call you out (some DP snobs might though).
The pros of using a single normal lens are two fold. You'll move faster, your footage will match (this is hard when you're dealing with many Canon FD lenses I've found) and you'll have more money to spend on lights (after all, isn't that what we all really should be buying as filmmakers?)!

Hi Christopher,
I recently bought a Canon FD 55mm 1.2 lens. I was not able to mount with the FD adapter that came along with Letus Extreme (about 3-4 weeks old) on this lens. The breach lock ring does not rotate.
Can u please let me know if u had this issue, and any advice on mounting this is very much appreciated.

Thanks

LOMO & Letus?
 

How did you attach the LOMO lens to your Letus? Which LOMO lens did you use and what attachment, if you don't mind me asking?

Jus.

Sorry guys, was my girls birthday today.

Bhanu : Mine totally works. Just make sure the red dots are aligned on the back of the 55mm. Find the tooth on the mount (must line up with the red dots) and it will lock into place. If the breach doesn't move on its own (without a mount) your lens should be serviced.

Jus: Letus makes an OCT-19 adapter. It is similar to the nikon and canon mounts but larger. I imported a complete set of LOMO - 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm, 75mm Macro.
HERE is an image (actually they are for sale on ebay currently - just wrapped them on a feature - type in Konvas and you'll see them).

HERE is the 75mm Macro mounted on the extreme.
Hope this helps,
-C

Oh.
 

Thanks CD.

Jus.

I agree. I'm new to the Letus and on a budget. I started with the $500 Zeiss 50mm mentioned above (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ZF_Manual.html) and so far haven't needed another. Of course, there are limitations. But the point is that you may be better with one good 50mm than three cheaper lenses.