letus35 owners... need cleaning advice
 

hi everyone! i'm going to a studio session this evening for a band that i will be shooting a music video for and would like to get some b roll images to splice in to the video. i will be using 2 sony vx2100s and a vx2000, each equipped with a letus35 and the following lenses: 50, 28mm, 28-105mm. the problem is, there are bits of dust (probably bits from the housing, leftover from machining and made loose from use) that are stuck between the achromat and the macro. i do not know how to get between them to clean it up as it looks like it's glued together. anyone have this issue? how can i clean the glass?

thanks in advance!

A.J. Briones

Do you mean it's between the 2 glass that cemented together? If it's between the achromat and condenser, remove the screws then take the whole part out then clean in there. Sometimes it's a little tight, use flat head screwdriver to take it out the way you open the paint can, thanks.

Quyen

hi quyen! it's between the 2 glass that are cemented together. is there a way to clean between that area? this is the case with all 3 of my adapters.

i'm afraid that i will break them if i try to clean them myself, and i'd rather spend hours and hours pixelshifting the dust out in post rather than shooting without it this evening.

Are they on the glass that next to camera lens? It's weird that all 3 has dust inside. The cemented, I don't know how to clean inside. Does it show on video? The dust cannot get inside the cemented achromat since it was cemented from the factory, and if there is anything on that achromat, it won't show up on video because it's way out of the focus range. Thanks.

Quyen

hi quyen. please refer to the following clip:

http://www.infinite-studios.com/movies/letusclip.mov

there is one piece of dirt, two thirds horizontally, on the bottom 4th of the screen. it is one single spec. it is behind the outermost glass that faces the camcorder. this is with just one of the adapters. the other 2 are connected to the cameras and i will update you on their condition soon. i will take each one apart to clean them and will report later.

if you have any other advice that can help me with cleaning them, i very much appreciate it.

cannot download, missing something in the link?

Quyen

Previous link does not work for some reason: http://dandiaconu.com/gallery/albums...underwater.wmv

I tried to watch it several times but cannot locate the dust, is it because of compression? can you grab 1 frame at full resolution? thanks.

Quyen

oh man... wait... my bad... i accidentally pasted one of dan's clips instead of one of mine.

post has been edited. clip is here:

http://www.infinite-studios.com/movies/letusclip.mov

sorry for the confusion dan and quyen!

Are you sure that was the one on the Achromat, not condenser? Any dust on the camera side of the condenser barely shows and the achromat is much further away. Can you double check to see if it's not on the condenser? thanks.

Quyen

will do. i'm going to take these apart later this afternoon. we are going to have a 3 camera shoot tonight and i hope to have some footage shortly afterwards. i'm really hoping this can be fixed. if my digital camera wasn't broken i'd take stills too.

I'm having the same problem with my adapter. I've gotten the specks using a DVX, a Sony Digital8, and my newly purchased GS-400 (Which I must say works great with the Letus35). All of them in the same place every time.

I have cleaned the adapter meticulously but it is still there in the same exact spots. The adapter is great, except for the 4 specks that I am seeing.

I believe it is in between the focusing screen and the small rectangular achromat (or is that the condensor) that is glued to the inside of the adapter. I've cleaned that part off, well at least the part I can get to.

Either that or it is a blemish on the focusing screen itself.

Here are a couple grabs:

http://www.tonytibbetts.com/DustSpeck01.jpg
http://www.tonytibbetts.com/DustSpeck02.jpg

A.J.,

Let me know how it goes, I'd like to be able to clean those specks off if I can.

If it's between the condenser and GG, take the whole front part off then clean them off. If it's on GG, use cotton rich cloth to dust it off, thanks.

Quyen

ok. i just came back from the shoot. there's footage rendering now, and i will share some screencaps soon. here's what i can tell so far:

there are 2 (maybe 3) pieces of dirt between the two cemented pieces of glass that i cannot get to. most of the time, it is not seen in the shot. however, at times, it will show up, and will look pretty horrible when it does.

i like really soft shots and sometimes i shoot in a way where nothing is in focus. the problem is, sometimes i trigger the dv camera's auto focus, and when this happens, the specs of dirt come into view. this also happens sometimes when i rack from one end of the focal spectrum to the other. i cannot set the camera to manual focus because of the fear that i may inadvertently touch the focus ring and ruin my shot.

question is: how do i get this dirt out of the lens? i have a major shoot on the 29th, then the music video shoot is for real on the 2nd and 6th, and i will need to resolve this issue soon. any ideas?

Send it back and I will replace it for you, thanks.

Quyen