7D vs. Letus at DVinfo.net

Patrik Vale · February 10th, 2010, 07:52 AM

Hi!

Now I have an EX-1, and along with some other projects I`m doing some short films.
The thing that I`m missing is shallow dof. Can you give me some advice on this...
Would it be better to get a Letus Extreme/Elite adaptor, or get a 7D DSLR...considering the 7D sound recording, and very compressed recording codec "problem"..
For now I`m PC based, so how about Premiere CS4 and 7D workflow?

As I mentioned, the main purpose is for making shorts, music videos..

Cody Dulock · February 10th, 2010, 08:50 AM

If you have the access to plenty of lights then I would go with the EX1. It produces a lot more lines of resolution than the DSLR cameras do so you will get a really nice "filmic" look with an adapter. If you were trying to shoot other things that required a lot of available light, I would go with the 7D. Have you seen the redrock micro encore adapter? It's pretty sweet and comparable to the letus 35 ultimate. I used a redrock adapter for years and switched to a 5D because I changed shooting styles, but luckily I was still able to utilize all the rods, follow focus, and what not with my 5D. Thank you redrock for making a modular system :)

Chad Nickle · February 10th, 2010, 09:11 AM

IMHO the image you can get out of a 7d trumps the image you can get from any DOF adapter, no matter what camera it is attached to. DOF adapters have gone the way of the dinosaur. On the other hand, you could probably pick one up pretty cheap now that lots of people are trying to sell their old ones.

Cody Dulock · February 10th, 2010, 10:45 AM

Chad makes a great point... usually I say work with what you got, but in this case, the Canon T2i is coming out next month and for $800 (the price of one p2 card) you have a camera that shoots 1080p24, 1080p30, and 720p60... granted you will need things to deal with the audio situation, lenses, DSLR rigs to stabilize the thing, etc... coincidentally, you should have most of this stuff already if you are shooting short films. An adapter coupled with a high resolution video camera does have a different look than the DSLR's. DSLR's are much softer compared. It does cost more to use a video camera+adapter opposed to a DSLR configuration. Have you ever seen the movie "The Signal"? It was shot on the Canon XLH1 with a 35mm adapter. The RED One looks different than a DSLR image too. I'm happy with the look my DSLR provides, but that is something you are going to have to weigh out your self.

Liam Hall · February 10th, 2010, 11:47 AM

I just shot a job on both the 7D and EX1. The 7D trounced the Ex1 in image quality, but I still ran round a lot with the EX1. In short there's a place for both cameras, but certainly no place for an adapter - in fact I binned mine!

Burk Webb · February 10th, 2010, 11:56 AM

The 550D/T2i for $799 could be a huge deal. If this thing looks close to as good as the 7D every low budget/music/skate/student/indy filmmaker is going be using one.

Marty Hudzik · February 10th, 2010, 01:14 PM

My limited experience with DOF adapters was not good. Too much of a headache, too much light loss, too much money and the rigs were huge. All the footage I shot on them looked soft......too soft in my mind. In my limited time, the 7D creates a much easier way to get the 35mm lens images, and it's actually better than the HD video cameras in low light.

I can't see investing in a DOF adapter at this moment when you can own a "2nd" camera with better imaging for near the same cost (this is before the T2i which will make it ridicuously affordable!).

Steve Yager · February 10th, 2010, 01:20 PM

I've owned both and here's my impression:

adapter=soft focus, light loss, vignette, HEAVY, time-consuming

7D=sharp, low light capable, portable, fast, easy, stunning

The sound is a pain in the ass. The plural eyes software doesn't really help that much, since it's meant for multicam shoots. Pros and cons... hard to say for you.

Burk Webb · February 10th, 2010, 02:28 PM

How is PluralEyes not helping? It works great for me syncing up single camera stuff.

Steve Yager · February 10th, 2010, 02:33 PM

Explain your workflow with Pluraleyes to me. Are you making a cut with in-cam sound first and then using pluraleyes to sync or are you syncing all your clips before cutting?

Burk Webb · February 10th, 2010, 02:50 PM

syncing before cutting.

I drop all my 7d clips on the timeline and then all my Zoom h4 clips, select all and hit the Pluraleyes button. It thinks for a while and then syncs everything up. I then group the zoom audio with the 7D video and reference audio, mute the 7d audio and start hacking away.

I have not gone too deep with the program though so I'm no expert. I imagine syncing after cutting would result in the clips being reordered? Any luck with the preserve order check box?

Brian Luce · February 10th, 2010, 04:05 PM

Plural eyes has work well for me as well. Import 7D video, import Tascam audio, One click, have a cup of coffee, and you're synced.

Bruce S. Yarock · February 10th, 2010, 04:36 PM

I recently shot a short for a client, using mainly the letus on my Canon A1. Some shots I used the 7d, and a few steadycam shots, just the A1. The 7d is stunning, but the footage we got with the letus extreme was also beatifull and filmic looking. Granted, a lot of our letus shots were outdoors or indoors with plenty of ligfht, so that made life easier.
So I'm keeping my Canon H1 and 2 a1's, leaving the letus pemanently on one of the A1's.I can remove the Letus and use the 3 Canons on multi cam shoots, or mix the letus with 7d and some a1 footage. I've used the 7d several times on interviews, and it's fantastic. I save the h1 to use with the Canon wide angle hd lens, and also love the controls and audio ease.
I love the 7d, but it's nice to have an arsenal of tools to use in different combinations under different conditions. So I'm not getting rid of anything yet.
Bruce Yarock

Keith Moreau · February 10th, 2010, 09:23 PM

As soon as I got my 7D, I sold my Letus and associated Nikon lenses on eBay. The Letus went for about 1/2 of what I paid for it.

The Letus or any DOF adapter is a great thing, but I rarely used it because it was such a hassle to set up, use, focus, it was just an investment in time.

However, a 7D with a set of versatile glass is going to cost a bunch, but I guess you'd have to get glass with the Letus too.

If you're doing set pieces or in a studio with enough light and don't need to pick up and go or move around a lot, the Letus might be the answer mostly because you can squeeze out slightly better quality and resolution than the 7D. The sound issue is just less of a hassle as well with the EX/Letus combo than the 7D.

However, I'm thrilled with the 7D as a 'b-cam'. It's not going to replace the EX, but the 'spice' it adds and the portability make it much more useful for me. I shot maybe a few hours with the Letus in the year and a half I owned it. I've shot over 100 hours on the 7D since I got it a few months ago. I just use it all the time because it's so easy.

But it's a b-cam, just like the Letus/EX was a 'b-cam', it's just I use the 7D far more because it's a lot easier to use.

Hope this helps.

Craig Campbell · February 11th, 2010, 05:21 AM

We bought a few Letus kits to go with the Panasonic 171, they were fine with Macro but on the long lens work there was far too much grain on the image, we decided to buy the 500d's as they were the only camera's we could afford at the time, now we have the 7d's which have made the Letus redundant now apart from using the rods and connections for the 7D kits.

The images we got through the 500 were far cleaner than the Letus, even if it was automatic.

This project uses a combination of both, you can see the grain on some of the shots on this project.

salfordtv | Light of the Seas

I do think the Ultimate is far better and cleaner than the Extreme though. Far happier using the 7D for long lens work than the Letus Kit.

February 10th, 2010, 07:52 AM	#1
Patrik Vale Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Croatia Posts: 50	7D vs. Letus Hi! Now I have an EX-1, and along with some other projects I`m doing some short films. The thing that I`m missing is shallow dof. Can you give me some advice on this... Would it be better to get a Letus Extreme/Elite adaptor, or get a 7D DSLR...considering the 7D sound recording, and very compressed recording codec "problem".. For now I`m PC based, so how about Premiere CS4 and 7D workflow? As I mentioned, the main purpose is for making shorts, music videos..

February 10th, 2010, 11:47 AM	#5
Liam Hall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: London, England Posts: 969	I just shot a job on both the 7D and EX1. The 7D trounced the Ex1 in image quality, but I still ran round a lot with the EX1. In short there's a place for both cameras, but certainly no place for an adapter - in fact I binned mine! __________________ Writer-Director-DOP www.liamhall.net

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February 10th, 2010, 08:50 AM	#2
Cody Dulock Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: arlington, texas Posts: 420	If you have the access to plenty of lights then I would go with the EX1. It produces a lot more lines of resolution than the DSLR cameras do so you will get a really nice "filmic" look with an adapter. If you were trying to shoot other things that required a lot of available light, I would go with the 7D. Have you seen the redrock micro encore adapter? It's pretty sweet and comparable to the letus 35 ultimate. I used a redrock adapter for years and switched to a 5D because I changed shooting styles, but luckily I was still able to utilize all the rods, follow focus, and what not with my 5D. Thank you redrock for making a modular system :)

February 10th, 2010, 09:11 AM	#3
Chad Nickle Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 84	IMHO the image you can get out of a 7d trumps the image you can get from any DOF adapter, no matter what camera it is attached to. DOF adapters have gone the way of the dinosaur. On the other hand, you could probably pick one up pretty cheap now that lots of people are trying to sell their old ones.

February 10th, 2010, 10:45 AM	#4
Cody Dulock Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: arlington, texas Posts: 420	Chad makes a great point... usually I say work with what you got, but in this case, the Canon T2i is coming out next month and for $800 (the price of one p2 card) you have a camera that shoots 1080p24, 1080p30, and 720p60... granted you will need things to deal with the audio situation, lenses, DSLR rigs to stabilize the thing, etc... coincidentally, you should have most of this stuff already if you are shooting short films. An adapter coupled with a high resolution video camera does have a different look than the DSLR's. DSLR's are much softer compared. It does cost more to use a video camera+adapter opposed to a DSLR configuration. Have you ever seen the movie "The Signal"? It was shot on the Canon XLH1 with a 35mm adapter. The RED One looks different than a DSLR image too. I'm happy with the look my DSLR provides, but that is something you are going to have to weigh out your self.

February 10th, 2010, 11:56 AM	#6
Burk Webb Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 249	The 550D/T2i for $799 could be a huge deal. If this thing looks close to as good as the 7D every low budget/music/skate/student/indy filmmaker is going be using one.

February 10th, 2010, 01:14 PM	#7
Marty Hudzik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canton, Ohio Posts: 1,771	My limited experience with DOF adapters was not good. Too much of a headache, too much light loss, too much money and the rigs were huge. All the footage I shot on them looked soft......too soft in my mind. In my limited time, the 7D creates a much easier way to get the 35mm lens images, and it's actually better than the HD video cameras in low light. I can't see investing in a DOF adapter at this moment when you can own a "2nd" camera with better imaging for near the same cost (this is before the T2i which will make it ridicuously affordable!).

February 10th, 2010, 01:20 PM	#8
Steve Yager Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 157	I've owned both and here's my impression: adapter=soft focus, light loss, vignette, HEAVY, time-consuming 7D=sharp, low light capable, portable, fast, easy, stunning The sound is a pain in the ass. The plural eyes software doesn't really help that much, since it's meant for multicam shoots. Pros and cons... hard to say for you.

February 10th, 2010, 02:28 PM	#9
Burk Webb Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 249	How is PluralEyes not helping? It works great for me syncing up single camera stuff.

February 10th, 2010, 02:33 PM	#10
Steve Yager Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 157	Explain your workflow with Pluraleyes to me. Are you making a cut with in-cam sound first and then using pluraleyes to sync or are you syncing all your clips before cutting?

February 10th, 2010, 02:50 PM	#11
Burk Webb Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 249	syncing before cutting. I drop all my 7d clips on the timeline and then all my Zoom h4 clips, select all and hit the Pluraleyes button. It thinks for a while and then syncs everything up. I then group the zoom audio with the 7D video and reference audio, mute the 7d audio and start hacking away. I have not gone too deep with the program though so I'm no expert. I imagine syncing after cutting would result in the clips being reordered? Any luck with the preserve order check box?

February 10th, 2010, 04:05 PM	#12
Brian Luce Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,290	Plural eyes has work well for me as well. Import 7D video, import Tascam audio, One click, have a cup of coffee, and you're synced.

February 10th, 2010, 04:36 PM	#13
Bruce S. Yarock Trustee Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pembroke Pines, Fl. Posts: 1,842	I recently shot a short for a client, using mainly the letus on my Canon A1. Some shots I used the 7d, and a few steadycam shots, just the A1. The 7d is stunning, but the footage we got with the letus extreme was also beatifull and filmic looking. Granted, a lot of our letus shots were outdoors or indoors with plenty of ligfht, so that made life easier. So I'm keeping my Canon H1 and 2 a1's, leaving the letus pemanently on one of the A1's.I can remove the Letus and use the 3 Canons on multi cam shoots, or mix the letus with 7d and some a1 footage. I've used the 7d several times on interviews, and it's fantastic. I save the h1 to use with the Canon wide angle hd lens, and also love the controls and audio ease. I love the 7d, but it's nice to have an arsenal of tools to use in different combinations under different conditions. So I'm not getting rid of anything yet. Bruce Yarock

February 10th, 2010, 09:23 PM	#14
Keith Moreau Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Brisbane, California Posts: 530	As soon as I got my 7D, I sold my Letus and associated Nikon lenses on eBay. The Letus went for about 1/2 of what I paid for it. The Letus or any DOF adapter is a great thing, but I rarely used it because it was such a hassle to set up, use, focus, it was just an investment in time. However, a 7D with a set of versatile glass is going to cost a bunch, but I guess you'd have to get glass with the Letus too. If you're doing set pieces or in a studio with enough light and don't need to pick up and go or move around a lot, the Letus might be the answer mostly because you can squeeze out slightly better quality and resolution than the 7D. The sound issue is just less of a hassle as well with the EX/Letus combo than the 7D. However, I'm thrilled with the 7D as a 'b-cam'. It's not going to replace the EX, but the 'spice' it adds and the portability make it much more useful for me. I shot maybe a few hours with the Letus in the year and a half I owned it. I've shot over 100 hours on the 7D since I got it a few months ago. I just use it all the time because it's so easy. But it's a b-cam, just like the Letus/EX was a 'b-cam', it's just I use the 7D far more because it's a lot easier to use. Hope this helps.

February 11th, 2010, 05:21 AM	#15
Craig Campbell Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 26	We bought a few Letus kits to go with the Panasonic 171, they were fine with Macro but on the long lens work there was far too much grain on the image, we decided to buy the 500d's as they were the only camera's we could afford at the time, now we have the 7d's which have made the Letus redundant now apart from using the rods and connections for the 7D kits. The images we got through the 500 were far cleaner than the Letus, even if it was automatic. This project uses a combination of both, you can see the grain on some of the shots on this project. salfordtv \| Light of the Seas I do think the Ultimate is far better and cleaner than the Extreme though. Far happier using the 7D for long lens work than the Letus Kit.