another letus35 review
 

hi everyone. i just want to post a review on the letus35, which i bought at www.adapterplace.com

i originally became a member of this board because of the work of agus and the agus35, way back when. i was waiting for someone to make an affordable production model, and i finally bit the bullet with the letus35.

first of all, the buying process was easy. i emailed the maker (quyen) to ask some questions, and was surprised with how quickly he replied, and how informative he was. quyen is very accommodating, and answered all the questions i had to ask.

quyen was kind enough to pay for next day shipping, as i needed the adapter for a saturday shoot (i bought it on a tuesday). i purchased the black anodized version with the canon fd mount for my sony vx2100.

test footage:

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

the above clip was my first time using the unit. i also used magic bullet look suite. notice the vignetting. i did not have the unit set up correctly, and when i tried adjusting it, i dropped it. the GG fell out, so i cleaned it and placed it back in the housing... no damage done.

http://www.infinite-studios.com/movies/doftest3.mov

this was shot the next morning in my backyard. nice shallow dof. magic bullet ls warmish filter. note that there is no longer any vignetting because i have the unit setup properly.

http://www.infinite-studios.com/movies/doftest4.mov

test footage of a friend smoking a cigarette. magic bullet tropico wash filter. note the dust. i cleaned everything after this, and noticed scratches on the 28mm canon fd lens i was using, then i noticed a spec of dust in the adapter, between two pieces of glass. i tried to get it out with compressed air, but i could not reach it. i emailed quyen about it, and he responded with a solution that i will be trying before my next shoot.

also, while i was cleaning the adapter, i did a stupid thing and scratched/chipped the gg. fortunately, it was on the outer end, and i was still able to use it for my shoot this past saturday. quyen was also nice enough to let me know that he would send me a replacement for no charge. awesome customer service!

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

footage from the saturday shoot. magic bullet ls sharp filter. there are about 4 specs of dust visible in the footage. 3 are from hairline scratches in the lens i was using, and 1 is from the aforementioned piece of dust in the adapter.

in summary:

- i love this adapter... in fact, i'm going to buy 2 more for my other 2 cameras
- excellent customer service
- very solid construction, very well built
- packed professionally, with peanuts and shrinkwrap
- i wish there was documentation to show how to clean it and set it up properly
- i sometimes forget to turn on the gg during a shoot, but that's user error, and actually a good thing because it means the gg is not loud, and the vibration is not too intense
- some light scratches in the housing of the black version i purchased
- single spec of dust that i have yet to clean out
- shooting upside down takes a lot of getting used to

It looks nice but I wish you would have some shots without cc so I could know what regular footage looks like.

What f-stops and time of the day you shot that? It looks underexposed. Was that on purpose? Is yours a Letus35 or already the Letus35a?

i'm seconding the request for raw, unfiltered footage. it's hard to judge the adapter's out-of-the-box output when the footage has been altered in post-production.

Could you please post a pciture of the letus35 (your one) as i've only seen the pics of the old one (the non anodised ones)

Thanks

Anhar

michael, the first clip was dark, and yes, underexposed. it was just past 7pm and there was not much available light... but you know, new toy, must test. i was using a 28mm canon fd lens at f2.8. not sure if what i got is the letus35 or the letus35a... maybe quyen can shed some light on this.

re: requests for raw clips without mb, i will post them tonight.

anhar, i would love to post a picture, but my digital camera is dead (nikon coolpix... i will never buy a nikon again). i like the look of the black version. it matches with the battery housing and the camera, and looks very professional.

Your unit has a better lens but not quite Letus35A, thanks.

Quyen

Good review

You just gotta watch that exposure!

How long did it take for you to get it?

yeah, i'm a noob when it comes to 35, so i was just happy to get something recorded... i really do have to bone up on some learnin' when it comes to exposure. any good online resources?

lloyd, it took about two days with usps overnight shipping. i think quyen got it in the mail a bit late. either way, i got it in time for my shoot. i can't emphasize the awesome customer service enough, guys.

When will tha Letus35A start shipping?

Quyen told me I'm getting the 35a version. I order mine last thursday.

I'm in Canada, so I think it's taking a little longer due to customs...

but yah, I should have DVX footage of the 35a soon

edit: I think the new version just has a new achromat

Lloyd, when you receive your Letus35a could you post a pic of the inside for me to compare to mine? Quyen isn't sure which one he sent me.
I'm also in Canada and the shipping was pretty fast, about a week.

sure... hopefully mine comes tomorrow if yours took a week. I'm in Vancouver, and I believe Quyen is in Oregon, so we're really close

it's going to take about 2 hours to upload, and it's using the bitjazz.com codec but this should be the best 35mm reel-stream footage ever seen on the net...make sure you have the bitjazz.com codec installed to view, and the file is 148megs!

give it 2 hours to upload on our ftp

dv3productions.com/HD_dvx/Letus35_SHEERIVDEO.avi

another thing i forgot to add to the review is that i wish there were lens covers for both ends of the letus35 when shipped, as i often shoot on the field in a mixed environment (letus35, straight dv), and not having lens covers exposes the letus35 to dust and scratches.

also, i just purchased 2 more units, and i should have more footage up soon. i know i promised some unfiltered downloads, and those are coming. my apologies, it's been really busy here.