Letus Flip and Canon XHA1 - Quick and Dirty Test
 

My lovely daughter assisted.

I would have liked to light her face a little more but I just used what was available.

My Letus actually was damaged in the mail and the mirror was loose so I'm sending it back to Quyen for repair/replacement. You'll see a side effect of that damage with some vignetting towards the right side of the frame. This will not be on the fixed one.

First shot is a 28mm Nikon f2.8
After that I used a 50mm Nikon f1.8
Last few shots are with a 100mm Nikon f2.8

The sharpness of this adapter is better than the Letus I was using on my XLH1 which surprised me.

See for yourself:

http://www.pinelakefilms.com/XHA1/a1letustest.wmv

Footage looks nice. I have the A1 and the Letus FE. You give me something to shoot for, dispite the vignetting. What preset did you use?

PANALOOK (Available on this site under Presets)

I hope this question doesn't sound too stupid....but...with the 35mm adapter..how do you focus? Do you have to break out a tape measure and know how to do all that?

Steven:

Is this with achromat supplied by them ?

Whats your take on the light loss in the flip and is it worth it ?

Can you do magnet flip with A1? (I understand that is only on LCD.)


(Aside: My granddaughters have been getting a lot of camera time. Emily showed up the other day with a card she made on her computer (prompted by her mother, my daughter I'm sure) indicating is now a SAG member. )

Light issue is not a big deal. It's adequate for outdoor filming and I will simply light whatever I need to for indoor stuff.

For filmmakers that have a lot of indoor shoots, it would be a pain because it would require a lot of lighting.

Yes, it is a self contained unit so the achromat is built in.

The convenience of not having to flip the image is huge for me. I don't know if you can flip the LCD on the A1

Jeremiah, technically you could use a measuring tape, etc but the focussing is done with the attached Nikon or Canon lens and all you need is a good monitor to make sure it's in focus.

Mighty impressive I must say. My faves are the 50mm shots. They have that perfect feel. The 28mm look good to but they a lot more DOF. The 100mm are nice but the DOF is so shallow as to almost make it dreamlike....seems more of a specialized look on that.

What do you attribute the sharpness to on the A1 over the H1 setup you had before? Since the H1 has a direct relay lens it theoretically should be sharper....yet you are seeing a difference. What do you think?

Also, realistically, how do you plan on using this in your general mode of shooting? You know, landscapes and beautiful wildlife. The shallow DOF seems like it would be a hinderance here.

Peace.

Marty,

Although I do specialize in nature cinematography, I have done some narrative work and plan on doing more. Also, there are many animals and birds that stay static enough for me to get that appealing shallow depth of field.

When I have access to an adapter like this, I feel like I possess magic itself.

Thanks Steven. Can you give any opinions on why you feel the image might be sharper on the A1 with adapter as opposed to the H1, which on paper should be better?

I ask because I kept my H1 partially because I expect it to deliver a better image with a 35mm adapter than a unit that hangs on the end of the existing camera glass.

Thanks.

Marty, I haven't a clue...it's beyond my expertize. I'm just commenting on this based on what I am seeing.

One last question.....I promise. The Letus for the XL series says it magnifies the image by 1.8x thus rendering a 28mm as close to a 50mm. This seems a bit extreme. Do you notice if there is any magnification of the image using the Letus Flip with the A1 or is this strictly a limitation with the XL mount series?

Thanks.

Not a problem with the non-XL version. The magnification was a limitation of the XL only. Frankly, I'm thrilled about that because I was tired of using my 28mm and having it look like a 50mm

Thanks Steven. I have to say that really stinks for an XL user like myself. A big reason to consider the Letus was to use a 28mm and have a real "wide" lens. This is really disappointing. Bummer.

Very nice. It looks really sharp.

I went to the Letus page and I was really disappointed to see such a poor page for a product that seems promising. I love their prices, but there is no phone number just an email. I am not use to buying on the internet so here is the question. How safe is it to buy from them?
Since I own an FX1, HVX200 and soon an XH A1 would it also work on the Pani's 82mm?

Also how does it handle a lens like a Nikon 80-200mm f2.8?

I just received mine today very quick shipping...

But I do have a question for Quyen which i have emailed him.... Would love to have a phone number to call...

Stephen, does your adapter come apart from the base silver thread end that goes on the camera?

thanks

I believe that's normal but you should email Quyen. He will reply swiftly.

Quyen is a great guy and very reliable. I have no problems recommending his product.

So let me ask another question of those of you with this bad boy. If I so desired, what is to stop me from just putting this out on the end of my H1 lens and not using an adapter with a relay lens? Would it still work? Are you guys using rails? I don't want to end up in the same boat Steven was in where a 28mm lens is a 50mm.

Also, can you briefly explain how you setup your A1 to focus on the ground glass? How far do you need to zoom and what is your Fstop? Do you keep your electronic fstop constant on your camera and control exposure with the iris on the 35mm lens?

Thanks.

Marty, in general, since I don't have A1, but use an FX1 with my own self built adapter, you actually have double duty on everything. You have to zoom to just be sure you are inside any vignette, but not zoom too much that you lose focus. You have to focus on the screen. The achromat is what allows you to get such close focus.

After get that set, uou will probably set your 35mm lens between wide open and F4, and then adjust your video camera for proper exposure. I usually run shutter at 1/60, so I play with the camera fstop, ND filters, and gain from there. These adapters do gobble up light, so you may be needing light in situations that you might otherwise not consider.

Steven it looks nice, somewhat soft, and less saturated, that what I've discovered also with mini35 adapter(P+S).
Have you tried to match color, saturation via settigns of A1 to match colors and saturation with and without Letus?
Regards, Oleg

I have just recently purchased my A1, and so far I am very happy with it, but your footage has really opened my eyes to the concept of an adapter purchase at some point in the future.

How sturdy is the camera when set up in this way? Looking at the Letus website it seems as though the length of the lens is greatly increased, and I wonder about the extra weight being supported by the lens barrel? Is it likely to cause any damage to the camera through continued use? Do you have some kind of rails or other supporting mount for it?

I guess what am am really looking for is an idiots guide to this kind of add-on, what the real pros and cons are, is there an existing thread that would cover this sort of question?