XH-A1 and Letus Elite
 

Experiencing horrible grain structure in a lot of highlights and shots that include sky with the letus elite on my A1. Can anybody tell me what I'm doing wrong? For some reason the only way I can get rid of the grain is to overexpose way too much and then have my image is blownout. Any guidance on this would be good. :(

Canon XH-A1 (Common fstop set to 2.8)
Letus Elite w/ EF Mount
Canon 20mm F2.8, Canon 85 f1.8, Canon 24-135mm f3.5-5.6

Screenshots included.

*Also has anyone come up with a good way to check focus with the A1/Letus setup. LCD is very deceiving. A lot of shots come back soft focus. :(

Perhaps not related, but there's an option for Sky Detail....Good luck!!!

Slow Lenses
 

My guess having looked at the images and then looking at your lenses....your Canon lenses are too slow. The Letus Extreme (which I owned) was said to be able to have lenses on the front closed down to approx 5.6 before you would start to see the grain in the ground glass. That was not my experience at all. I could see the grain even around F4 in some shots....especially outdoors with sky. So my thought is....tell me if I am wrong....you are using the Canon lenses to adjust exposure instead of the XH-A1? One thing I learned while using the Letus......adjust the cameras F stop for exposure and the front lens DOF. If you adjust the front.....grain....and lots of it....I sold my Letus Extreme and when with a RedRock M2E because it was the best option for spinning glass without selling a kidney for the Letus Ultimate. Hope that helps.

Actually I'm using EF lenses instead of FD, so unfortunately I have no control over the aperture. I've been using the A1 for exposure. But you make a good point. Now that I think of it, it seemed to happen on my 24-135mm f3.5-5.6 much more then my 20mm f2.8 or my 85 f1.8. Maybe that is my issue. I think I may need to do another test this weekend if I can. :(

If anybody can think of any other possible reason as well, let me know. Thanks for the feedback so far though. :)

Lens wide open
 

Yes, keep your 35mm lenses as wide open as possible. I've got four different ones and they each are slightly different, but you'll want them below f4 for sure with the Letus Elite or you will start seeing grain.