Letus extreme
 

Hi

Can someone tell me what is the "letus extreme" I hear in these forums? What does it do? and why does it cost so much ($1500) ?

Stelios

It allows you to attach 35mm photography lenses to your camera, allowing you to achieve a shallow depth of field. Like you see in the movies, using sharpness vs blur to control where the viewer looks. :)

Thanks Carl for the info, but can't you achieve shallow depth of field with the camcorder alone using the aperture settings?

Stelios

Okay, cut me some slack as I don't quite own one yet but here goes...

You can accomplish much more of a DOF using 35mm lenses, depending on the lens. Also, you have the flexibility of choosing lenses, which is a big plus for fixed lens cameras that would otherwise not have this option. You could, for example, use 35mm film primes on your Sony A1U, if so inclined. ;)

There should be plenty of random threads of discussions, as well as some *great* sample works of people trying out the different adapters with different cameras and lens selections on this board. Some people even took the time to write the lens in use on the video track on theirs, helpful for learning that aspect. I'm personally trying to study lenses, as it's a bit of a weak point, this is what I've gathered so far.

Enjoy!
Carl

Simple test. Get your 35mm SLR out with a 50mm lens, and open it to F 1.4, or its lowest fstop. Focus on a subject about 15 feet from lens. Set your video camera up next to it. Frame an area in the zoom about the same width as in your 35mm view. Bring it to focus on the same object Set your video camera fstop to it lowest setting. What you will see is that the 35mm has a more selective focus. Foreground and background should go out of focus sooner than with the video camera.

This is a function of image size. The smaller the image size, the more depth of field there is at the same angle of view.

The 35 adapter takes a 35mm lens, has it throw an image on a ground glass, which results in an image with same characteristics as the 35mm camera. The video recorder merely records that image off the ground glass. To give you more film like depth of field.

Thanks Chris and thanks Carl. Now I get it. A bit out of reach now for my pocket, but as business picks up ( I am only part time videographer) I will look at this adapter again. By the way these adapters can fit any camcorder?

Stelios

Yes, for the most part. If you can't find one in the right size, you can get a step ring to whatever mm threading you have for filters on your lens. The adapter vendor should be able to help you with this.

And don't forget to look into a rod system! The rods support the lens and take the weight off the filter threading on the front of your camera's lens... and keep it alive to fight another day. :)

Carl

Letus Mini 35 is made for smaller camera with 37 to 43 mm filter size.

Otherwise, you will want to go Extreme.

Also check out Redrock M2, which uses a spinning disk as a ground glass, and the Cinvate Brevis, which is similar to the Letus.

Finally, you can build your own: check out this site where there are many totorials and resources for the self builder:

http://www.jetsetmodels.info/news.htm