Digital Video - May 2008 - (Page 24)

IN REVIEW LETUS EXTREME 35MM ADAPTER OPTICAL APEX THE EXTREME IS THE BEST-YET ADDITION TO LETUS’ 35MM LENS ADAPTER LINE. BY MATTHEW JEPPSEN L etus has been producing flipping lens adapter systems for years, and the Extreme is their most recent update to the line. While previous versions used a mirror-flip design, the Extreme is built on a much higher-quality prism optical array. The adapter is constructed of milled aluminum with a hard anodized black finish. It attaches to your camcorder’s filter threads and juts downward to a lower level imaging tube. This lower portion houses the ground glass diffuser element and 35mm lens mount. The Extreme could be flipped over and used in a upper configuration, but the size of the flip unit causes it to come in contact with the built-in camera microphone on the Sony EX1 and FX1. (This may not be the case on other camcorders.) On one side of the unit is a removable plate that exposes two standard AA batteries used to power the unit. This plate is secured by four strong magnets and simply pops on and off when you need to swap batteries. On the camera side of the flip unit is a lighted on/off power switch. The Letus Extreme utilizes an oscillating ground glass diffuser design. This imaging element is the image plane of SCORE LETUS 35MM LENS ADAPTER PROS: Excellent resolution and edge sharpness and virtually no vignetting when properly configured. Uses AA batteries. CONS: Unit size limits configuration options on certain camcorders. Lens collimation is not retained across lens mount changes. Attaining perfect sharpness and zero vignetting at the same time is virtually impossible. BOTTOM LINE: Great item, but a balancing act of functions. MSRP:$1,199 CONTACT: www.letusdirect.com the 35mm adapter. The unit arrives with the oscillation frequency and intensity pre-configured and is not user-adjustable. Adding and removing different style still lens mounts takes just a few minutes and really opens up the option of using a many different still lenses in your projects. Letus offers a variety of lens mount options. For instance, if you own an obscure wide lens with an M42 mount, you can probably use it on the Extreme. Collimating the lens of the adapter is a fairly simple task that involves loosening the lens mount and moving it incrementally in or out to attain proper focus on a backfocus chart. Once you are satisfied that the measurement marks on the 35mm lens correspond to the distance to the chart, you simply lock down the lens mount. This procedure is relatively easy to www.dv.com 24 dv may 2008 http://www.letusdirect.com http://www.dv.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Digital Video - May 2008

Digital Video - May 2008 Contents DV Update Close-Up AJ-HPX3000 Camcorder Sidecar Raid Zoom H2 Recorder Instant Expert 324 Flat-Panel Display Extreme 35MM Adapter Type-S JIB How Slow Can You Go? Global Gastronome Mixing It UP Long-Distance Runaround Tools & Technology DV 101 Production Diary

Digital Video - May 2008

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