My Letus 35FE Girlfriend Ebay mistake

[weirdharold]

After reading about the Letus adapter, I couldn't contain my excitement and kept blabbing to my girlfriend about it.

So as a birthday surprise, she bought me one on Ebay. But it's the Letus 35FE Flip enhanced. The old model. Paypal processed. Already shipped.

I just started watching footage of this adapter, and it seems quite a bit more dark and grainy than the newer ones.

Can Letus modify my 35FE with newer components, or am I going to have to ignore the problem, and pretend to my girlfriend that it's the greatest present ever?

[Ivan Fuentes]

according to http://www.letusdirect.com/letus35-c...son-chart.html you loose 1 stop more. but the flip uses mirros instead of a prism, and a standard achromat... i think it might be a bit difficult to upgrade it. but you loose nothing asking! go to the "contact" link on their main menu.

happened something similar with my GF... fortunately, it was a t-shirt.

[Mal]

I think that's a great adapter, even if not the newest; you should THANK your GF!

[24Peter]

Well either way, you probably want to thank her...

Then put it on eBay and hope someone else's gf is as exuberant.

[weirdharold]

She paid I think too much.. 900 bucks, with rail system, plus a canon and nikon lens...

[onesimplejob]

just ordered the extreme for my hv20, figure i can rent it out for larger cams and make some $ on the side...... had to tell someone.


cheers

[tkmslee]

How does anyone get into the business of renting 35mm adapters? I wouldn't mind doing the same.

[mattias]

renting involves endless hours of support and servicing equipment. not worth it for such an inexpensive item. i mean you can rent a pro or mini35 for less than $100 a day, so in order to make it work with a letus you have to get down to half that at the most, which means you need to have it out 30 days for it to be paid for, and in that time it will most likely break one way or the other, adding another 10-20 days to cover the repairs, and then it breaks again, plus you can't use it yourself anymore because that actually starts costing money compared to what it could bring in. sorry to rain on your parade, but that's my experience both from being a customer and a supplier of rental equipment. now if you happen to own something very expensive that people can't afford to buy you can charge more, a cinealta camera pays for itself in only 30 days as well and it has a much longer lifespan than a letus, and then you can start charging more for the inexpensive stuff too. rental companies charge $5/day for sandbags, but would you rent sandbags from them if they didn't have the camera and lights you needed?

/matt

[mattias]

as for getting in, if you're in a major production area with lots of rental houses, ask if they'd like to rent it for you. that's how many dp's finance owning high end cameras.

/matt

[DeGrey]

The FE, although not the latest and greatest, will still give you good practice and nice DOF. Unfortunately the components in the newest Letus35 adapters will not work in the FE so it is not possible to upgrade the internals.

In any case you should thank her and pretend it is the best present in the world. It's the thought that counts right?

[Ivan Fuentes]

my GF has just bought me Homer Simpson bed sheets... one of the best presents ever

[Erik Bien]

In the cool gift department, it seems all girlfriends and wives have to take a back seat to Jenn ...

[funkg]

you know what my wife got me for xmas? nothing. be happy.

[weirdharold]

Alright, should I keep it and use it? Or sell it and upgrade?

What do you think this sucker is worth?

[funkg]

keep it and use it. but if you sell it, don't tell her, just pretend the new one is the old one
oh yeah, it's worth about 100 bucks used.. if that.. I'll buy it from you for 120, cause I feel bad for ya.

[Banacek]

My girlfriend present for me was the HV20. This 31 Deccember was my Birthday.

When I saw the HV20 I scream!

The best present ever!

(Love you Irene!).

EEhehe.

[Ivan Fuentes]

My girlfriend present for me was the HV20. This 31 Deccember was my Birthday.

When I saw the HV20 I scream!

The best present ever!

(Love you Irene!).

EEhehe.

hey, we're trying to help the guy here!! (well... i REALLY AM happy with my homer bedsheets anyway).

I think that adapter is a keeper, anyway... which lenses does it come with?

[weirdharold]

It came with the CAvision rail system, a Canon FD 28mm for wide angle, and a Canon FD 50mm for more mid to close up shot.

[Ivan Fuentes]

how fast are they??? some fast lenses could help you with that light loss issue. give them a try!!


also, post a pic of your gf... that might be very important to decide what to do with the adapter

[weirdharold]

No idea how fast they are. I'll have the setup by monday and will let you know.

I almost posted a picture of my gf--she's beautiful--but she'd be upset if I posted it.

[Erik Bien]

Sounds like a great start; keep your eyes peeled at ebay for something in the way of a short-ish FD telephoto (say 75-150mm) and you're golden!

[Norbert]

Use it for a while and tell your girlfriend you're so happy with it, then you can suddenly realize you have to "upgrade" the adapter. Then sell it and keep everything else to use with the new adapter. Or... you could tell her the truth and then sell the adapter. You can still thank her for the rails and lenses.

[weirdharold]

Alright I got the setup in the mail. I attached it. Now I'm completely clueless on how to make the whole thing work. I'm actually terrified of it..

[Erik Bien]

Fear not, harold!

1 - Stick one of your Canon lenses on the end of the adapter and close its aperture all the way down (the highest f-number on the ring)

2 - Use the HV20's zoom rocker to creep in until you no longer see the "edges" of the ground-glass focusing screen

3 - Be sure the HV20's auto-focus is set to "normal," not "IAF," and let it focus on the grainy texture of the ground glass (it might help to point the camera at a bright scene, like a white wall or a sunny window).

4 - Hit the "focus" button behind the focus roller on the HV20; you should see "MF" (for manual focus) in the viewfinder or LCD.

5 - Congratulations, you're now setup to shoot! Open the aperture on the 35mm lens and focus using the lens' focus ring.

[weirdharold]

Thanks so much for the info. I'm going to try it out tomorrow. The package came with a Canon FD 28mm and a Canon FD 50 MM lens.