My Rants

I finally have my Letus35 Flipped Enhanced!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

A quick look at how I got here

Back in April of this year I decided to get myself a MacBook Pro. My initial intention for the Mac was normal everyday use, and Spotlight to search within my thousands of articles that I need for my work (PC can't do it as well as Mac)Little did I know it will send me off on a journey (mostly a spending journey!). My wife decided to ask me to make a short little music video for her sister's birthday and so I did. I found the experience extremely rewarding at the time so I started to explore the possibility of getting a camcorder. I did a little bit of research and with a little money saved up, I decided, what the heck, I got a new job that pays me better so I bought the Panasonic DVX.... and proceeded to have a little tiff with the missus (ooops! - she's ok with it now cos she's happy with the videos of our family I've made).

A friend of mine (Thanks Zrano) was flying to Singapore and so managed to get him to get one for me (can't get a DVX around my neck of the woods). First video I shot was on the same day I got it, at a beach near my house called Jerudong Beach. Edited it, and posted it on YouTube and got some positive comments from friends and family. That experience and seeing the output from the DVX and editing on Final Cut Pro (Thanks Moe for showing me how to) being well received got the adrenaline going and I was definitely hooked. So the weeks went by and I made more videos: DVX102B Low Light Shots, then Jerudong Park Advert, and a friend's son's 'One-Month' birthday dinner (here), and only just recently during our Australian Holiday . All of my videomaking experience turned out as rewarding as ever, perhaps even more than the previous ones.

But there was an itch I wanted to scratch. Watching all the cool Letus35mm videos on DVXUser.com and videos by Cory in particular made me REALLY want the Letus35. So I worked a second job, after making enough dough, finally paypaled the money over to Quyen and 5 days later, on the 17th October 2006, I became a very proud owner of a Letus35 Flipped Enhanced!


First Thoughts on the Letus35FE

When I picked it up at FedEx Office, I was suprised at how light the box was. Packed in a little brown box, it was no heavier than, say the pair of shoes I was wearing. I signed off all the forms, then proceeded to open the box up ever sooo gently (sorry guys I did not bring my DVX to film the opening ceremony ala Engadget style). When I opened it up and held the Letus35 in my hand, I felt a buzz (no it was not the vibrating mechanism). I quickly packed it all up and proceeded to speed home to try it out.

ZOOOOOOOOOM...!!!

Once at home, I proceeded with haste to gather all the essential items together: DVX: Checked; Letus35: Checked; Nikon F1.4D lens: Checked; Batteries for the vibrating mechanism: Checked! Attaching the adapter to my DVX was not difficult but wasn't easy either cos it was difficult to hold onto it all together while worrying it won't fall and smash into little pieces so decided to do all this while staying as near to the floor as possible and on a soft carpet!

The Joining Ceremony

First thing I did was remove my DVX lens hood. Once that was off, I tried to screw one end of the Letus into the 72mm thread. It wasn't easy at first, but eventually I figured it would be easier to take my Nikon Lens Skylight, screw it onto the Letus35 first, then screw the Nikon filter + Letus35 onto the DVX. This was easier because I think the thread on the Nikon is probably machined more cleanly and fitted more snugly onto the DVX than the Letus thread. Tell you what, there was definitely alot of screwing around trying to attach the two sides together (that was simply the Learning curve: subsequent screwing was much faster and less painful - sorry sexual puns not intended). Once that was attached, the next thing to attach was the Nikon lens. Initially, try as I might, the damn lens wouldn't go in, until I figured to take the adapter ring out and flip it. Now this is a neat piece of design by Quyen and co. One side of the ring is the Canon FD mount and the other side is the Nikon AI mount. So simply flip and screw it into the other end, secure using the screw. Place the Nikon lens on the ring, press and twist and WAALAA, a nice snug fit and ready to go! Put the batteries (2AA) into the battery holder (this one slides open, I tried to pry it open, almost broke the damn thing.. remember SLIDE).

I tried shooting during the 5pm sun and it was good. At F1.4 with the late afternoon sun, I was getting Zebra lines set at 80%, which means my 1.4 was giving me plenty of light and VERY shallow DOF.. Beautiful! At this point, I was almost drooling but was careful not to drool onto the DVX! I have to zoom in at around Z92 to make sure there was no vignetting and set the autofocus on (it now keeps hovering around 68-72). Switched the EVF to on to assist focusing and I was ready to go.

Off I went to shoot my two dogs (not literally so please don't call the SPCA). One of my dogs, Powder was scared shitless and kept barking at the contraption, while Yuki, my other dog just stood there, all feminine and regal literally! Now the DVX without the Letus35 was a little heavy if you hold it free hand after a while. With the Letus35, the camera was now a little too heavy to hold free hand, and became front heavy (I decided to buy a monopod for the timebeing to help in that department which I have done today - see what I mean my journey jas pretty much been one of spending! this is an EXPENSIVE hobby, and I'm not even making any money out of my DVX at all)Picture quality was GOOOOD, soft but good! Loved the shallow DOF (sorry I haven't got any screen grabs just yet!). Later that night I tried the adapter out with only a 60w bulb and I could get a decent image at +9 gain (VERY grainy but still visible at that light level). This weekend I will be going out to shoot something so I can edit a short video and post on YouTube (or is it GooTube now?). When that's done I will post the link and you guys can have a look at it. In the meantime, check out the pictures of what I can now officially declare as an extension of my manhood!

Quyen Service - 1st Rate

Ok I am not getting a free Letus35 at all for saying this but Quyen is one dude who knows the meaning of customer service and most people who have bought the adapter from Quyen can attest to this too. One of the reasons why I chose the Letus35 was because everyone on DVXuser was saying how good Quyen was at responding to emails, which he is. Now since I am so far far away from the US, I couldn't afford to get from someone who would drop me like a hot potato once he's received my money and I am glad to say, Quyen has not done that. Since ordering the item, he has been aswering all my emails very promptly with useful info (though his emails are usually short, so maybe he's not that chatty or just VERY busy cos my boss' email is similar - extremely short cos he's so damn busy). Anyways, Thanks Quyen. I hope you don't stop answering my emails :)


Pictures Galore

Ok Here are the pics of my manhood.

DVX+Letus35 and the Nikon/Canon Lens adapter with my Nikon F1.4D


Size comparison to a 750ml bottle of Champagne


How many eggs can you count?


front of the Letus35, with the GG and Battery holder attached. Remember SLIDE the damn thing.


Autobot, TRANSFORM!!!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 18, 2006 at 7:54 pm. There are . If you want, you can leave your own response by clicking here. You may also send this post to a friend of yours via email, or bookmark it for yourself by using icons below;