Any suggestions on digital cameras and letus adapters

Lucas Arreguin · December 17, 2008

Hey everyone,

I'm a student looking to invest in a decent camera with a Letus adapter. I'm not going all out on an EX-3 or anything because I think i'll be better off spending a lot less and spending my money on a letus adapter. So my question is suggestions for cameras. If anybody seen a camera that has worked/looked really well with the adapters please let me know. Any help is appreciated.

Scott Fritzshall · December 17, 2008

If you're a student, there are about a million things you could spend your money on that would be more useful than a lens adaptor. How many students even end up needing their own cameras anyway? I don't know, I thought I was going to get one at first when I started going to film school, and just ended up using the school's equipment all the time, so that was an investment I didn't need to make. Maybe your school is different? I don't know, but seriously spend the money on just about anything other than a lens adaptor. If you need a camera, get one with a lot of manual controls. The EX-1 is pretty decent and is apparently within your budget... Also a DVX100 is still just as good as it was before- no one cares if your student films aren't in HD.

Sorry if this wasn't the advice you wanted to hear but I think it's pretty good advice!

Tom Lowe · December 17, 2008

If you can live with 30p and don't need high FPS, maybe try a Canon 5D2. You get an awesome DSLR thrown in for free. :)

Adrian Sierkowski · December 17, 2008

EX1 is very nice, and I own one with a Letus and personally enjoy it. Make sure you're set up for the post though. You need FCP 6.0.2 or higher and/or Avid Media Composer to work with the footage.

In the end though, although I own a letus, I find I shoot without it more often than not!

K Borowski · December 17, 2008

If you can live with 30p and don't need high FPS, maybe try a Canon 5D2. You get an awesome DSLR thrown in for free. :)

No offense, but, I think that is a terrible choice.

To me this sort of multi-tasking of equipment is just as bad as when they tried to play off 8mm movie cameras with a still exposure mode as making 8mm cameras all-in-one still and movie cameras.

Granted, a 5D2 has excellent resolution, but ergonomically, it'd be terrible, and you'd be stuck with Canon glass and still zooms.

Lucas Arreguin · December 17, 2008

Yea I'm not looking to get an SLR, if anything I'd want something more bulky than not so it's heavier. And I didn't look to much at the canon but I know the nikon d90 records HD as well, as long as you don't move the camera. They didn't advertise that.

Michael LaVoie · December 23, 2008

Just a thought. This little HD camera was $700. It's a JVC Everio so there's a post process involving converting .tod's into .mov's but if you can live with that step, you can shoot up to 5 hours of 1920x1080 60i to an internal drive. Not bad for learning basic stuff. I've projected the image via HDMI to q.c. detail and compression and it's surprisingly clean. Of course it doesn't shoot native 24P. But that's a pretty easy conversion. I would say that this is the cheapest setup you could possibly get to shoot cinestyle HD on a budget.

I attached it to a set up I usually use with an HVX200. The Letus 35 and I've got a Sigma 24-70 constant 2.8mm. Chrosziel Mattebox and Cavision Follow Focus unit. All in all, the whole package is around $6000 but again, the camera is only $700 and can be swapped out with almost anything. That's the best way to go. Keep the camera cheap and replaceable cause they change too fast. Or buy a red. But expect to spend at least $6K even when using some low rent accessories. Chrosziels not bad but Cavision's the worst. Still, the follow focus has no more or less play than I've seen in rented Arri's.