Glynn Albert

EN, I am very happy with the Letus Ultimate EX3 Combo. I have not done a formal test however, the Ultimate is only slightly limited by the light loss issue. Sharp, deep-focus images can be obtained, given enough light but be sure to get the Ultimate with the spinning ground glass, the other models vibrating type (when stopped down over 4.0 will show the ground glass). light lost in the system is between 1/2 to 3/4 stop max. See the Letus comparison chart for more details. The only down side to the Letus is that the tech support is terrible, it sometimes takes a day or more to get a call back, they don't staff the line with a person on hot standby. The main thing to consider is the lenses. You want to get the fastest lenses you can afford. that gives you the most flexibility. Also lenses have a sweet spot check out the reviews on each lens it is usually around 4.0 to 5.6. For the deep focus shots you might want to go without the rig for extreme depth of field. but if what you want is shallow DOF then go with the Letus Ultimate and stop down in camera. You can see shots I recently did with my EX-3 and the Letus Ultimate right HERE Glynn

:) Well, I agree. I have been on several shoots lately, here is my current reel if you would be able to provide any constructive criticism that would be great.

Hey, Guys- I know that I need to A) Add appropriate music to the reel (it has no sound now) and B) Figure out the problems with the compression an Vimeo (for that I could use some advice) and C) work with the brightness and contrast on some of the shots. The thing went up 1280 and looks a lot better on Quicktime, and I expected more from Vimeo, just dont get it. Its converted to interlaced. But basically looking for some industry people to give me some constructive criticism. Here it is at Vimeo: Here it is without compression at my site, large file, lots of ram and hi speed required:

You said that your camera and equipment got you started, do you have any advice on that? Did you advertise as a DP then or as a gaffer, grip operator or all in one?

No matter what title on set, people in a town like LA who buy and competently utilize broadcast equipment and pro lighting should be able to make a decent living in some segment of the industry. right?

Then anyone who wants to be a DP should first be a grip, then a gaffer then a DP? Are these designations blurring in the new media?

After spending years in the best photography school and after investing multiple tens of thousands of dollars in broadcast quality cameras and professional gear, I am still making less per hour than most janitors. Is craigslist and Mandy the only place for newbies to get work?

Sweet analysis Sir. Thank you!!!

Same DP as inglorious Bastards, DP Robert Richardson, can anyone help me with this? I see smoke in the background, I see like maybe 1/2 CTO in the smoke? Do I see HMI at a steep angle of incidence top and left? Could I do the same with a Par? Are there 2 foreground lights? Or is the fill is just from a b-board? There must be at least 2 lights here...where else is the cold warm thing coming from and the light ratio. But no doulble shadow..That is impressive.Any thoughts at picking this apart? Robert, if your out there... or any experienced DP please? :(

What were the results? Why didn't you have the Manhattan?

THANKS EVERYBODY, ONCE SHOT I WILL POST THE PICS OF THE SHOOT WITH SOME OF THE SUGGESTIONS IN PLAY... THANKS AGAIN!!!

I like the idea of christmas lights. Thanks.

No permit required, neighbors are cool and providing electricity. Good thought.

Backlight ok

Cool. I like the idea of a mix from orange to red. Sounds nightmarish.

Hi, I will be lighting a dark street on a steep hillside Hollywood hills. There are no street lights. There is one house there on one side of the hill and trees and a ravine on the opposite side. again no street lights. I did a prelight where I placed a 1k tungsten Fresnel with CTB on the roof of a garage. and a 650 off and hi to the side for fill again with CTB. We had one background light a 1k Lowell into the trees but with the angle of our shots, several straight down the street mostly there is nothing to light. Please see attached images from prelight. We plan on bringing a fogger but cant count on no wind, I was thinking about balls with 500 W photo floods but we are talking about alot of empty space, and with no where to hang them. The director doesn't want it monochromatic just blue and black, I don't want it to look like like we used colors just for the sake of using colors, he is thinking blue, red and orange. The mood is to be nightmarish. We can use a kino, but that dosen't fit ta nightmarish concept in my mind. We are using a DOF adapter. The camera prelight was muddy and dark, can anyone suggest something? We are limited by budget to household power. the street in 30 yards long if we shoot down it. perhaps the answer is simply don't shoot down it. * The other BIG concern is maintaining a night feel but not looking muddy, How is that accomplished? Any advise from experience would be great. Thanks.

I did purchase as a set and did get a discount. ASC DP's work with PL lenses, the union AC I worked with doesn't like Nikon mount for film period, they are used to PL, but there is a price for PL, its rather like comparing apples and oranges. I guess what Im saying is that if you had the choice to drive a Lexus or a Ferrari then you would dog the hell out of the Lexus but that doesn't mean its not good, it only means that its not a Ferrari. I put a 12mm Arri pl mount on the Letus today and it was soft at larger apertures as well. But brilliant at higher f's, and yes the 25mm ZF does go a bit soft at 5.6 but this is characteristic of wide angle lenses. They like to be stopped down. It looks pretty sharp at f8 to me. Meanwhile our right, the 100mm is great, why do you say that the 85mm is hard to focus? The 100mm has more barrel travel. Are you saying the travel is too short on the 85 to pull?

It is very dangerous to make comparisons or assumptions of lens performance from virtually any of the lens 'test' sites. Most of these sites and testers use dubious methology and most have agendas of their own. If you have directly compared lenses of your own in a rigurous manner then fair enough, but it is just not sensible in my view to take the opinion of lens testers

Plastic feel? They are all metal construction and feel really solid. The focus is really well dampened and feel like a pl lenses.

Good eye for composition and balance, classically trained as a still photographer at Brooks Institute in the 90's with lots of shooting time in my career but no reel. I have the EX3 and Letus Ultimate with 5 Zeiss primes and a long zoom. I have been on 3 features and over 50 live broadcast shoots. I am looking for chances to work and build my reel as an Operator while still working as AC. www,glynnalbert.com

Good eye for composition and balance, classically trained as a still photographer at Brooks Institute in the 90's with lots of shooting time in my career but no reel. I have the EX3 and Letus Ultimate with 5 Zeiss primes and a long zoom. I have been on 3 features and over 50 live broadcast shoots. I am looking for chances to work and build my reel. www,glynnalbert.com

I have the EX3 and the Letus Ultimate i would not recommend the cheeper versions, I also have a PL mount for it, but usually use Zeiss primes. I did however recently use the PL mount on an Arri 17mm lens on the for a SAG Ultra low budget feature. It looked great and it only takes about 5 minutes to go from the Nikon mount to the PL if your at all handy. Glynn Albert

I own a set of these ZF lenses, 25mm 35mm 50mm 85mm and the 100mm, my favorites are the 35mm and the 100mm. I use them the Letus Ultimate. I bought them through Abel Cinetech Burbank. The are sweet.

If the characters will hold the camera, you may wish to forgo the Letus then, that is pretty heavy for take after take day after day for even a man, doing a fake hold is possible but then you'd better have a large LCD on set. I would not recommend having the talent hold my EX3 and Letus Ultimate, no way, too distracting and taxing.

I am shooting a feature with my EX3 and Letus Ultimate on zeiss primes, the problem that i see with the comment to push back for shallower depth of field is that you get more camera shake and you loose intimacy with the actors. I see on Philip Blooms site the test with the EX relay makes the shot much brighter, but I would not trust that, I would check out someone else's relay first. Like you said, your elite only looses 2/3, if thats true where is the 2 coming from?