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Steven Dempsey

Letus Ultimate - Test Footage

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Here is a combination of shots, some with natural light, some with a reflector with the setting sun acting as a strong light source. It's a mish mosh of wide, medium and closeups to demonstrate how the Ultimate can handle all of these situations.

Camera is Canon XHA1

The Quicktime file has rendered everything brighter than the original so keep that in mind when you are looking at the not so deep blacks.

I used a combination of the following Nikon lenses:
24mm f2.8
35mm f1.4
50mm f1.8
55mm f2.8 macro
100mm f2.8
200mm f4.0

The first sky shot (clouds) was shot at f11 and the second blue sky rotating into the tree is shot at f8.

Comments

Gabriel Florit

July 09, 2008 02:15 AM

I love this! You're very talented.

Shiv Kumar

July 09, 2008 02:36 AM

Steven,

That is really sharp and clear. The bokeh is really smooth. I kind of got used to seeing the Extreme/FE kind of bokeh (actually get the feeling of grain) but I guess I'm going to have to get used to this.

So it must be nice to have your toy back huh?

You've got some great shots of all the kids I see. Tara and Zach have grown since the last time I saw them. Both girls look gorgeous! I love the opening shot. How did you get a black background? Did you light up Tara and so the areas that were not lit became dark? That’s a great shot.

Now be honest Steven, You get a deer/doe and duck with her ducklings, all in a days work huh?

Snoqualmie is looking just great with all that water and green surroundings. I love the composition of both those shots. The one with just the falls and the other with Zach in the foreground. That shot of Tara’s @1:24 I thought was too close in that her face is a bit distorted. Do I see you (in her eyes) holding a reflector?

The last few scenes with Tara in the field/garden looks so romantic in the way you shot them. Then when she looks up straight into the camera it’s like you almost wanted to hear her say something, anything.

Those out of focus light at the end were a nice touch too. I think you’ve done justice to the Letus 35 Ultimate, but for me it’s another one of your shorts that made my day.

Steven Dempsey

July 09, 2008 11:14 AM

Thanks Shiv.

I actually like the slight distortion coupled with the lighting in the Tara shot you mentioned :)

The opening shot was done at Marymoor Park and I just chose a tree that had branches protruding out quite a bit and naturally shaded the trunk of the tree. The soft light of the day lit up the branches but kept the rest of the tree pretty dark...a slight levels adjustment finished the effect.

I will seriously not be taking this adapter off my camera...it renders images as sharp as the native lens.

roy reyes

July 09, 2008 03:31 PM

this is brilliant. it is so sharp. i can't wait to get a letus.

Ray Paunovich

July 09, 2008 10:20 PM

Steven,
Great work, do the 35mm lenses stay at the focal length that they are or is there any magnificattion when used with the Letus Ultimate ??

EG. is a 200mm Nikon still a 200mm once you put it on the letus and on your camera or does it become a ??mm.

The look you've gotten is really nice and very filmic, if thats a word, you know what I mean.!!

Ray Paunovich

Jean Luc Meisel

August 15, 2008 01:34 AM

Beautiful and rich

I really enjoyed this footage, what matte box were you using?
Thanks
Luc

Steven Dempsey

August 15, 2008 02:11 AM

Thanks Luc, no matte box used.

Andres Garcia

September 18, 2008 01:08 PM

Steven, excellent work, very sharp, very well composed. We are trying to achieve something like that with a SonyHV1U and a M2, but until now nothing, everything is dark and grainy. Do you know someone that have gotten good results with this combination?

Andres

Jean Luc Meisel

September 18, 2008 03:41 PM

I just watched this again and I have to say what wonderful reply value this work has!

I understand that you didn't use a matteboxe, may I ask how you goto the aspect ratio, crops?
What is the workflow for this ratio and the Ultimate?

Thanks for sharing this work, inspiring.

Greg Matson

October 15, 2008 07:05 PM

Great Work

You are seriously skilled with your camera. Nice shots!

Ted Ramasola

October 20, 2008 02:55 AM

Steven,

I've watched your videos with the adapter tests and all at the forums and I must say I like your compositions and colors. Warm and cuddly.

Keep it up.

Ted

Jonney Buck

April 30, 2009 05:30 AM

i'm trying to learn about adaptor lenses and came across this article as I had already been looking at the Letus Ultimate 35mm. So just to clarify you only needed that one adapator in order to get all the different lense looks?

Can a Letus Ultimate be used to a decent effect on a Sony PD150?

Nasser Al-Misned

July 04, 2009 12:17 PM

Hello Steven;

I think the Canon 5D mark II can do depth of field ,I wounder whats is the limitation on such DSLR producing HD video versus HD camcorders such as the A1 or Sony Ex1 ?

Noury Bench

August 12, 2009 02:45 AM

well done

I try to do a 24p video and it is choppy.

Good film Look and transitions

Credits & Tags

Videography / Cinematography: Steven Dempsey Rating: 4.79

Tags: 24p 35mm adapter Closeup dempsey disjecta Family film look HDV Letus Lighting Macro Ultimate Wildlife

Equipment: Letus 35 Ultimate Nikon 100mm f2.8 Nikon 200mm f4 Nikon 24mm f2.8 Nikon 28mm f2.8 Nikon 35mm f1.4 Nikon 50mm f1.8 Nikon 55mm f2.8 Macro Letus Rails V2 Bogen 516 Video Pro Bogen 3246 Canon XH A1 Adobe Premiere Pro CS3