I planned on going out this morning and filming some nice stuff with the newly working (!) Brevis Flip and Sony Ex1 using the CF2Le diffuser. Unfortunately I got snowed under with other stuff and didn’t make it out until about 1430. So not a lot of time before it got dark to get what I needed.
I went down to the river near me and right next to the very odd “Eel Pie Island”. All I wanted to do was get enough shots to string about 3 minutes together.
The weather today has been great. Blue skies with broken clouds…perfect. The EX1 with Flip and Brevis attached is slightly longer than the Letus Extreme but bizarrely, and this is probably just an EX1 shorter than using the Brevis without flip but with loads of spacers.
This was also my first play with the CF2LE. The CF2 is basically the second of the 3 Brevis diffusers. This is a new version of it that is a single element as opposed to being put on top of CF1 and also designed for larger cameras. The E I understand helps certain lenses avoid soft edges.
The look was very nice, apart from on my 20mm Sigma I had some very soft edges. When I switched to the CF1LE it was MUCH better. Not sure why the CF2Le is doing this as it supposed to cure the soft edges. Maybe it’s a combine EX1 issue. I notice that when I focus on the ground glass a little bit either way on the focus ring and you can see the centre in focus then then edges in focus with the centre in focus. Would like to know why it is doing this. The Letus Extreme is identical in this respect.
I shot some of it in 1080p 25 the rest in 720p 25 60fps. Graded VERY quickly as I am very tired in Magic Bullet Looks.
It’s not a complete short film like some others as I just didn’t have the time, but hopefully you can see the quality of the image that this combo can achieve from my little edit.
16 comments
Stunning! I try not to entertain the idea of buying a camera like that, including a nice adapter (Letus or Brevis), with my inheritance money…beause that would just about cover the cost – but my girlfriend would probably never forgive me!
Good god I love The U.K., in that matter any European country. Everything is so beautiful and intricate all I can film here is suburbia and fake parks, nothing interesting in teh nearest 30 kilometer vicinity. Looks great except for the softness in the edgess in some shots.
Beautiful!
What settings do you use to export your files in FCP? They are always so crisp! Great work, I love the lighting and the colors of the shots!
Beatiful!!!
As always, Phill your work is an inspiration to me.
hi, phil
thanks for sharing your videos and reflections. they’re very helpful! i’m curious if you prefer one lens adaptor over the other, or what your findings (brevis v. letus) on the EX-1, and if you think one is clearly better than the other in terms of weight/cost/construction. also, how well do these adaptors work with longer lenses? the X14 lens is the only thing about the EX-1 which really disappoints me.
thanks as ever,
eli
Phillip,
I love the look you’re able to get with the 35mm lens adapters.
I’m looking at a Letus Extreme for use with the EX but don’t have any 35mm lenses. What would you recommend if you had to choose 3 lenses that would be a good starting point? Maybe something like the Sigma 20mm, a Zeiss 50mm macro, and a Nikon 85mm?
Hi Eli
Currently am loving the Letus Extreme with my ex1, but the Brevis is still wonderful as it has those changeable diffusers. It is a cracking performer on other cameras. I just need to spend more time with it on the ex1 to try and get better edge sharpness. I have a few ideas that I will try out later.
Construction wise the Letus is way more solid. It’s a tank. I prefer the use of the swappable batteries rather than a built in battery pack, the on off switch is better. The Brevis flip module on the other hand is really impressive in construction. Very solid, very much like the extreme and it has basic correction of positioning so you can get it more centered for cameras like the hvx and the ex1 where the sensor isn’t dear centre.
The 14x is actually pretty impressive. The HVX is just 12x. You can use long lenses on the adaptors, but to get longer than the 14x (i need someone who really knows there stuff to correct me here) you will need something like an 600mm, which is a really longer lens. The longest lens I use is 200mm and it is good. Sure I would love to get REALLY close up to far objects but it’s pretty tough with adaptors!
David…Those lens choices are pretty good! I recommend those exact three to someone else yesterday. If you can afford it, get something longer too, perhaps even just a 105mm f2. 85mm just isn’t that long!
So which do you prefer, the Brevis or Letus? Are they both physically the same size or is one larger than the other?
Philip, so glad I found your site. I am considering replacing my trusty BetacamSP D30. I almost plonked down my money on the Panasonic HPX 500. The Sony EX 1 looks promising. Really liked the Kew Garden short. Who did the Music? There was another video nicely shot on London great music also
Are you using an external monitor on location?
I’m trying to figure out how to get it to work in FCP6.
You have a GREAT eye!
Peter Hitchcock
Ex Brit living in Toronto
Hi Eric
I love my Letus extreme and am sure I will love my brevis flip as soon as I can get the edge sharpness sorted with Dennis’ help.
Hi Peter
Thanks. The music for Kew Gardens is James Newton Howard from King Kong. No external monitor, the ex1 lcd is incredibly sharp, very easy to focus with the peaking and focus assist.
Marvelous work, Philip. I love that you refuse to run out and shoot boring test footage … you run out and create ART! I salute you for seeing magic and beauty wherever you take your camera.
One question: I own three Canon L-series lenses. Would those work with the Letus? And is the Canon L glass of sufficient quality for this kind of work? Sure would be nice to get double duty out of my Canon glass, seeing as how I do a lot of still work with my Canon 5D.
Again, great work. And thank you for your generosity in sharing with the community.
Scott
Hi Phil and thanks for doing this for us 🙂
however I’m kinda disappointed with the CF2Le. The vignetting and soft edges looks worse than on my aging CF1L. If you can test the CF2Le vs the CF1Le then we’ll know whether it’s the ex1 (larger chips means larger lenses might mean some parts will have to be out of focus?) or the CF element.
Keep up the good work 😀
Hi Philip, nice work!
In the wide shot with people and children feeding seagulls (near the bridge) there are some optics aberrations (a red line) on the highlight between trees, roof of the house and sky.
is it due to ex1 or to brevis + lens ?
I got the Brevis too, and with my z1 in the same conditions I’ve the same problem but with a blu line. Z1′ lens has aberrations problems on the highlight and with Bravis they became more visible.
is the same problem with ex1?
Phil, good work!
But it would be more interesting to see 2 videos from the same place, 1 with adapter and other without adapter.
I want to “see” the quality of the optics of the EX1 without “anything” in the front.
Greetings.
Pablo (Spain)
What do you think is better Brevis or LEX?
Have a look at my religion series. Protestant and Muslim pieces were clean EX1