I decided that I would share whatever knowledge I have in my brief time with my EX1 and Letus Extreme 35 mm lens adapter by doing a video blog. I am not an expert, but I have logged some serious hours on both of them.

I created my website initially to get my name out to potential clients and sell my television skills as a freelancer. I have found jobs because of this website, but I have also discovered that there is a huge community of people who are interested in producing quality television. Most of them have commented on my videos and sent me comments through my chat room, forum, vimeo and email.

Many people have emailed me and asked me several question regarding my dolly system, my telescope panning time lapsing, features on the ex1, color grading using Magic Bullet and shooting with the Letus Extreme.

I have found it very difficult to email answers to these questions. The best way to help people understand is to show them.

This is what I am planning to do with Video Blog entries. This is my first. I will try to do more as I get some time off this summer.

I have shot this video in the “Surviorman” technique with multiple cameras alone in the wild (where I like to shoot). I decided to answer the vignette question that many people have asked me. I own cheap lenses, so some of my vignetting could be inside the film lens and not in the Letus. This “webisode” details using the EX1’s zoom lens to push past the Letus innards and remove the black on the sides of the frame. It is important that the ground glass window is close to center in the frame as you push through it. You will see that it is not and I need to calibrate it. I did not talk about or fix any of this in the video.

I am currently having trouble with edge sharpness. This is because I adjusted the Letus back-focus and by doing so, the ground glass plate is not perfectly straight anymore. I will try to fix this (or I may have to send back the Letus to be fixed).

One thing to look at here is the fact that the EX1 blows the Sony Z1U and the Sony HC3 HDV cameras away in color and imagery. When I was cutting this together, I could not believe how bad the Z1U looks against the new Sony CMOS chips in the EX1.

I tried to be as clear as possible, but if you have any questions, please use my forum. For more information on the Letus Extreme (or to purchase one) please check out letusdirect.com.

My webpage is located at tomguilmette.com

I shot, edited and narrated a short documentary of my travels down the famous Kancamagus Highway (route 112) in New Hampshire.

With record snowfall in the area this winter, I wanted to see how much snow remained. I also wanted to see how high the lakes, streams and rivers were.

I hiked into Sabaday Falls with my Sony PMW-EX1 fitted with a Letus Extreme 35mm film lens adapter, a Vinten Vision 3 tripod, my homemade dolly system and my bag of lenses.


The waterfall was spectacular. The water was very high. I did not bump into another soul while I was shooting. I had to make two trips in with all my gear, leaving the dolly track near the falls while I snowshoed back to the car to pick up the more expensive gear.

The weather was overcast most of the morning and dry, but around 11am while I was at Sabaday Falls, the rain began to fall.

I was slipping and siding all over the place trying to lay dolly track in the rising waters of the very cold stream. I decided, after almost dropping my EX1 in the drink, to head out and shoot another day.

I got enough footage to write a story around and I edited it on my Mac Book Pro in my car while the rain blasted the windshield.

I edited the short using Final Cut Pro. I used the three way color corrector to add some saturation. I graded the color in each shot using Magic Bullet Looks.

Please go to my website, tomguilmette.com for my blog on the trip and production stills from behind the scenes.

TRT: 6 minutes and 30 seconds.

This video was shot in a few hours at Ashland State Park in Massachusetts. The weather is finally beginning to warm up and people are out enjoying the outdoors.

I brought my PMW-EX1 camcorder with the Letus Extreme, a Vinten Vision 3 tripod, my homemade dolly system, three lenses and two filters.

I used PVC pipe and my dolly for the slow slides and trucks. I do have to be careful because even a speck of dirt makes the camera vibrate in the dolly system.

The three lenses I used was a Sigma 18mm f3.5, a Nikon 24mm f2.8 and a Nikon 300mm f4 telephoto. I used the telephoto lens to get tight shots of people fishing from across the lake. I also used it to get shots of the turtles basking in the sun.

I recycled a few shots from previous trips to the lake. The macro shots of the Garder snakes is from a video I shot a month ago called “Snake Eye View”. I used a Nikon 55mm f2.8 macro lens for these intimate snake shots.

I used a Tiffen 52mm circular polarizing filter to help with the sky and water reflections. This made the water a deep dark hue and created a very blue sky. I also used a four point start filter for the sun smear you see at the end of the video.

I edited this in Final Cut Pro and color graded with Magic Bullet Looks. I over-saturated the colors in the video.

TRT: 4 minutes

Music by: James Newton Howard
For more info go to: tomguilmette.com

I grabbed my PMW-EX1 and drive to the powerlines about three miles from my house. I knew the sunset was gonna be sweet.

But, I was about ten minutes to late. I saw the soft ball of fire just drop out of site as I parked the car.

I managed to get a few shots as it became darker by the minute and the sound of thunder rumbled in the distance.

I used interval recording and shot 720 30p at 1 frame per 1 second of time elapsed. I used my 35mm f2.8 and my 200mm f3.5 lenses to shoot this footage.

As always, I had the Letus Extreme attached to the front of my camera. I did not have time to set up my motorized pan head for a panning time lapse. Next time...

I edited this in Final Cut Pro and color graded with Magic Bullet Looks. I over-saturated the colors in the video.

TRT: 44 seconds

Go to tomguilmette.com for more.

The weather did not cooperate this weekend for me, so I did not get to shoot the time lapse project I had scheduled.

So, with the nasty cold rainy weather, I decided to shoot a nature piece. The location is Ashland State Park in Massachusetts.

This short subject was shot this afternoon in the fading light of the overcast sky. There was a fine mist and water seemed to penetrate my Gore Tex jacket.

I shot with a Nikon 50mm f1.4. This is my fastest prime and quickly becoming my favorite lens. I set the camera to 720 30p HQ HDTV and shot the entire video with over cranking set to 60 frames per second. As always, I had the Letus35 Extreme film lens adapter on the front of my PMW-EX1 camcorder.

I used a plastic bag to protect the camera and I had an umbrella in case it really started to rain. The camera did get a little wet, but keeping the lens free of misty drops was my priority.

I brought a Vinten Vision 3 tripod with carbon fiber legs and my bag of lenses (which I did not use...)

I shot for about an hour until it got too dark and too wet to continue.

Music selection: Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts II track 13

I edited this in Final Cut Pro and color graded with Magic Bullet Looks. I over saturated the video.

TRT: 3 minutes, 8 seconds
Go to tomguilmette.com for more info.

This will be the last Letus video I shoot with the Z1U for quite a while. I just purchased a Sony PMW-EX1 XDCAM and I will be fitting it with the Letus Extreme. Look at “EX1 Letus Videos” for more.

Dave Hand and I went out to a waterfall near Plymouth, New Hampshire and shot some HDV. Dave shot behind the scenes footage I will post later in a video blog.

I shot the first half of this short subject on my property in Wentworth, NH. I had the Letus35 Extreme film lens adapter attached to my Z1U. I used a Nikon 55mm f2.8 macro, a Sigma 18mm f3.5 super wide lens,and a Nikon 50mm f1.4 film lens. I also set up my PVC dolly track in the snow for the slow slides.

Later on, I joined up with Dave and we took a short hike into the Walter/Newton nature preserve in Plymouth, NH. The waterfall was about half a mile off the road and we snowshoed a beaten path with almost four feet of snow at the trails edge! This was shot 3/17/08.

In addition to the lenses I mentioned above, I also used a Nikon 200mm f2.8 lens I borrowed from a guy named Babs. Babs shoots the Bruins and Celtics and he used this lens back in the day to shoot some of his most famous pictures of legendary sports characters. I had to give it back because he was going to add it to his film display at the Boston Sports Museum.

Dave and I shot for about three hours and we had a great time documenting this beautiful spot.

Music Credit: The Chronicles of Narnia Soundtrack, composed by Harry Gregson-Williams