The Ultimate is advertised to be able to handle higher shutter speeds, but mine cant handle any speeds higher than 1/125th. The main reason for me to buy the Ultimate was that shutter speeds of up to 1/2000th were advertised.
Today I messed up a shot where I used only 1/250th shutter speed. The grain of the spinning ground glass was clearly visible on bright surfaces and the blue sky during this take and I was shocked when I just watched it on the big monitor. I used f5,6 on the 35mm lens and about f4 on the camera. The speed on the Ultimate was set to 99. The Ultimate also makes slight ticking noises since I got it, but I hope thats normal? It could be a problem when shooting with sound on a very quiet set or soundstage though...

Any tips whats wrong with my adapter? The shutter speed problem is a real issue for me!

regards,
Gerald

I don't own the Ultimate, but I understand that you need to increase the spinning speed in order to use higher shutter speeds. 99 is the default speed, isn't it?

No, 99 is the highest setting possible. I always have it at 99 and the batteries were brandnew Duracells...

My bad, default speed is 60.

I know you have been helped through the support ticket system too but wanted to reply here as well for others to reference.

The only reason grain would be seen is if the GG was not spinning to speed. This is most often caused by mis-adjustments when doing the x/y adjustment as outlined in the manual.

One possible cause is the nut holding on the GG is too tight and is causing the bearing to bind. This nut need only be finger tightened. If this is too tight, the GG will not spin properly.

Secondly, if the X/Y adjustment was made, it is possible the wiring under the motor has bunched up and is causing binding. You just need to make sure the wiring is free and clear before closing the adapter back up.

Aaron,
I took the adapter apart this morning. The nut holding the GG on the backside was already pretty loose. I even loosened it a little more. Also checked the cables going to the motor and turned on the GG while out of its case. Its spinning pretty quickly, but the speed did not change before/after this procedure.
The problem is still there - 1/125th shutter speed is still the maximum I can use.
The adapter also became a little noisier with the loosened screw...

This maybe obvious but did you try another set of batteries? Even if they are brand new, they could be duds. I don't use anything under 2650mAh rechargeable Duracells. I don't trust regular batteries.

I´m on the 5th set of batteries and also tried the 12V power supply, but no change in speed which looks pretty fast to me anyways. I cant imagine that it could spin much faster as it already does!
The problem is more visible on f5,6 (with longer lenses) and up where the image is absolutely unusable at shutterspeeds from 1/125th and up.
When I step down the lens to f16 the grain becomes visible even with 1/50th shutter...

whats wrong with my adapter?

Can you post some examples with an overlay on each sample saying what shutter speed and aperture setting it is?

I have already sent two short clips to my Letus support ticket.
You can download them here:
http://www.f-stop.at/shutterspeedissue.zip

Both clips were shot with a shutter speed of 1/500th and aperture of f5.6 (long lens). The camera itself had f4. It looks exactly the same with shutter speeds of 1/250th to 1/2000th.
It gets a little better if I open the iris a little more like f2.8 or f1.4 but it is still visible.


regards,
Gerald

Gerald,
I am experiencing the same problem. I can the see the GG grain at F4 1/120 shutter speed. But I think I'll send back mine for repair, as there was a stain inside the prism when I received my unit.
best of luck

If nothing else helps I would have to send mine back as well. Problem is that I´m located in Europe and shipping it back and forth would cost me an arm and leg...

I sent my Ultimate back to Letus to have it repaired.
It cost me more than 500.- to have it shipped back, I had to fill out tons of paperwork, take a day off from shooting and drive hours to the next airport with a customs office to send it back.

Today I got the adapter back - had to pay for the shipper and the paperwork once again and drive to the airport once again.

I reattached it to the camera and guess what? Nothing changed!! The Ultimate is still unusable with shutter speeds higher than 1/125sec. The problem looks exactly the same as in the video I posted above!

They did change the GG though, which had a small chip on the outside, but that did not disturb the image in any way.

I still cant believe that they sent this faulty adapter back.
Either its not faulty and higher shutterspeeds are just not possible at all - then the adapter is misrepresented in their advertising, or they sent back a faulty adapter once again and they just do not care to check it before they send it back.

I do not know...

I hope they can somehow set this issue straight - I do not want to pay another 500.- to send it back once again - I want my money back!

Sorry for ranting - but I´m boiling!

regards,
Gerald

Yep,

Same problem here. The funny part is that I didn't know these until reading about it on this forum.
I think mine can go up until some 1/250 but i'm not sure. I'll have to do some more testing.
I was also curious if the grainy structure of the image that apperas even if I set my camera at -3dB is because of the GG and if this is a normal trait of using any adaptor as they tend to imitate film grain ?
Oh and gloidl I had to send my back for repairs once also. I was also boiling after they made me fill up all the paperwork. I know what you are talking about. Nasty!
Thanks!

Post edited by: Mike N, at: 2008/12/30 00:34

Since my last post I had two more repair attempts with Letus to no avail.
They say I´m the only one with this problem.
Aaron from Letus Support is a very nice person who tried to help me very much. He says the engineers are perplex what is going on with my specific adapter as every part but the housing was replaced during the last repair attempts.
In the meantime I also tried the Ulitmate with a different camera (HVX200) to make sure it is not my EX1 causing the problem.
They also offered a full refund for my adapter, which would not be a good solution as I have already invested much more than $1.000.- for the repair attempts by Letus (mostly shipping charges and import taxes)... They now promised to send me a new adapter - I´m looking forward to it! Hopefully it will work this time. I´m pessimistic that it will... My guess is that it is a general design problem - but I hope they will prove me wrong.

Mike, have you opened a support ticket for your adapter yet? You should let them know about your problem.

regards,
Gerald

I am seeing not so much grain, but the smearing circular streaking from the grain when I go above 1/250th on white flat
fields.

I always run my Ultimate at 99, I feel pretty comfortable stopping down as far as F11, but I don't think I could feel comfortable shooting above 1/250th, especially stopped down.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
www.ssv.com

Dino wrote:
I am seeing not so much grain, but the smearing circular streaking from the grain when I go above 1/250th on white flat
fields.

Thats exactly what I am experiencing. The circular streaking is very much visible starting at 1/125th - if I use f5,6 on the 35mm lens it is becoming extremely visible.

With taking lens at 5.6, where is your built-in camera lens iris? With my camera wide open and taking lens stopped down to F5.6, I don't see grain or streaking at 1/250th, but there is a bit of flicker.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
www.ssv.com



Post edited by: Dino, at: 2009/01/02 14:06

When I tested the adapter I had various f-stops at the camera - everything from wide open to f8. Its becoming more visible with higher f-stops though, but not very much. Its most evident in mid grays and light areas of the image.

Are you guys seeing grain in normal shooting conditions? Like a regular, everyday type scene or is this just when pointing the adapter at a bright wall of evenly lit large surface?

You shouldn't see grain if you are shooting a normal scene.

Post edited by: degrey, at: 2009/01/02 19:22