Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

I love this viewfinder by Letus, not only for its clarity when you look through the viewer - the lens it the right size - but for its unobtrusiveness. It's small, and can detach easily just by pulling on it. The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is because they Letus35 does not include instructions in the package. I had to fiddle with it for at least an hour before figuring out how to make it fit to my 5D MKII.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

Good construction, good glass, tried the Zacuto, this is better.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

This is the best HDSLR viewfinder around overall.

I'm considering this Letus35 Hawk versus the Zfinder and Cyclops. The Cyclops gives the best viewing quality, but huge in size, it eats up my space in the bag. The Zfinder has the worst design, and the eyepiece keeps falling off.

The Letus35 Hawk has the best design - good size, and the best thing about it is the detachable plate; so I don't need to screw in/out anything to put it on/off my camera!!! This is very important for me shooting photojournalism, when I want to switch shooting stills and motions.

I give it 4 stars because the viewing quality is not as good as the Cyclops.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

I use it with D300s after returning the Zacuto ZFinder 3x. The design and the material are a lot better than the Z. But they deliver similar viewing class - like watching tv too close, somewhat a bit artificial, maybe because magnifying the screen resolution. That's the only reason I took out a star.

I considered the Cinevate Cyclops as well. The C by far delivers the best viewing, it doesn't hurt your eyes at all. BUT it's just too big - it eats up space in bags like a 70-200 does!

To me the battle was only between the Hawk and the C. If compactness and mobility is what you aim, get the Hawk. Get the C if you only care viewing quality.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

This is the second viewfinder I bought for my Canon EOS5D M2. It's far superior to the less expensive manufacturer's models. The camera mount is rock solid and the eyepiece is adjustable so I can see perfectly.

Definitely overpriced, for about a dollars worth of material, but if you're going to use a DSLR as a video camera, you can't beat having a good viewfinder.

Bought this in NYC at B&H's store, and the sales help was wonderful, letting me try all the different viewfinders they stocked on a store EOS5D.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

I really like this viewfinder. The magnification was perfect as described. Very little distortion on the edges and true to life color rendition.

The only problem I had was installation. The documentation is very vague. They must have recently changed the design of the bottom plate and the camera mounting screw. The screw initially did not turn freely when screwed fully to the plate. This created the problem of not being able to properly tighten it to the camera. I ended up striping the last thread on the screw until it turned freely. Also I found the threads on the carbon fiber body poor. The screws were very tight and when I was installing it felt as if I was stripping them. But none the less after some trouble it was successfully mounted on the camera.

The instructions are terrible. Letus, if you are listening. When people have to create a YouTube video on how to install your product there might be some room for improvement.

Also, the lens turns and moves in and out and I have quite figured out why. I looked on the website with no luck. I imagine it has something to do with the diopter but it didn't seem to matter if I turned it.

I would like in the future a quick way to disconnect the viewfinder from the camera. You need to undo two thumb screws which in the mist of a shot may be a problem. Also they feel loose in the threads which worries me a bit. We'll see how they hold up.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

I was using the HOODMAN HOODLOUPE with my Canon 5D Mark II for filming. It was good, but for professional field shoot, not enough. The Letus Hawk makes the work quicker and easier as you assemble equipment or change gears. It provide a far way better view: big, clean and no distortion on the edge, and most important of all, antifogging ability. Lowering the possibility of missing focus.
The only downside is the weight. You would feel the weight as you holding it attaching on a 5D MKII. But it worth the pain.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

This viewfinder does exactly what it should. The 2.75x magnification is perfect for framing and focusing. The optics are clear. The carbon fiber housing is lightweight and the overall construction is rugged.

I wouldn't mind a flip door or a quick release to show the LCD to someone else, but it's the only down side I can think of.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

[...]Once I got it mounted, it was extremely difficult to setup the focus adjustment on the eyecup. Whenever I though I had it right, I had to wind up readjusting it constantly. I didn't like the jittery image when panning. Although this is not the image captured, I found it difficult to follow subjects. I called Letus and they said this is a characteristic of viewfinders on DSLR's since they magnify the image. The color it displayed through the viewfinder had me frequently removing it to check my white balance. I also noticed distortion when moving the camera around. Oh yeah, It fogged up like crazy but maybe it was the environment I was in. I really had high hopes for this product. Maybe I got a bad one. Either way I had to eventually stop making excuses for this thing because it's expensive. I felt I would never use it again [...]Will likely go with an LCD.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

The fit and finish are impeccable and the optics are top-notch. It makes precision focusing a breeze.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

Overall a fantastic product. Very clear optics and solid build.I am now able to pull focus and to work outdoors while shooting in live mode for HD video. The Hawk VF provides an uncropped view of the 60D's whole viewfinder screen (if you remove the Hawk's included rubber gasket).Bought this Letus35 Hawk VF model for a Canon 60D and it shipped from B&H with the older, fixed mounting plate. The demo video showed a removable quick release mount.I wrote to Letus35 customer support about the quick-release/removable mounting plate and they shipped a free upgrade for the quick-release plate.To clarify: the quick-release plate can ALSO be fixed into place with thumbscrew/bolts (making it no longer quick-release) if needed for stability -- so it can't come off accidentally.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

As soon as i saw this, i sold my zfinder and purchased the letus hawk. I have terrible eyesight and thought the lenses and claim to cut out distortion would be perfect.
Well i used it for a week and it actually hurt my eyes to look at that lens for 8 days straight. Its hard to describe but it does something funny to the LCD image. It is very clear, its just a little warped in some strange way.
The only other negative i have is the very uncomfortable rubber eye cup. Its hard as a rock and small.
The positives are that it is very very rugged. very well made. the carbon fiber is very nice. the way it mounts to a plate was great. i never had to even think about it coming off the camera.
If this had a bigger more comfy eye piece i would stick with it.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

Fits perfect. Would be much better if it could swing up out of the way when taking photos. Attachment takes too long to remove to go between photo and video. Great for bright light when shooting video.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

- No distortion like Zacuto Z-finder (actually, many of my friends didn't know how bad Zacuto's Z-finder was until they got the Letus Hawk Viewfinder)
- Custom optics (not off the shelf magnifying glass)

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

If you are nearsighted and need to shoot video with a DSLR in the sun, this is a must have. It's the only one I've found with an adjustable diopter. It's a little pricey but worth the money. Solidly built and sturdy with good optics.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

I REALLY wanted to like it, but had to return. No instructions included, no warranty materials to let me know where to turn if their was a problem... and there was a problem immediately. The mounting plate fit loose on my 5DMkII. When contacted by email and a website form, the tech support from the Letus DSLR website asked questions and offered some advice over the course of a few days, but eventually let me know that by buying it from B&H I was supposed to get help from Letus Corporate or B&H, not them. They even suggested Canon might have changed the tripod socket without telling anyone rather than accept my suggestion that it might have been packaged it with the wrong size mounting screw or a one-off defect in the mounting plate. They tried to help, but what should have been a rapid problem-solving approach with a simple parts replacement turned into a drawn-out email conversation and ultimately, a return of the product.

VERY high quality manufacturing is evident in the body, although the high gloss on the carbon fiber offset might be annoying to some. The mounting plate and L-shaped riser allows adjustment of the viewfinder position to fit multiple cameras, but once mounted there is no way to easily detach the viewfinder from the camera body as some other brands incorporate in their design. You have to remove two small thumbscrews to get it off the body, and hope they don't get lost. Letus claims this feature is built into their Talon™ DSLR rail systems when using the Hawk™ viewfinder with them, but it's not available with the Hawk by itself.

Once installed, the viewfinder makes your camera BIG. It was at least as long out the back as my 16-35mm L-series zoom was out the front. That combo made my Canon DSLR almost as long as my EX1.

There are no registration tick marks on the rotating eyepiece to let you know where you've adjusted focus to. The eyepiece itself is very smooth metal devoid of any knurling, and was quite tight and not easily turned to adjust focus. It would be real pain to adjust when wearing gloves. It was especially difficult if you needed focus adjusted all the way in -- once turned that far, there is next to nothing to get hold of to readjust. The rubber eyecup fit so tightly on the eyepiece that simply rotating it on the eyepiece would change the focus. Here again, some tick marks on the eyepiece would help get back to where you needed to be.

I wear contacts, and was never able to get the LCD screen of my 5DMkII in perfect focus. Don't know if I need stronger or weaker magnification than they offer (2.75x), but nothing in the range of this viewfinder made it work. In fact, it almost didn't seem like rotating the eyepiece was making much difference at all.

True to their advertising, the viewfinder lens system didn't distort the image of the camera's LCD screen like a simple diopter can; there was no apparent curving at the corners.

With a high-quality, rugged build and a lot of camera-body positioning adjustment possible, this product is worthwhile for those that can work within its design and focus limits. Better design and manufacturing attention to the exterior of the eyepiece would help, as well as inclusion of instructions for assembly and warranty/support. But at the selling point right up there with the premium "Z" brand, this needs some work to justify the cost.

Comments about Letus35 Letus Hawk DSLR Viewfinder:

I just received my Letus Hawk Viewfinder a few days ago. It is very impressive to look at and through. It is comfortable on the eye. I can now freely shoot video and photo out in the sun and see the lcd in bright detail. The carbon fiber housing is beautiful.

One thing to mention is that with any magnifying viewfinder, your lcd will be blown up and its resolution will appear lacking a little. This is not a problem with the viewfinder.

I would also like to see an easy detach bracket. I think I am going to notch mine so I can just loosen the thumbscrews and slide it off. They have a quick release baseplate that is part of the rod system, but I don't need rods...yet.