Quick Letus repair in the field

Anatomy of a heart attack: This is not where a piece of a sclerotic plaque formation in one of the coronary arteries breaks off, flows downstream, and causes ischemic damage to the cardiac musculature. No, this is where you come back from your lunch break 10 minutes before your talent is scheduled to arrive, flip on your pre-set lighting, power up your camera, turn on your Letus 35mm adapter, look in your viewfinder, and find that the ground glass in your adapter is not spinning, and that you are looking at an unusable shot covered with horrible glass grain.

On first instinct, I pick up my phone and call Letus. Of course, I get a machine. I leave a message that I have an emergency...I am on set (hoping that sounds very official) and my Letus Ultimate is turning on but the glass is not spinning...click...or I guess it's "beep" now. So, now I have five minutes before my prima donna physician shows up with 20 minutes to spare me for the shots I need. So, it was time for surgery. I break out my allen wrench set, and crack open the Letus' chest.

Removing the four allen screws that secure the lens mount housing to the body of the Letus, I was able to remove the housing and expose the spinning (non-spinning) glass. I gave it a little push, and whala...it spun! Problem solved. Apparently the silicon band that attaches the drive wheel to the spinning glass has two small kinks, and when these stop in just the right spot, the motor does not have enough torque to spin.

With the glass now spinning, I was able to reassemble the Letus and be ready for our shot. So, when in doubt, don't be afraid of a little field surgery on your equipment while in the heat of battle.