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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

2/3" B4 Mount for Scarlet/Epic? Anyone interested in this?

Pete Lutz

Pete Lutz

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Since the 2K crop on the Scarlet/Epic matches the sensor size of a ENG 2/3" sensor I have been looking for a way to mount my ENG lens to my Scarlet for corporate/long form/event type work. I know this is under utilizing the power of my RED but it's another way for me to make money with my camera (I sold my HPX500 to pay for my Scarlet) and we all know some clients don't know or care about the difference in quality from one camera/setting to the next.

Today I met a nice guy online, Krzysztof (http://www.foto-akcesoria.com.pl) who makes all kinds of wild lens adaptors to fit anything you need. He can make a Scarlet/Epic 2/3" B4 mount!

I am definitely going to order one of these custom mounts from him and wire up a d-tap adaptor to run the servo zoom. This will be tremendously useful for some of the lame "video" work I get sometimes.

Krysztof asked me to see if anyone else would be interested in this kind of thing.

So? Anyone here think they would be interested in an affordable ($600 or less) B4 2/3" lens mount for a scarlet/epic?
 
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MOSTDEF :thumbsup:

Just to clarify - he will make a dedicated mount that replaces any current mount and attaches with the 4 corner screws?
Or is he planing to just make an adaptor for the PL mount - like the one RED is selling on their store?

I am only interested in the former...

Also - what material is he planing to use?

Thanks

Peter
 
I don't want to hijack the thread but I think it's great you finally met a nice guy online.
 
My background is broadcast a question. Aren't most of these TV lenses for standard def ? Surely that could lead to resolution issues even with 2k Scarlet ?

Not sure just asking ........

P.S. Now S16 glass & mount that's another thing entirely.
 
A mount for B4 / broadcast lenses will require optical correction, so it's more than a simple adapter. Those lenses are designed to alter convergence for a 3-chip prism block and that needs to be corrected out. Currently there are PL to B4 converters available with proper optical glass in them, like the one from Abacus. RED sold one in their store for a while (I believe made for them by Abacus), not sure what happened, but it may not have been popular enough to keep around. Anyway, the optics keep this from being a cheap solution. Additionally, the optics introduce some small light loss and some magnification. The two together come to about 1/2 stop of loss and enough magnification where a 2.5K mode could be justified for the medium to long focal lengths on some lenses.

And, as Mike suggests above, most only the "HD" broadcast lenses are worth using on the RED. And many of those don't resolve all that well at times. IMO, it makes more sense to forget the expensive adapter and pick up a good S16 zoom if you want to shoot a lot of 2K. But if you have good HD lenses at your disposal, it might be worth looking into.
 
Jeff, Mike, I appreciate your thoughts on this topic.

Here is why I think it would work....If this mount actually works, why wouldn't it work on the scarlet?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/B4-2-3-ENG-...ltDomain_0&hash=item2a19bce705#ht_5100wt_1156

It's not an adaptor at all, it's a B4 mount that will replace the mount on my camera. I do have a lens, and it'd be nice to have a servo zoom for some of the work I do.

Thoughts?
 
corner crop should reveal the divergence between RGB as most B4 lenses are designed for a prism 3 CCD sensors.
 
I totally forgot about the 3CCD issue.

Because 3CCD is a "newer video" development this would include the later HD lenses with higher resolution . So my question how the heck does focus on a prism work, surely at the end of the day it sits at the correct focus distance & then is split to the separate CCDs?

To clarify, this is way over my meagre intellect :o.

Is what Peter suggests possible with HD lenses designed for 3CCD or is the mount in Peters link designed for non 3CCD TV lenses ?
 
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Are you sure that you will cover epic 2k with b4 lens without an optical adapter, only with simple b4 mount?... I dude that...

In the other hand I think epic 2k is not good enough... At least for a full hd tv shows. You are loosing a lot of resolution...
 
2K on the EPIC, RED One or Scarlet is OK, with good post processing it rivals most "HD" cameras in terms of sharpness and detail and will offer much better compression compared to AVC, DVCPROHD, etc.. But it's true that you can't quite resolve full HD 1080p with the 2K from the Bayer sensor. Full-raster 1080p 3-chip cameras *should* (but don't always) provide superior measurable resolution.

The biggest thing with doing a B4 mount for any single-chip camera is the optical correction. You *WILL NOT* have proper RGB convergence without the optical correction. The physical mount pieces or metal parts are not a big deal, it's the optics you need to make it right.

I totally forgot about the Abel HDx2 adapter. I've never used one, but they look like the best solution for cameras like the RED One, EPIC/Scarlet, ALEXA, etc.. Yes, it's an expensive adapter, but you're paying for the optics. That and I can't imagine the market for them is huge, so they have to balance costs somehow.

While 2K 16:9 on RED One or EPIC/SCARLET (11.06mm x 6.22mm) is a bit larger than most 2/3" sensors, I haven't seen any coverage problems with adapters. All the adapters I'm aware of that actually work, meaning they have the necessary optical correction, also introduce a bit of magnification.
 
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