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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 :)

Leica M Lenses on Dragon

T

Travis Kyler Hoyt

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Hey everyone,

Planning purchasing my first RED camera, an Epic Dragon, and was wondering if anyone knew about compatability of wider angle Leica M glass on the Dragon. I know that on the MX, lenses wider than 50mm had issues with flange/protruding rear elements, but i had seen a post by Red stating that a re-designed sensor window would allow for the use of wider angle Leica M lenses on Dragon and yet others have commented that this is inaccurate as Dragon is merely a sensor upgrade. Can anyone bring clarity yo this for me? The lenses i am interested in are:

Zeiss 15mm f/2.8 ZM
leica 16-18-21 tri-elmar-m
leica 21 summilux-m
leica 35 summilux-m

thank you in advance for sny help you can provide.
 
I saw Jim's post as well, but i had thought he was referring to the Summilux-c cinema primes.
 
If anyone currently has a Dragon in Los Angeles I'd be happy to setup a test for this. I work out of the Leica Store in West Hollywood and have access to the entire range of M lenses. In fact, we had a couple of guys in last week testing M lenses on the Epic-X and shooting tests with a model around the store. If someone wants to bring in a Dragon we can knock through the whole batch in no time.

Travis, I was thinking about you during the test, but since it wasn't Dragon I didn't bother to call.
 
Hi Ketch, good to hear from you. Drop me a note and let me know when you want to come by. Occasionally meetings and customer visits pull me out of the office and I'd like to make sure I'm there. My email address is seth <dot> emmons <at> cw-sonderoptic <dot> de.
 
Quote: "A redesigned sensor window allows for the use of wider Leica-M and Angenieux lenses, while also providing a larger field of view when shooting."

Link: http://www.red.com/products/epic-dragon#features

It's good to know that RED was listening to me when I've been requested that sensor window redesign here at Reduser some years ago.

Also must say by the specification of RF (Range Finder) lenses with a short flange of 27.95mm that is actually very close to the sensor

that means optically every lens that goes below 50mm like a 35mm or any wider lens is going to give a slight or more vignetting.

This can occur especially at smaller stops, that means a larger f numbers more vignetting.

But fortunately with Dragon 6K you can crop and get a very usable size of image.
 
Seth,

Thank you very much for your continued help in this, im in Illinois right now preparing to leave for Brazil but as soon as i get back to LA im going to drop in and see you guys.

Ketch,

Thank you for offering to test on your Dragon, i know myself and many others are excited about the possibilities of the wider M glass on Dragon (i cant imagine a more lightweight and powerful combination than the new Carbon Dragon outfitted with Leica M glass).
 
My pleasure Travis, however I will not have the Carbon Dragon, unless by an absurd miracle a MAJOR surgery can be performed on M8... ;)

But agree that the Carbon Dragon, with one full pound shaved off, and smaller lighter lenses is a match made for Run n' Gun, MōVI like stabilizations systems, RC choppers and so on, and also much nicer to hold on Hand Held shoots for long hours.

Also the new Summicron been smaller and much lighter will make a most perfect match in the professional Cine world.
 
Travis,
You are most welcome. I'm hoping that the tests will bring good results for your wishlist. Best of luck in Brazil. If you see anyone scalping World Cup tickets yet I'm buying. :)
 
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