Birger Lens Mount & Follow Focus

[ericyoung]

HI Eric
Seems to me like two wired cable lengths may be needed. One off camera for Tyler uw housings etc about 2 feet and one long enough for light weight cranes cam/jimmy etc which currently go to about 40" length on the arm plus about 3 ft on the camera end and another slack to ground when using remote desk type control so probably about 60'
Lookin good!!!! I'm also looking for the order form?
TJ

Actually, make long, medium AND short cables that all have a mating locking plug at one end, and a socket the other. Like a kit of cables that allow you more flexibility in lengths by combining two or three of the cables to get intermediate or very long lengths.

A "premium" kit could maybe be two 2 foot, a 5 foot, a 20 foot and a 40 foot. Allows you to make 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 20, 22, 24, 25, 40, 42, 44, 45, 60, etc.

A "basic" kit could be just say two 2 foot, and a 5 foot?

There's probably a more "optimal" length sequence though!

 

[Erik Widding]

Reservation Update

Reservation Update

We are laying out the new circuit boards for the EF lens mount and FF knob this week. We will start shipping production units on 12 Septemeber. If LART occurs prior to this date we will provide preproduction units for testing.

The reservation forms will not be posted until early next week. I just haven't had a chance to take the new photographs of the models and proof read the feature list and forms. I am going to be out of the office for the remainder of the week, getting some much needed time on a golf course in upstate New York...:calm:

To be fair to all, we will extend the "free remote" offer until the close of IBC, 11 September 2007.

 

[Emanuel A.]

2 simple questions from the guy who has request the sub-forum...

2 simple questions from the guy who has request the sub-forum...

To be fair to all, we will extend the "free remote" offer until the close of IBC, 11 September 2007.

US $600 value?

I'd probably order two mounts (Nikon & Canon). Will I have twice the offer or should I order from two different names in order to double my income?

 

[Michele Gavazzeni]

For sure the most interesting product ever made for still lenses!!!

I'll be a costumer for sure

 

[Martin Drew]

I would really like to see the Birger mount + FF on a RedOne at IBC. I think it would benefit Red to have it there even though it is not one of their products.

M

 

[PaulClements]

I'll second that Martin, was thinking the same thing earlier today.

 

[Michael Hastings]

1/4" shaft hole on follow focus knob please?

1/4" shaft hole on follow focus knob please?

Erik: could your follow focus knob have a center hole and buildup like this one in the photo. It would allow us to make a shaft to fit in that hole for our underwater housing but also might be useful for other purposes. If that hole could be 1/4" diameter and at least 3/8" long it would be very easy for us. If it needs to be some other diameter for some reason that is alright we can adapt. The key is having the buildup so we can insert a shaft and have a place to put a set screw.

We are laying out the new circuit boards for the EF lens mount and FF knob this week.

The reservation forms will not be posted until early next week. I just haven't had a chance to take the new photographs of the models and proof read the feature list and forms.

To be fair to all, we will extend the "free remote" offer until the close of IBC, 11 September 2007.

Thanks for the remote offer and the extension.

 

[ericyoung]

Erik: could your follow focus knob have a center hole and buildup like this one in the photo....

Isn't that centre hole for a focus whip - in which case if Erik includes one, it be nice if it was an industry standard size for this kind of accessory.

 

[Erik Widding]

Erik: could your follow focus knob have a center hole and buildup like this one in the photo. It would allow us to make a shaft to fit in that hole for our underwater housing but also might be useful for other purposes. If that hole could be 1/4" diameter and at least 3/8" long it would be very easy for us. If it needs to be some other diameter for some reason that is alright we can adapt. The key is having the buildup so we can insert a shaft and have a place to put a set screw.

We are going to put an ARRI Whip socket on the knob, That will take a whip such as the one that is currently sitting on my desk:
http://www.filmtools.com/cinetech-speed-crank.html

This can have its handle removed, and offers a 1/4" hole. Is this good enough?

If not, we can offer an alternate configuration which has the requested shaft configuration with a 1/4" hole and set screw instead of the shaft with the whip attachement and associated knob.

What do you think?

 

[Michael Hastings]

Arri whip socket would be fine.

Arri whip socket would be fine.

Erik, we can work with that and I like the idea of keeping it standard.

Will you be making your own whip, or should I buy one of those?

We are going to put an ARRI Whip socket on the knob, That will take a whip such as the one that is currently sitting on my desk:
http://www.filmtools.com/cinetech-speed-crank.html

This can have its handle removed, and offers a 1/4" hole. Is this good enough?

If not, we can offer an alternate configuration which has the requested shaft configuration with a 1/4" hole and set screw instead of the shaft with the whip attachement and associated knob.

What do you think?

 

[Emanuel A.]

Does anyone know if the Birger mount+ follow focus is going to compensate for some breathing still lenses do?

Or is that not possible?

It is one of many features on a list for later. Once we either release our own zoom motor, or have integrated with the RED motor, we will look at implementing this. The real issue is the production of the calibration data.

We have ways to do this automagically... but that will require our auto-interactive focus module that we will not be announcing for some time...

The other request that comes quite often is aperture comensation on variable aperture zooms. Because of the quarter stop steps of the Canon iris mechanism, this feature may not be that interesting without some intervention in post. THis also requires a zoom motor.

This would rock indeed!

On the 1st two (breathing compensation and auto-focus), are there different estimated dates, right? If so, when can we expect to have them, then?

On the third one (aperture compensation), any further chance?

 

[Erik Widding]

Will you be making your own whip, or should I buy one of those?

We will not be making accessories that are already commercially available at a reasonable price.

N.B. We would'nt be making an FF knob if it weren't truly necessary to be able to use our lens mount out of the box...:sad:

 

[Erik Widding]

This would rock indeed!

On the 1st two (breathing compensation and auto-focus), are there different estimated dates, right? If so, when can we expect to have them, then?

On the third one (aperture compensation), any further chance?

I would expect engineering to start on these features during 4Q07, for release sometime next year. We need to get the Nikon product out first.

 

[CVB]

Erik,

We may be starting on lens breathing compensation before you guys for our remote. We are going to build an automated test stand towards the middle of January and will make the data publicly available. By then we should have a good idea of the control scheme as well and we could probably share it with you.

-Curt

 

[Evin Grant]

Erik, any ETA on the Nikon mount?

 

[ericyoung]

Erik,

We may be starting on lens breathing compensation before you guys for our remote. We are going to build an automated test stand towards the middle of January and will make the data publicly available. By then we should have a good idea of the control scheme as well and we could probably share it with you.

-Curt

Cooperation between potential rivals - how cool is that! :biggrin: IF only world affairs could be like that...sighs. :blink: :meh:

 

[Evin Grant]

Why would you consider them rivals? Curt's products directly complement the Birger mount and both need to interface as seemlessly as possible into the Red package. Even if you were using the electronic focus of the Birger you would still need a Red Motor to do the breathing compensation on the zoom. They are joined at the hip on this it seems.

 

[jaadgy akanni]

I'm fascinated by the prospect of being able to use breathing compensation. Can someone enlighten me as to what the logic behind the solution would be? How would this work-would it involve your having to do (like) a dry run of your intended shot so that some kind of "breathing attack, sustain, release" can be measured and automatically compensated for, at which point you'd be ready to run your "real" shot? Is it anything analogous to the way a preamp compressor works on audio? Someone please school me.

 

[Evin Grant]

It's fairly simple, they bench test a bunch of different SLR zoom lenses and create a data base that corresponds to the amount of zooming that's needed to counteract the breathing. This won't work at the very ends of the zoom but should be fine. There could also be a plug-in to FCP/Red cine that could use the same info to do the same thing in post. We're only talking about 2-4% punch in so it won't be visable form a quality stand point.

 

[jaadgy akanni]

Thanks Evin. Wow, things keep getting better and better.