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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 :)

Birger Lens Mount Reservations

Guys probably you were not so fast to order.

I have got may order confirmation at 11/29/2007.
 
The Third Man said:
Guys probably you were not so fast to order.

I have got may order confirmation at 11/29/2007.
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Hi sanjin,
you maybe right. You ordered before the mass orders that sent the birgers in crisis. When i did my order nov 27 i was not expecting it was a race.

When you did yors?
 
Let it be, please. Erik needs his precious time in our own behalf: Birger mount succeed.
 
I wasn't asking just to bug Erik or have him speak up. I just wanted to know if others are still waiting, if anything now I'm happy because I realize it's not just me thinking my order is lost, and it's obvious he just hasn't sent out emails. Nothing more.
 
birgerEngineer said:
Only the first few days of reservations, and a few of the 100% deposits, have been processed. A few in the later category was processed as some expressed need to process payments for tax or other reasons by year end. Please note, the last category did not get an earlier time stamp, just some slightly earler processing.
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Guys, read the above quote again and stop the whining already. Erik got all of our orders and will process them when he gets time. I haven't gotten my confirmation and I ain't worried. I spoke to Erik last Thursday, and everything seems to be coming along just fine. Relax and chill; Erik will come through.
 
jaadgy akanni said:
Guys, read the above quote again and stop the whining already. Erik got all of our orders and will process them when he gets time. I haven't gotten my confirmation and I ain't worried. I spoke to Erik last Thursday, and everything seems to be coming along just fine. Relax and chill; Erik will come through.
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Jaadgy, I guess your email system is a lot more reliable than most. Over the years, hundreds of my emails have bear lost to technical problems. Spammers can spoof email addresses from the same POP servers that host your email leading to your server being blacklisted and your email bouncing before it even gets to Birger's inbox. When an email goes unanswered and unacknowledged, the only reasonable assumption is that it never made it there.

They say that they are very busy at Birger trying to get the mount finished and can't get to the backlog of emailed reservations without delaying delivery.... I accept that and so can only hope that in four weeks time I don't find out that they have no idea who I am and that I must re-submit and move to the back of the line for another several week wait. Since it appears I am not alone in this, I take some heart.
 
I sent mine by fax..don't trust email

I sent mine by fax..don't trust email

Clint, if you sent it by email there should be a dated copy of it in your "sent" box that you can use as proof. If I were you I'd make a printout of that and send it by fax or regular mail just to make sure, together with a letter explaining why you're sending it. If you sent it by fax, you can send a copy of the receipt and/or one of the original faxed form which I presumed was dated by the machine or the computer.
 
birgerEngineer said:
We have had pre-beta units on Boris (or was it Natasha), city named cameras, early numbered cameras, upgraded city named cameras, and in a few days (when aquavideo's camera gets here) on real production 100+ serial number cameras. Every single time something has been different, that has materially affected the design of our product.
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This morning I unpacked the AquaVideo camera (#206) and removed the PL mount. There have been some changes. I need confirmation on some issues from RED (specifically tolerances) before I can send this to manufacturing. I will post as soon as I know the complete scope of these changes, and the effect they will have on delivery.

I had a few days of shop time scheduled tomorrow to start making the mechanicals... which we had to fill with a different job to not lose the time. Hopefully we can get this resolved by my next slot some time next week.

I will print some mechanical parts in the FDM so we can take some images of a smooth focus pull, and post later this week. I have aqua's camera "as long as need it" to finish off these last details.
 
birgerEngineer said:
... take some images of a smooth focus pull, and post later this week. I have aqua's camera "as long as need it" to finish off these last details
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Thanks for the update & thank you to AquaVideo for helping out !!! ... hopefully RED will provide the detail ASAP :sarcasm:
 
Obviously, Aquavideo is due a lot of props on this loaner!

I'm REALLY, REALLY, REALLY counting on the Birger mount to be the answer to all of my lens problems.

You can do it, Erik!

Stephen
 
birgerEngineer said:
Problem with the 10-22 is the variable aperture, so zooming, without correcting for exposure in post is kind of out. And for this to be truly workable, it will need the, yet to be announced (so don't ask me any questions about it) zoom motor, so that the focal length information (and resulting aperture) can be provided accurately to the camera.
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Hm, that's perplexing. Doesn't the lens provide the focal-length information? It's right there in the EXIF info when you shoot with a Canon zoom. I wouldn't think that an external zoom motor would be a necessary or even reliable source of this information.
 
I'm counting on it too! and a word about the lenses.

I'm counting on it too! and a word about the lenses.

Stephen Pruitt said:
Obviously, Aquavideo is due a lot of props on this loaner!

I'm REALLY, REALLY, REALLY counting on the Birger mount to be the answer to all of my lens problems.

You can do it, Erik!

Stephen
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Thanks, guys and I'm counting on it too!

Stokestack said:
Originally Posted by birgerEngineer
Problem with the 10-22 is the variable aperture, so zooming, without correcting for exposure in post is kind of out. And for this to be truly workable, it will need the, yet to be announced (so don't ask me any questions about it) zoom motor, so that the focal length information (and resulting aperture) can be provided accurately to the camera.

Stokestack
Hm, that's perplexing. Doesn't the lens provide the focal-length information? It's right there in the EXIF info when you shoot with a Canon zoom. I wouldn't think that an external zoom motor would be a necessary or even reliable source of this information.
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I think you might have a point there stokestack. I think the main thing he was trying to say is that because of the variable aperture you need to think of it as a variable prime. I think he got himself confused by thinking into the next phase - i.e. he had mentioned a long time ago that they do get the zoom info thru the lens and that at some time in the future it left open the possibility that they could use that info for breathing compensation and that would require a zoom motor since the zoom on the lens is manual only.-So like you say it seems like it may be possible to do the iris compensation in software.

From what I understand, I think RED made substantial physical changes to the front end of the camera for the new mount and he has to redo the circuit board. I remember him posting that they bought their own pick and place machine so they can do most of the board manufacturing in house - but it is still a pretty significant headache to change at this point and he's probably got to be pretty focused on just getting it physically working again.

As far as the 10-22 - that is a lens that is critical for us underwater guys but we were mainly just using it fixed at the wide end or possibly a variable prime so aren't concerned with the aperture shift. For most of your shooting though you should probably look at the 24-70mm F2.8 and 70-200 F2.8 L series zooms as they are the top quality glass and won't have any iris issues and as Thor has posted they even perform very well in terms of breathing.
And although the still camera guys think of them as being expensive at about $1100 and $1600 (for the IS version) respectively, coming from the video world that seems dirt cheap to me and the other thing with the L lenses is that you can buy them mail order and anytime you want you can sell them on ebay for 80% or more of what you paid for them within 3 days - there really isn't much depreciation. For the wide side if the aperture issue is a problem you can use the 16-35 F2.8L for about $1400 and use the 10-22 as a specialty lens for the extreme wide.

Just as a side note, I know it was frustrating for people not to know what was going on but I think this change was exactly what Erik was afraid of as a worst case. The repeated delays and then the mount change just made it hard to say anything. I had concerns too and fortunately it didn't change much for me as far as underwater housings - but it was a pretty significant knuckleball for the design of a different mount (and it may have major repercussions for the guys that made the FD mount as well). I know Erik is focused - and I want to get my new toy back ASAP as well - so he knows I will be nudging him. I think we all need to just sit back and think how significant this product is ($1450 to turn a $1500 lens into the same capability as a $40K lens - with a free follow focus to boot - that will be upgraded to wireless and probably substantial cool controls as well), be patient and let him get it worked out.
 
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