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Results of the Birger mount with my Sigma lenses

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Mark B.

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I've tested the Sigma 50mm and 105mm macro lenses, and they both work with the Birger mount.

My Sigma 17-35 (f/2.8-f/4) does NOT work with the mount. That really sucks because it's one of my most used lenses (though admittedly it is getting older and probably could use a replacement... not that I can afford it at this time).

The Sigma 70-200 F2.8 is a mixed bag. The first time I put it on, it worked fine... until I pressed the close-down aperture button over and over. I figured it would stop when the lens aperture had closed all the way, but instead the lens motor made a rather disconcerting sound, trying to close down the aperture beyond what the lens would accept. At that point I backed it up to f/2.8 and removed the lens. I tried a different lens (the 50mm Sigma macro), which worked and stopped down at the correct maximum f-stop, and then tried the same with the 105mm macro and that also worked fine. Then I put the 70-200 back on the Birger mount, but this time it would not recognize the lens at all. I then checked the 70-200 on my Canon SLR body, and the lens operated on auto settings correctly; I set the lens to f2.8 and ran it through a bit of auto-focus. I put it back on the Birger mount one more time, but again got no response from the Birger mount. I'm not sure why it worked the first time and not any of the other times. The 70-200 lens is extremely awesome and I hope someday I can use it on the Red.

Can Birger get these lenses working with the mount? Or are we permanently limited to only the lenses it supports when it ships?
 
Oh, I also tested a really old Sigma 70-210 (f/4.5 - f/5.6) lens and that one worked fine on the mount.
 
Lowkus said:
Can Birger get these lenses working with the mount? Or are we permanently limited to only the lenses it supports when it ships?
Click to expand...

Then you write:
"I also tested a really old Sigma 70-210 (f/4.5 - f/5.6) lens and that one worked fine on the mount."

But this lens is not supposed to be supported at shipping time,is it ?
So limitation might not come from here, strange ?
 
LEON said:
Then you write:
"I also tested a really old Sigma 70-210 (f/4.5 - f/5.6) lens and that one worked fine on the mount."

But this lens is not supposed to be supported at shipping time,is it ?
So limitation might not come from here, strange ?
Click to expand...
My 70-210 f/4.5-5.6 lens was sent back to the factory for a chip upgrade (many years back, probably in 1999 or 2000 I think). The original chip in that lens had some compatibility issues with Canon's protocol, so Sigma did a very quietly advertised free upgrade. I think a lot of people never sent their lens in for the upgrade, so that might explain why that particular lens works for some and not for others. If you still have the lens and haven't upgraded, Sigma might still be available for upgrading the chip. It's a really old lens though, you'd probably be better off just buying a newer lens. The 70-200 f2.8 on the other hand... that's a fairly recent lens and not cheap.
 
Well, ignore my test results for now. I just looked closely at the pins on my Birger mount... a couple of them are permanently depressed inwards and won't spring back out. That would explain why the 70-200 worked once and then not a second time. I'll have to talk to Erik about getting the mount repaired and then I'll try the tests again later.
 
I also have the 70-200mm sigma lens... i really want it to work..

It sucks ass on my canon though... i can never get it to focus fast enough.. it takes ages to focus sometimes.
 
Akube said:
I also have the 70-200mm sigma lens... i really want it to work..

It sucks ass on my canon though... i can never get it to focus fast enough.. it takes ages to focus sometimes.
Click to expand...

I always thought it had a good focusing speed. I tend to use manual focus a lot though, so maybe I just don't notice the auto-focus issues as much. That lens makes one of the best images out of all my lenses. The bokeh is awesome.
 
Erik got in touch with me on this issue and hopefully things will be fixed quickly.
 
Still waiting for a replacement part from Birger.
 
Still waiting...
 
Lowkus said:
I just looked closely at the pins on my Birger mount... a couple of them are permanently depressed inwards and won't spring back out.
Click to expand...

One would expect this part of the product not to fail ... after all, that 'interface' must be something that has been out for a while now on Birger mounts, for Red and non-Red !
So far I've not had any issues (luck?) ... fingers crossed the quality of support improves :sad:

After waiting so long for the mount, it must be a real bummer for those in the field developing problems :sad: :sad: :sad:
 
h2opixels said:
One would expect this part of the product not to fail ... after all, that 'interface' must be something that has been out for a while now on Birger mounts, for Red and non-Red !
So far I've not had any issues (luck?) ... fingers crossed the quality of support improves :sad:

After waiting so long for the mount, it must be a real bummer for those in the field developing problems :sad: :sad: :sad:
Click to expand...

Apparently Erik modified the pin assembly after he'd already shipped out the first batch of mounts. So probably if you're in the later batch you won't see the pin problems.

What I've learned from my time with Red and Birger is that people who are early adopters, who are supposed to get fantastic benefits for early adoption, typically get shafted on stability while the people who show up later are given fully functioning equipment. The early adopters are beta testers, with warranties that will likely expire before the beta period even finishes. I thought the professional video hardware industry would be different from the software world, but apparently not.

Still no word on the replacement part from Birger.
 
Got a call from Erik... replacement part is on the way!
 
Akube said:
did you get it back lowkus?
Click to expand...

No. Erik didn't follow through on his promise to ship me the replacement part. I thought maybe the reason was because there might be other issues in the mount that would require a full replacement, but when I emailed Erik asking about it I never received a response. I think his company needs to implement a customer service "To Do" list. The "commit it to memory" method doesn't work very well when you have a larger customer base.
 
Still no reply from Birger.
 
I know buddy.. it'll take some time.. i am ordering an andy mount to keep on a side should anything happen to my birger.
 
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