Lens Mounts for Epic

[Jannard]

Also can you tell us how Mysterium + Redcode work ?

No.

Jim

 

[Mitch Gross]

May I humbly suggest moving from 4 bolts on the mount to six? My fear would be in keeping planarity consistent as the mounts were repeatedly swapped in the field. A three-legged table will always have all the feet hit the floor. A four-legged table will always have at least one foot NOT hitting the grown unless extreme precision is used. Not that RED couldn't build a mount with extreme precision, but that mount could suffer a lot of abuse out in the field (the things I've seen...).

Four points means the geometry of the mount is a square. Six points is a pair of inverted triangles, like a Jewish star. Far more stability and sustainable planarity in that geometry. Many lens mounts use six or even better eight points of contact.

 

[Jannard]

May I humbly suggest moving from 4 bolts on the mount to six? My fear would be in keeping planarity consistent as the mounts were repeatedly swapped in the field. A three-legged table will always have all the feet hit the floor. A four-legged table will always have at least one foot NOT hitting the grown unless extreme precision is used. Not that RED couldn't build a mount with extreme precision, but that mount could suffer a lot of abuse out in the field (the things I've seen...).

Four points means the geometry of the mount is a square. Six points is a pair of inverted triangles, like a Jewish star. Far more stability and sustainable planarity in that geometry. Many lens mounts use six or even better eight points of contact.

Our mounts have passed every tests we have thrown at them... more stable than the RED ONE mount. A table rests on its legs. A mount rests on its surfaces...

Jim

 

[Mitch Gross]

Fair enough. I make no judgements until actually testing a finished product.

 

[Mark Pedersen]

RED mounts are not PL mounts. No reason to duplicate a PL mount with a different name. The RED mount would be the equivalent to a Canon or Nikon mount for RED lenses.

If you are lucky, you can change mounts with no calibration of back-focus... like a RED ONE now. If it is needed, it should be very slight. Instead of the mount being adjustable, the sensor block is. It is really slick and solid.

If you own a Scarlet S35 brain and an EPIC S35 brain and use PL mounts, you will need one for each body.

Jim

Got it. I can see that they are not PL mounts from the images.

But you didn't really answer my question... Can I use a PL mount on an Epic FF35? It shows a Red Mount, and lists it in the specs, not PL. Does it come with a Red mount, and then I have to order a separate PL? Or does it come with no mount and I choose one or the other?

And if the Red Mount is just for Red lenses, does it give us something of value over a standard PL mount?

In other words, if I have PL mount lenses and Red lenses (which are PL), is there any reason why I would want to use the Red Mount with say, an 18-85 or your primes?

I guess I'm wondering why you'd bother to make your own mount if your lenses are all PL compatible. There must be something special about them right??

Is the Red mount compatible with Red, Nikon & Canon?

M

 

[Jannard]

You can order any mount you want. The RED mount is a proprietary mount that works with RED lenses for full frame 35mm stills. It is an auto-focus, image stabilized program. Much like a stills Canon or Nikon lens program. Different than the RED PL mount series lenses that include the 18-85mm zoom.

Jim

 

[Jason Ing]

You can order any mount you want. The RED mount is a proprietary mount that works with RED lenses for full frame 35mm stills. It is an auto-focus, image stabilized program. Much like a stills Canon or Nikon lens program. Different than the RED PL mount series lenses that include the 18-85mm zoom.

Jim

Can I put this on my Red One? Or should I say, will I be able to use the Red lenses to their full potential on my Red One?

 

[Jannard]

Can I put this on my Red One? Or should I say, will I be able to use the Red lenses to their full potential on my Red One?

The RED ONE sensor is not large enough to fully use the RED mount lenses. But they can be used the same as a Nikon or Canon lens.

Jim

 

[Jason Ing]

got it. thanks.

 

[Mark Pedersen]

You can order any mount you want. The RED mount is a proprietary mount that works with RED lenses for full frame 35mm stills. It is an auto-focus, image stabilized program. Much like a stills Canon or Nikon lens program. Different than the RED PL mount series lenses that include the 18-85mm zoom.

Jim

Jim,

OK. That makes total sense. I guess that means you'll be producing still lenses! Didn't know that. You are one amazing entrepreneur!

Now I hate be be a friggin' nag, but please answer this one simple question, yes or no... can you use a PL mount on a Epic FF35 brain?

The answer will tell me which Epic to order

Thanks!

M

 

[Evangelos Achillopoulos]

So we will have a sensor block movement with micro motors to auto/manual adjust the back focus?

This reminds me, another camera designer... I thing he has patent this...

Its a great idea, thought.

Mitch, Jim, I would suggest to change the screws that will hold the mount from hexagon plain black metal to stainless steel Torx because is very difficult to damage them...

 

[Chris Newman]

Now I hate be be a friggin' nag, but please answer this one simple question, yes or no... can you use a PL mount on a Epic FF35 brain?

The specs pages list PL mount as working with the FF35 brains, but there will likely be vignetting, so you will have to crop to the center S35 of the sensor.

 

[Brook Willard]

Mark, they have confirmed that you'll be able to put a PL mount on the FF35 and 645 brains and shoot in a "cropped" mode for 3-perf or 4-perf super 35mm.

 

[Eric Ulbrich]

Speaking of all these mounting changes. Jim you have posted that you might need a small amount of BF tweaking in the field to switch mounts. As someone who would be a first time buyer of RED specifically the FF35 Epic, would RED ever consider creating a field Collimator for the camera? If not can anyone recommend an option to take a look at? I think being able to do a field check could help to alleviate some of these worries.

 

[Brook Willard]

Eric, considering how dramatic the new sensor/backfocus/collimation concept is, I'd imagine that RED has to have something up their sleeve for such things. Since we can't use a depth gauge on the camera and a sharpmax costs as much as the camera... there must be a different solution.

Using a wide prime and feeling it in is a little frustrating. If the sensor block moves on the camera, that means that there are three main solutions that I can think of:

1. The mount must be removed and a tool must be used to adjust the sensor depth. The mount would then be reinstalled and the collimation would be checked with a wide prime or collimator. That's miserable.

2. The mount would be installed and the sensor depth would be adjustable from a screw on the side of the camera body. Not terrible.

3. The sensor depth is somehow motorized and has preset and fine-tunable positions.

Granted there are many other options, but those are the three that yell out to me.

I still hold many concerns about the concept, but I won't get worried until I actually have some details to work with. So ultimately, any discussion of how to collimate the camera is pure speculation at this point.

In other words, I'd imagine that RED has something up their sleeve as a solution for us.

 

[Mark Pedersen]

Mark, they have confirmed that you'll be able to put a PL mount on the FF35 and 645 brains and shoot in a "cropped" mode for 3-perf or 4-perf super 35mm.

Brook,

Thanks. I hadn't seen that confirmed anywhere. With so many places to post comments on Epic, and not enough time to rummage through every post, it can be challenging.

Cheers,
M

 

[Mark Pedersen]

3. The sensor depth is somehow motorized and has preset and fine-tunable positions.

That's what I was also asking about in my earlier post... is there something planned that will make field BF adjustments or at least pre-shoot bench calibration possible with electronic/mechanical pre-sets based on the mount being used?

Hope so.

M

 

[Brook Willard]

That's what I was also asking about in my earlier post... is there something planned that will make field BF adjustments or at least pre-shoot bench calibration possible with electronic/mechanical pre-sets based on the mount being used?

Hope so.

M

It'd sure be a nice system. Swapping mounts may take only a minute, but if collimation takes significant special equipment and time... it's no longer a viable production move.

 

[Mark Pedersen]

Yup. That would be the best bet.

BTW, everything they've announced is just plain awesome. But it's a LOT of new product to support. I just hope they staff up like crazy to deal with it all, including increased production and service demands, customer support etc. With as long as its taken to get new lenses out the door, I wonder how long it's going to be before we see all of this new glass and gear shipping, bugs worked out, etc.

Meanwhile, I'm keeping the faith, salivating at the possibilities and hating the wait

M

 

[JanneJansson]

That's what I was also asking about in my earlier post... is there something planned that will make field BF adjustments or at least pre-shoot bench calibration possible with electronic/mechanical pre-sets based on the mount being used?

Hope so.

M

This sounds like cool technology. Auto-focus INSIDE the camera