Birger Lens Mount Reservations

[Jason Ing]

There is a minor issue with the locking pin assembly on almost every lens mount that we built over the last few days. I did not catch it until final inspection. We are fixing the problem in house. Very few shipments go out today. We will be caught up by end of day on tuesday. Our machine shop has made over 1,500 sets of these parts over the past few years...:ranting2: and... it would be nice if everybody here did not expand the scope of my frustration until fedex picks up on tuesday. :wink:

a one day wait is a drop in the bucket.

 

[Kyle Mallory]

Erik, As long as you keep posting updated status/info, I'll keep a leash on myself and not call you... :w00t:

 

[Gregory Leno]

There is a minor issue with the locking pin assembly on almost every lens mount that we built over the last few days. I did not catch it until final inspection. We are fixing the problem in house. Very few shipments go out today. We will be caught up by end of day on tuesday. Our machine shop has made over 1,500 sets of these parts over the past few years...:ranting2: and... it would be nice if everybody here did not expand the scope of my frustration until fedex picks up on tuesday. :wink:

No problem. Good to catch it now rather than later.
When we know what's happening we can sympathize rather than gripe.

Greg

 

[Jay A. Kelley]

EVF and Antenna

EVF and Antenna

ok there are a few solutions for the antennea. This is on the Install video, but not sure when it will be out, so I'll spill the beans here:

1: Mount the ET EVF clamp on TOP of the camera support instead of in front of it. If you have a cheese plate you can move the handle back, if not, then that's and issue. (You will need to take out the silver screws on the clamp and move them, it can be done)
2: Go to Zacuto.com and you will find a product called a ZDaptor. Order it with two 19mm clamps and you can use this to mount the EVF off one of your top rods IN FRONT of the antennea. It's not a very expensive piece. Less than $200. It's also cool cause you can mount the EVF in a LOT more places too.

Hope this helps.

Jay

 

[Paolo Tinari]

ok there are a few solutions for the antennea. This is on the Install video, but not sure when it will be out, so I'll spill the beans here:

1: Mount the ET EVF clamp on TOP of the camera support instead of in front of it. If you have a cheese plate you can move the handle back, if not, then that's and issue. (You will need to take out the silver screws on the clamp and move them, it can be done)
2: Go to Zacuto.com and you will find a product called a ZDaptor. Order it with two 19mm clamps and you can use this to mount the EVF off one of your top rods IN FRONT of the antennea. It's not a very expensive piece. Less than $200. It's also cool cause you can mount the EVF in a LOT more places too.

Hope this helps.

Jay

Hey Jay,
thanks for your inputs.
Is there any solution which involve moving the antenna instead?

 

[Joel Kaye]

1: Mount the ET EVF clamp on TOP of the camera support instead of in front of it. If you have a cheese plate you can move the handle back, if not, then that's and issue.

A universal mount can be used to mount the handle instead of a cheese plate. That's the solution I came up with. Don't love the solution.

I think the Zandy from Zacuto is might be the best part for the job:
http://store.zacuto.com/zandy.html

It's only $144. For another $100 you've got the entire Zacuto EVF mount. I think the combo of the Zandy and the ET Mount is probably the most flexible. I'm just not positive if the Zandy is 19mm to 19mm.

EDIT:
OK - Just got an email back from Zacuto. The Zandy is NOT 19mm to 19mm BUT they will have a new product for NAB that will do it. I think that will be a better part for this job because it allows both rods to slide. The problem with the ZDaptor to Zlock solution is that one of the rods bangs into the other one... so not really ideal for this application IMHO.

 

[Erik Widding]

Steve Sherrick and Ken Willinger came by today to do some testing that was supposed to happen on Sunday. They will be leaving me with most of Filmstar Rentals lenses so we can do some additional testing the next few days. I will let them post their impressions. They are out shooting with an Impero in the Public Garden.

I stayed back to see what we could get shipped out. Our internet went out at 4:30am, and did not come back up until about 4pm today. So the day was focused less on shipping and more on building and testing. Verizon warned us that it was going to be a long outage.

 

[Isaac Babcock]

Sure appreciate the update Erik - thank you.

 

[Kyle Mallory]

Steve Sherrick and Ken Willinger came by today to do some testing that was supposed to happen on Sunday. They will be leaving me with most of Filmstar Rentals lenses so we can do some additional testing the next few days. I will let them post their impressions. They are out shooting with an Impero in the Public Garden.

I stayed back to see what we could get shipped out. Our internet went out at 4:30am, and did not come back up until about 4pm today. So the day was focused less on shipping and more on building and testing. Verizon warned us that it was going to be a long outage.

Interpretation of loose translation: "Few (if any) mounts shipping today, More (quantity) reliable mounts shipping tomorrow."

If this is anything near correct, I'll be content for another day.

Thanks for the update, Erik!

 

[Jay A. Kelley]

A universal mount can be used to mount the handle instead of a cheese plate. That's the solution I came up with. Don't love the solution.

I think the Zandy from Zacuto is might be the best part for the job:
http://store.zacuto.com/zandy.html

It's only $144. For another $100 you've got the entire Zacuto EVF mount. I think the combo of the Zandy and the ET Mount is probably the most flexible. I'm just not positive if the Zandy is 19mm to 19mm.

EDIT:
OK - Just got an email back from Zacuto. The Zandy is NOT 19mm to 19mm BUT they will have a new product for NAB that will do it. I think that will be a better part for this job because it allows both rods to slide. The problem with the ZDaptor to Zlock solution is that one of the rods bangs into the other one... so not really ideal for this application IMHO.

Joel,

If you read my email you will notice that I said the Zdaptor, not the Zandy. This setup will be in the video and you can see it for yourself, works for me

Jay

 

[Jay A. Kelley]

Some of you have asked if there is any way to move the antennea around the ET EVF.

The answer is no. The EVF clamp sits RIGHT ON TOP of the mount. There is no room, not even for a right angle adaptor.

Jay

 

[Joel Kaye]

Joel,

If you read my email you will notice that I said the Zdaptor, not the Zandy. This setup will be in the video and you can see it for yourself, works for me

I understood that. I was wondering if another part would be better than the Zdapter but I'll definitely check out your videos. Thanks for putting them together.

 

[C.K.]

Hi all!

Pardon my ignorance, but I'm new in this thread and catching up on these complicated subjects takes a loooong time reading.
Anyway, I'm hoping a kind soul around here will take time answering those basic questions. Because, guess what, I'm still confused!

1- So it's shipping???
2- If it's shipping, that means that the product is working... That means that all birger people have to do now is gather third party supplies, assemble and ship... Right ? So then, they probably have a pretty good idea on how long it will take them to catch up all the orders? So the question is: If I were to order now, how long should it take to ship?
3- Say it takes a year for me to get my birger mount? And say by that time, Red has released the epic... Is there any word on future compatibility? OR, if the mount is not compatible, would it be safe to say that engineering a new compatible mount won't be too long, since they don't have to start from scratch? Since it should mostly only be mecanical adjustments to make it work?
4- What's collimation ?
5- So it works with all ef canon lenses? Or most of them? Or we don't know? Or ultimately yes?
6- Birger+impero+cheap-yet-beautifull-canon-lenses is the REAL SHIT for indies, isn't it ?

Thanks for your help. I'm sure (i know) they are many people like me very confused and having a hard time gathering informations...

I'm soooo tired of always searching forums for info, when it would be soooo easy to just update an official HTML page with Q&A and latest status updates... wouldn't it ? Wouldn't it???

 

[Jay A. Kelley]

I hope I don't get in trouble for this, but Zacuto does have another product coming out that's been designed to deal with the ET/Birger Antennea issue. Here's a pic:

http://www.zacutoimages.com/p439821282/haebe9e4#haebe9e4

It's called the Ztudio and it's supposed to work great.

Jay

 

[Ken Willinger]

1- So it's shipping???

Yes, I was at Birger yesterday and saw packages going out.

2- If it's shipping, that means that the product is working...

Steve Sherrick and I took a newly installed Birger mount with an Impero out into the Public Garden in Downtown Boston yesterday and recorded some footage with a few different lenses on the mount. The Impero talks to the mount...the mount talks to the lenses. It worked beautifully. Unfortunately we ran out of time to go through all the lenses we had and hopefully will do another day testing more lenses on the system.

So the question is: If I were to order now, how long should it take to ship?

Soon

3- Say it takes a year for me to get my birger mount?

It won't. Everyone will be very satisfied very soon.

Is there any word on future compatibility? OR, if the mount is not compatible, would it be safe to say that engineering a new compatible mount won't be too long, since they don't have to start from scratch? Since it should mostly only be mecanical adjustments to make it work?

Eric and Birger Engineering are doing some very cool stuff.

4- What's collimation ?

There is a system within the Birger mount that allows you to adjust the lens on the mount so that the focus marks are correct for your lens on your camera. "Collimation" refers to the process of tweaking an optical instrument for the best possible image quality.

5- So it works with all ef canon lenses? Or most of them? Or we don't know? Or ultimately yes?

The Birger mount worked with all the lenses we tested yesterday.

6- Birger+impero+cheap-yet-beautifull-canon-lenses is the REAL SHIT for indies, isn't it?

This is truly an impressive system for using electronic still lenses on the Red camera. This system rocks. You'll have the ability to use and control fast, light lenses on your camera...great for handheld too. The mount itself is very robust. The lenses go on solidly and never felt loose. Attaching the mount to the camera was an easy process and can be done in 10 minutes. The collimation process took about 30 minutes using a fiddle head focus chart at about 3 meters. I'm really looking forward to getting my system!

 

[Paul Cronin]

Ken nice to meet you yesterday hope I did not make you late. I did not know you were going to shoot with the Birger yesterday. I agree it is a great system and offers proven very high quality EF-L lens on the Red.

One other point top make is the IS on the Canon lens like the 24-105 and the 70-200 works VERY well with the mount. You will be pleasantly surprised by the stabilization.

Eirk and Birger do high quality work and the Red family is lucky to have this options.

 

[Erik Widding]

The collimation process took about 30 minutes using a fiddle head focus chart at about 3 meters.

Mmmm fiddleheads... I can be bribed with fiddleheads... the season is so short... with a browned butter viniagrette... and suddenly I wake from the trance sitting at my desk. Back to work.

 

[Paolo Tinari]

Mmmm fiddleheads... I can be bribed with fiddleheads... the season is so short... with a browned butter viniagrette... and suddenly I wake from the trance sitting at my desk. Back to work.

Hey Eric,
got anything for me?
Didnt hear from you about my change of address...

 

[Robert Trim]

We got our Birger mount last week but due to a shoot where the DP wanted to use ziess primes, we are unable to mount it up until yesterday. In a word... nice. We have several lenses and all worked wonderfully after the collimation. The only issue is lace of documentation which is important in an academic setting. The install instructions were spot on and very easy to follow. But all other information on what the buttons do, what the other connectors are for, how you get the lens info into the EVF's is not with the mount. If anyone has cobbed together a sheet on this that is available, would be appreciated.

We even pulled the Zagatto follow focus off our HVX and the teeth lined up pretty darn good with the rubber teeth on the Cannon lenses. Not pro... but usable in our setting, until the knobs are sent out.

It was wonderful to see the students faces lightup with the first image on the 23" panasonic monitor. One of our students has now worked on 2 pro RED shoots in the camera dept and has really go the whole lens setup, back focus, etc. thing down. The other students gathered 'round and he did the session. Wonderful to see peer mentoring in action.

Thanks Eric and crew. Getting the mount in time for our spring semester workshops could not be better timed.

 

[Joel Kaye]

I hope I don't get in trouble for this, but Zacuto does have another product coming out that's been designed to deal with the ET/Birger Antennea issue. Here's a pic:

http://www.zacutoimages.com/p439821282/haebe9e4#haebe9e4

It's called the Ztudio and it's supposed to work great.

It's funny, the description at Zacuto is exactly what I described yesterday would be coming out at NAB - a Zandy with 2 19mm openings. I'm guessing you missed that post:
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showpost.php?p=388854&postcount=5386