Michael Hastings
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2006
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So what kinda mounts do you need for this?
It is a straightforward modern mount like Canon EF or Nikon. No more difficult for someone to develop/reverse engineer a smart mount for four thirds lenses than for Canon EF or Nikon. And since it is an open standard it seems like it would actually be easier to develop and maybe not have the potential legal problems that might come up if RED itself puts an EF mount on their cameras.
I have been under the impression that the camera companies can't really stop other companies like sigma, tokina, etc. from making compatible lenses, but that the proprietary/patented mounts with internal software were a different story. In other words you can't stop someone from making a lens that RESPONDS to the commands the mount sends out, but both copyright and patent law could stop you from making the mount that contains the code that ISSUES the commands. EF and Nikon electronic mounts are proprietary, but the four/thirds system was designed to be used by multiple camera makers. Again, C mount and B4 are open standard dumb mounts but don't really bring much to the table in 2008.
I thought that someone like birger or Alesniak could get away with it only because they are so small and in the case of birger always previously was used in a noncompetitive industrial/cctv type of market. But RED would be a direct competitor with deep enough pockets to be worthwhile going after. Not trying to create FUD, just wondering if anyone (RED or others) could expound on whether there are legal issues AND whether we might be on to something with the four/thirds idea.