Always the same issues with Canon Mounts

[vincent kardasik]

More than a complaint, I'm looking for help...
Since upgrading to DSMC2 a few years ago, I have a remaining problem with my Canon mounts. At some point, for no reason, it does not establish connection between the lens and the camera.
It happened on my Helium body and on my Monstro with 3 different Canon mounts.
It comes and go. Sometimes I have no issues for months and sometimes it keeps happening for an entire week. Sometimes when using the re-discover function in the menu, it fixes the issue straight away, sometimes I have to re-boot the camera several times or resets it, re-install the firmware, etc... Also play with activating the autofocus and disengaging it, mounting un-mounting the lens... Which is quite difficult when using a water housing.
I've been in touch with Red support several times about it, I sent my mounts to evaluation, they work ok, I even sent my camera for servicing and it was ok but when I don't expect it, the problem comes back.
Right now, I'm shooting water sequences with my Monstro for a feature film and every time I boot the camera, connection is lost between lens and body, whatever the lens I use... Imagine how painful it is and how un-professional I look.
A camera is an Alexa LF and I have the all camera department telling me: "Red is not reliable, especially when it comes to electronic"...
I'm thinking about buying a 3rd party mount (from Kippertie for example) and I really hope it definitely fix that issue.
Around me, a lot of people shoots with EF lenses and when I mention my issue, they tell me, the same happens to them... But as they're shooting in the studio or on land, they tweak, reboot the camera, etc... And it fixes everything.
Anyone here experiencing this and knowing how to fix it?

 

[Mark D Wood]

My team experienced the same thing on a shoot with the red helium and a 2 canon lens's and a wired lens mount. The director could focus the lens by hand and get it to be sharp, yet in autofocus mode when you clicked on a focus point in the LED display nothing would happen, even though we got it to work inside just the other day. Leads to a bit of lost confidence I should say....You are saying you do a reboot and rmove/re-atach then lens and sometimes it comes back? We will have to try that...hopefully someone who has solved this issue will show up on this thread...

 

[Phil Holland]

The biggest issues I've seen regarding lens information dropping off usually comes down to a few things.

- Ensure the contacts on the DSMC2 EF Mount are clean, both camera side and lens side.
- Similarly, lens contacts should also be clean.
- If a lens is too heavy or not locked properly it can move and make the camera lose connection. This happens on other systems as well.

I've seen it on RED, Arri, and Canon basically where somebody is rigging an EF lens and then egages a follow focus gear with enough force to unseat the connectors enough for the camera to drop.

RED did a good thing with the locking collar. That should always be used when using an EF Mount for motion work IMO.