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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Birger Lens Mount Reservations

BillG said:
Of course, with Birger having had a big headstart on a Canon Mount with a previous product, I had expected it to be released first, but I was surprised to see Sigma and the Fourthirds (!?!) Mount given priority over the Nikon Mount. Does anybody really use the Fourthirds format? That's Olympus, right?
Click to expand...

FourThirds is a consortium of companies; it is all electronic; lenses are remarkably sharp and fast given the smaller image circle. The tooling costs for Sigma and FourThirds are a fraction of those for the Nikon. The Sigma is already working in the lab. PMA in January is when I have access to the bulk of the Sigma and FourThirds lenses, none of which are really available for rental.

I woke up this morning, surprised to see just how many orders have already landed. Approximate stats:
1. 80% Canon
2. 20% Nikon
3. 0% FourThirds
4. 0% Sigma

If the trend continues, and nobody orders the FourThirds or Sigma, we will certainly adjust the delivery date for the Nikon. Vote with a refundable deposit. The more votes we get for Nikon mounts, the more money we are willing to spend on tooling, and the faster this will get done.
 
I'm pretty sure Nikon is by far the most popular mount for 35mm adapter owners (Redrock M2 etc), and many of these people (like me) are now moving up to Red with SLR-mount.

It's a shame the focus is only for AF-S lenses; almost all of the best Nikon lenses do not have AF-S.
 
birgerEngineer said:
I woke up this morning, surprised to see just how many orders have already landed. Approximate stats:
1. 80% Canon
2. 20% Nikon
3. 0% FourThirds
4. 0% Sigma
Click to expand...

Glad to hear from you Erik.

I'd be willing to bet that, if you were releasing the Canon and Nikon Mounts at the same time, the proportion would be closer to 60%/40%. And, as the release of the Birger Nikon Mount approaches, I would expect to see the percentages even out some.

Canon has clearly pulled ahead of Nikon in the professional digital stills market in recent years, so those entering the profession in the last ten to fifteen years are more likely to have started with Canon.

But many of us who got started in the '70s-'80s still have a fierce allegiance to Nikon--or, at least, still have a considerable investment in Nikkor optics that we'd like to leverage. ;-)

Please do keep us in mind in the weeks and months ahead.
 
Hi Erik,

I'm just about to place an order for one Canon EOS Mount. Thanks for building it!

A couple of small things regarding the order form:

- By law you are not supposed to keep CVV information once the transaction is completed. How will you enforce this?

- As with too many of these sorts of forms, think about updating the form so humans can write normal sized letters in the spaces provided for details!


Aside from those issues, well done and I look forward to hearing more about it during LART.

Cheers,

Paul
 
visceralpsyche said:
- As with too many of these sorts of forms, think about updating the form so humans can write normal sized letters in the spaces provided for details!
Click to expand...

Agreed!

Or maybe a .PDF that you can enter text into and resave... I just scanned mine after filling it out last night, and e-mailed the scan, as I didn't want the 2 bit FAX to render my already difficult to read hand printing un-readable...
 
Before decide to order a mount (for example 4/3 Olympus) people should not forget that the Olympus 4/3 sensor is 13.5mmx18mm or half the diagonal of full-frame 35mm.

4/3 is a digital-only standard supported by Olympus, Leica, Panasonic, Sigma, Fuji, and Sanyo. Lenses designed for 4/3 will work on any 4/3 camera and they are not designed to be used with larger or smaller sensors. Since the sensor diagonal is half the size of 35mm, the 4/3 lenses behave like 35mm lenses that are twice their focal length. Full-frame DSLRs use traditional 35mm lenses, so you don't need to worry about multipliers.

However, the majority of today's digital SLRs using a very nonstandard sensor somewhere around APS-C size (22mmx15mm). This is why we have a range of lens multipliers on today's DSLR cameras, depending on brand. Nikon, Sony, Pentax, and Samsung are at 1.5x, Canon is at 1.6x, and the specialized Sigma Foveon sensor is at 1.74x. These multipliers represent how 35mm lenses will appear on these cameras - because they mainly use 35mm lenses. That means an 18-70mm lens on a 1.5x camera would appear like a 27mm-105mm lens on a 35mm film camera. There are also dedicated lenses for these in-between sensors with names like DX. They work fine on the digital SLR, but they are not usable on full-frame DSLR or 35mm film cameras.
 
birgerEngineer said:
I woke up this morning, surprised to see just how many orders have already landed. Approximate stats:
1. 80% Canon
2. 20% Nikon
3. 0% FourThirds
4. 0% Sigma
Click to expand...

Hi Erik,

Here are my thoughts on why this trend will (should) continue. First on Sigma-
1. If you want or need a Sigma lens they are available in Canon and Nikon mounts. If you buy a Sigma lens with a Nikon or Canon mount it will work on many more SLR bodies than if you buy it in a Sigma mount.
2. If you buy a birger-Sigma mount you can ONLY use Sigma produced lenses on that mount. If you buy a birger-Canon mount you can use Sigma lenses in a Canon mount AND Canon lenses (as well as other third party Canon mount lenses). Same applies to the birger-Nikon mount.

As for the FourThirds-
1. The FourThirds image circle will not cover the S35 image circle required for shooting Red at 4k. They should work well for 2k but that is very limiting. The Large Sensor and 4k resolution are two of the HUGE reasons for the popularity of the Red One camera.
2. There are far fewer choices of FourThirds lens, both brands and models, than Canon or Nikon.

As far as the 80% Canon 20% Nikon I will point out that the only reason that I have not already placed my order for the birger-Nikon mount is the time frame for delivery. I have Nikon lenses and I hope to receive my Red #443 between mid December and early January. I spent several hours last night researching Canon lenses. I am considering purchasing a birger-Canon mount AND a set of Canons lenses for the time between when my Red arrives and when you ship the birger-Nikon mount. I would then sell the Canon lenses after I get the birger-Nikon.

I think your products looks great so far. I will second the suggestion someone made for a smaller controller custom designed for Iris control. Having two full sized rail mount Knobs seems to large for me.
 
Scot Olson said:
If you buy a birger-Canon mount you can use Sigma lenses in a Canon mount AND Canon lenses (as well as other third party Canon mount lenses). Same applies to the birger-Nikon mount.
Click to expand...

Yeah - that's kinda my logic. I put in an order for a Canon despite that I already have a set of Nikon lenses. I may order a Nikon Birger later. I just hope production ramps up for these units so that shipping Dec 15th means a lot of units are shipping. I really don't want to have to rent PL lenses for two months after my camera arrives because guys with cameras due in months are getting their Birgers first because they saw this thread first.

Eric, will there be a standard whip accessory port on the FF wheel?
Is the wheel sensitivity configurable from lens to lens? Obviously the biggest concern with SLR lenses is the small throw between focus distances.
 
birgerEngineer said:
If the trend continues, and nobody orders the FourThirds or Sigma, we will certainly adjust the delivery date for the Nikon. Vote with a refundable deposit. The more votes we get for Nikon mounts, the more money we are willing to spend on tooling, and the faster this will get done.
Click to expand...

I think there's a lot more Nikon users here than your orders would suggest. I would bet that many, including myself, are concerned about the release date of the Nikon mount.

Assuming that you get a lot more Nikon reservations (say Canon 60%, Nikon 40%, FourThirds and Sigma 0%), can you give us an idea of how far up you can move delivery date for the Nikon mount?
 
I'm planning to send in the reservation for the Nikon mount. I'll probably do so later today or on monday. I'm just a bit undecided, but I don't want to lose the opportunity for that free bluetooth controller -- Thanks Erik!

But I'm still undecided on using Nikon lenses with RED. Originally, I was planning to do so from a budget point of view since I already have a decent Nikkor collection. But things have changed and I still plan to buy the RED 18-50, 50-150 and the 300 and possibly others that come along. I'm still interested in using the Nikon glass for a few of my more obscure lenses.
 
I just sent in my reservation for another Nikon mount version. I know of at least one more Nikon res coming in locally. I won't be surprised if Nikon moves up to 40%
 
I have to say am quite unhappy with the way things are turning out.
The nikon mount was probably the most anticipated product from Birger.
We'll be receiving cameras shortly and so far there is no nikon mount available.
I'll hold with the reservation, until things get more clear

Eric, why don't you get some sort of on line statistics to find out the real number of Nikon/Canon users. You may be missing a great deal of costumers here.

Cheers
 
albert rudnicki said:
Eric, why don't you get some sort of on line statistics to find out the real number of Nikon/Canon users. You may be missing a great deal of costumers here.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure this is about the stats as much as it is about what they are already good at. They announced long ago that the Canon unit would be first. They already had a lot of experience talking to Canon lenses. They have to learn the Nikon stuff. Maybe that's easy. Maybe it's not. I don't know... but I'm going to take what I can get and it appears the Birger Canon may be the only SLR mount until January sometime.

I just hope this thing works. I love the idea of electronically controlling these lenses. Smaller lenses, lighter FF unit, blue tooth wireless control - it's pretty compelling stuff.
 
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