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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

Stephen Pruitt said:
I absolutely love the Birger and hope that RED and Birger will allow me to use the Birger on my Epic-X, as well. I know it isn't a lot of money to you pros, but I'd really be unhappy if the $10,000 I've sunk into L-series lenses wouldn't work on Epic-X.
Click to expand...

RED does seem to be creating their own support. It's been verified you'll be able to mount your Canon and Nikon lenses on upcoming RED mounts. I assume they'll have aperture control for L and G lenses. What's unclear is whether there will be a real follow focus or not. Given how tough it's been for Birger to resolve many individual lens quirks I'll be impressed if there is.

Lens mounts aren't proprietary according to the powers at RED... so you can do the math there. I believe your lenses will work somehow.

The whole "mechanical lenses and motors" bugs me. It's really a relic of old technology.

I think what RED might do is introduce a whole line of lenses that were truly designed to work like Birger has gotten the Canon stuff to work. Designed from the ground up to do that they should be superior. If they come in around $1500 or less a lens you could sell all your Canon stuff for $8k and move to RED lenses. But... the variety would likely be limited probably for some time to come.

Who knows... maybe RED's mount will be the same as Canon's mount! Put your RED lenses on your Canon body. Or Nikon body. Right? Sigma and Tokina do it. There are a bazillion DSLR bodies out there....
 
Hi there, Joel. . .

I sure want the wireless follow-focus like the Impero. I can't imagine why RED would want to reinvent the wheel when Birger has already done it. I do hope they will be able to work this out. There are apparently over 200 Birger mounts now in the field. That's a pretty significant number, and I expect there to be many more before Epic-X finally arrives. I don't care if Jarred and Erik bury that hatchet in my back so long as they can give me Birger control for the X.

Stephen
 
Updated to Lens library 20c. No Probs. Then tried updating Impero to V2.0. Halfway through, it says "Download Error. Impero was not updated." Couldnt connect to the mount since. And can't control iris and calibrate with the mount also.
Any answers? Anyone?
 
i generally have to hit the 'cal' button on the impero every time i put a lens on. sometimes i have to go through the menus on the red to confirm and/or recheck the lens data button as well. it doesn't always stay checked on.

try confirming that the lens data menus are checked--it may help.
 
tested again with build v21.1.2:

I also get lens data with my zooms: Tokina 11-16mm, Canon EF 16-35mm L 2.8, 24-70mm L 2.8 and 70-200mm L IS 2.8.

No lens data with my L primes.
 
Lens Library 20d: The Return of the Lens Data.

Lens Library 20d: The Return of the Lens Data.

New library is up on the site. Use "Check for updates" in the help menu to upgrade. This release uses the newer version of lens data protocol (for prime lenses), as described in the release notes from RED, for camera software version 21.1.2. Use of this version with 20.1.3 will result in only seeing lens data for zooms, but not primes.

Please post feedback regarding the lens data with both Birger versions 20c and 20d, and the version number of the RED camera software you are using. Leave the default settings for "third party protocol support" in "configure devices". If you don't know what this last sentence means, you can safely ignore it.
 
Lens Data is back!

RED Beta Build 21 (v21.1.2)
Canon EF-232 Lens Library 20d
3rd Party Protocol Support Red 18.3.6.4
Impero Controller v2.0


Lenses that do work smooth (Impero in "normal focusing mode"):

Canon EF L USM 24mm f/1.4

Canon EF L USM 35mm f/1.4

Canon EF L USM 50mm f/1.2

Canon EF L II USM 85mm f/1.2

Canon EF L II USM 16-35mm f/2.8

Canon EF L USM 24-70mm f/2.8

Tokina AT-X Pro 11-16mm f/2.8
The Tokina has only issues at infinity and short focus, the AF motor spins.


Lenses that do work smooth (Impero in "alternate focusing mode"):

Canon EF L USM 135mm f/2.0

Canon EF L USM 200mm f/2.8

Canon EF L USM Macro 180mm f/3.5

Canon MP-E 1-5x Macro 65mm f/2.8

Canon EF L IS USM 70-200mm f/2.8

Canon Extender 1.4x + Canon EF L USM 135mm f/2.0

Canon Extender 1.4x + Canon EF L USM 200mm f/2.8

Canon Extender 1.4x + Canon EF L IS USM 70-200mm f/2.8


Lenses that do not work smooth:

none of mine :-)
 
i-data works- INTERNAL FAULT- Record problems.

i-data works- INTERNAL FAULT- Record problems.

The i-data now shows up well on my lenses too.

Primes
24mm 1.4 L
50mm 1.4 EF
85mm 1.8 EF
100mm 2.8 Macro EF
(All Canon)

Zooms
11-16 Tokina 2.8
17-55 Canon 2.8 EF
70-200 Canon 2.8 L

One problem I have experienced lately.

I seem to be getting INTERNAL FAULT ERRORS when trying to record.
There have been times on a recent shoot that I hit record and the camera hangs for about :30 eventually generating one of these errors. It seems to be related to the mount since the problem disappears for good if I reboot with the mount disconnected and keep it that way. Obviously not the way I want my mount. I never had this problem with a previous build by RED or Birger.

Using RED build v21.1.2 and Birger builds v20c and 20d.

I have also experienced the problem even with the "No Support" 3rd party protocol off.

Yes I have double checked the GPIO settings.

Would like to know anyone else has experienced this.

I emailed Birger about this as well.

Brian Timmons
britim-media
 
Beautiful job Erik, all my lenses are working beautifully. One that hasn't been mentioned or at least I haven't seen it is the Sigma 50mm 2.8 Macro lens which I tried out and even that works. It clicks as you go through the stops but wow, if anyone is on the fence about this mount and Impero combination you shouldn't be.

Mine's working just fine and I'm loving it.

Thanks,
Frazier Nivens, Ocean Imaging
 
Been out of pocket a long time working on other projects.

Shot a music video yesterday, my first with the Birger Mount.

Production build, fresh batteries, latest firmwares, and...

I LOVE IT!!!

All lenses worked great including a 200mm 1.8 (yes I did say 1.8)

Best Red related purchase I've ever made.

Congrats Erik & Curt!!!
 
problem : Impero seems stuck in bootloader state

problem : Impero seems stuck in bootloader state

I've had the Birger / Impero working for some time without many problems however now my problem is that the Impero seems stuck in bootloader state, ie the yellow led below and next to the record button is the only led on and the impero makes no attempt to connect to the mount.
I can update the impero firmware through the Mac BEI application
it uploads through the help>updates window, ie the green updating Impero firmware bar goes all the way to the end ( and a red led above the DIR button pulses ) however after this is stays in bootloader state, with the one led lit, even after disconnection from the mount and power cycling. Any suggestions. I've tried the impero restart with the I button held with no success.
The problem occurred spontaneously on a shoot.
Any suggestions on how to fix this appreciated.
 
Lens Data Observations

Lens Data Observations

With RED camera software 21.1.2, Birger lens library 20d will allow the display of lens data with zooms and primes, and 20c will only allow the display of lens data with zooms.

With RED camera software 20.*, Birger lens library 20c will allow the display of lens data with zooms and primes, and 20d will only allow the display of lens data with zooms. To get lens data with 20.*, the lens mount must be plugged into the camera (or other power source) and a lens must be attached, when booting the camera.

Thanks to all of the help with this from the customers that wrote in with observations, and Michael Keegan over at RED for helping me out with C****'s camera. I have to say, if the support I got from Michael this week is typical RED service, you all are in good hands.
 
Alexander Christ said:
Brian, one option is to disable the GPIO port.
Click to expand...

Thanks Alexander. Perhaps I'll try that next time. Of course, after writing the initial post everything seems to be fine and I have not experienced any record problems. Intermittent problems are always the worst.

I will say that it's great that some of the remaining issues with the RED, Birger, VF combo are nearly all resolved and the true potential of the setup is almost completely realized. I'm very happy I went this route.

Brian Timmons
britim-media
 
Now that existing issues are being ironed out I'm wondering if there will ever be a chance of fudging the Canon iris stepping to allow for smooth-ish iris ramping( maybe halving the steps - visually there is a limit to how small an iris change is detectable by the eye, so even a half step may be sufficiently small to seem smoother, and therefore useable in vision).

I understand this may be a risky option as it won't adhere to Canon EF protocol, and may perhaps risk burning out iris motors. Any thoughts Erik?
 
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