Birger Mount For Dummies

[Jay A. Kelley]

Ok I have asked this question a few times. Well, last night I called Erik and we spoke on the phone for quite a while. He's a kind and wonderful person. After speaking with him, I am very confident he is building a wonderful thing.

But what is it?

Put simply, the Birger mount can take canon still lenses (they will post some exact brands) and it will allow you to use them almost like cine lenses...

Only better!

You will have a focus wheel similar to that of Arri's and using the motors in the lens, you will be able to pull focus. The better the lens, the better the internal motors, and the smoother the focus. If you are wondering if the lens goes back to the same mark everytime, I am told, "yes, everytime, provided it's a good lens"

Using the bluetooth you will also be able to focus wireless. You will have the ability to control apature with the wireless, a little, but you will not be able to do a live pull.

Switching back and forth:

Can you switch from RED's PL mount to Birger and back?

Yes.

Is it easy.

Not 3 seconds easy, but you can do it.

You will need to shim the camera for Birger's mount. And the shims will be held in place by a plate that screws onto the camera. To go back to RED's PL mount, you will have to take the Birger mount AND shims off the camera. The good part is that you do not have to do anything to RED's PL mount. No adjusting. I don't know how long it will take to do this swap, but I'm sure we'll all get pretty good at it!

Erick was a big help. And took a lot of time with me on the phone, dispite my bitching online.

I am grateful

Jay

 

[Adam Levins]

I believe that Birger are making a PL mount too. With this it would be a quick swap in the field.

I wonder if you can adjust the sensitivity of the focus wheels? to make hitting marks easier for fine pulls and faster for long pulls. that would be way cool.

Interesting to hear that it will not be possible to adjust the iris live via bluetooth, i wonder why that is?

 

[Joe Vinson]

I should really temper my expectations until we see a finished product, but... oh man, I'm so psyched about this thing!

Jay, are you renting PL lenses while you wait?

 

[HD Hildebrand]

What about Nikon - any word?

 

[Andrew M.]

I thought that Erik promised PL adapter that you mount on top of the shimmed plate instead of Canon end coupler. The challenge here will be, to shim the plate so it is bang on for Canon and your PL lenses. If there is a difference, then you can pick the mid point and be slightly off for PL and slightly of the other way for Canon.
Alternatively Erik can make 3 different PL adapters, one with zero tolerance as per books for Canon/PL difference. The second with +5 micron and the third with (-5) micron. Though from my experience new lenses are right bang on and 2 microns is almost invisible on the focus chart. It is lost in CA fringing.

 

[Gabriel Beaudry]

The challenge here will be, to shim the plate so it is bang on for Canon and your PL lenses. If there is a difference, then you can pick the mid point and be slightly off for PL and slightly of the other way for Canon.

From what I know you are only using the shim plate with the Birger mount so you can be bang on for both. You won't need any shim plate for the PL mount.

"To go back to RED's PL mount, you will have to take the Birger mount AND shims off the camera."

 

[Thom Steinhoff]

Jay,

Thanks for calling him. Did you speak of the split mount concept? (a Birger base mount that takes Canon, Nikon and PL heads) Sounds, based on your discussion, that for whatever reason he abandoned plan the split mount and went back to plan A (switch back to Red mount for PL)

Did he try and couldn't quite get it working? wrong sizes? close enough that it would have been flimzy? Did your conversation not even go there? I think we should address it sooner rather than later, with reasons why it isn't going to work as we were all thrilled with the possiblity (and from the sound of it--some already booked his hints and ideas as promises) We should address it and get it out of the way or the natives are going to get restless.

I'm very glad you had a chance to speak with him and that in your opinion it is all systems go. I just had them remove the red lenses from my order--so at this point--he's all I have!

Best Regards,

Thom

 

[Vincent S]

So is the only way to control apature with the wireless, or does the mount, FF do it also?

 

[Erik Widding]

I thought that Erik promised PL adapter that you mount on top of the shimmed plate instead of Canon end coupler.

This is in the works. Just want to get CanonEF mount shipping with accessories first. Details will be announced.

 

[Joel Kaye]

This is in the works. Just want to get CanonEF mount shipping with accessories first. Details will be announced.

My only question remaining is: "Is there a way to adjust the throw/sensitivity of the focus wheel"? One of the major concerns about SLR lenses is that they are tough to focus because the gearing is so small between distances.

Regardless, I'm hoping this will be a great solution. Certainly the added bonus of wireless control is very valuable.

 

[Erik Widding]

My only question remaining is: "Is there a way to adjust the throw/sensitivity of the focus wheel"? One of the major concerns about SLR lenses is that they are tough to focus because the gearing is so small between distances.

As a starting point, one full turn of the knob will get you the full range of focus on the lens. Anything beyond that is merely software... subranges, non-linear response, etc... are all posibilities as we grow the functionality in reponse to the user community. Any "growth" will happen after we start shipping, and be a free download.

 

[Elizabeth Lowrey]

Using the bluetooth you will also be able to focus wireless. You will have the ability to control apature with the wireless, a little, but you will not be able to do a live pull.

Jay, can you or Erik comment further on this? I will likely stick with the Nikon mount and will be using G series lenses that do not feature a manual aperture ring. It can only be set electronically by an interface to a camera.

Specifically with regard to these types of lenses (including analogous Canon lenses, if there are any), is the responsiveness of the lens to signals from the programmable knob, either operating wired or via bluetooth, so poor that you can't do a smooth, gradual aperture adjustment that feels perfectly "real time"? Is it that the aperture steps on the lenses themselves are too coarse or the responsiveness to the controls too slow?

 

[David Wilson]

For some of us Red-to-Be folk on a bit of a budget, Erik's efforts have "Saving Grace" written all over them. Thank you for this.

 

[Ben Goldenberg]

Which will come out first the Nikon mount by red or Birger?