Canon L Series Primes & RED

[Olaf Blomerus]

Hi,

Anyone have experience with shooting Canon L Series Prime lenses on the RED? Is their a major quality shift from the RED 18 - 50mm & 50 - 150mm?

Thoughts? Opinions?

O.

 

[Anson Fogel]

Do a search, this subject is exhaustively discussed here elsewhere. The short answer is yes, a lot of us shoot Canon L glass on red a lot. Image quality vs. good PL glass is less of a concern than mechanics, specifically, pulling focus with still lenses leaves something to be desired. You also have the challenge of iris control.

 

[ericyoung]

If you need non-steppy iris pulls, you'll need to use good Nikon glass with manual iris control instead. Otherwise the Birger Engineering mount and Birger firmware version of Viewfactor's Impero controller mitigates some of the issues Anson mentions - although new installations of a Birger mount will invalidate a RED One warranty if it is still in warranty period.

 

[Paul Leeming]

Olaf,

with the Birger/Viewfactor combo you'll have a very high class/low cost system with only a few limitations. See this thread for some of my recent work shot on Canon L glass:

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=47441

HTH

Paul

 

[Olaf Blomerus]

Thanks for the input everyone. I like the idea of the Birger/Viewfactor combo... but not if it voids the warranty.

Paul is yours voided? I read that the Birger installation was okayed to NOT void the warranty.

I'm confused.

O.

 

[Frank Weeks]

Thanks for the input everyone. I like the idea of the Birger/Viewfactor combo... but not if it voids the warranty.

Paul is yours voided? I read that the Birger installation was okayed to NOT void the warranty.

I'm confused.

O.

There was a time when you could get permission thru Birger and Red to make the install. I did. But because I opted for stage 2 it is irrelevant. I'll be keeping my Red. If I were you I would contact Red and get the official word about the status today.

FWIW. I got great results from Canon lens but now have 7 RPPs. Theres no going back for me.

 

[Olaf Blomerus]

Thanks, Frank. I'll fire RED an email.

RPPs would definitely be the goal, just a bit expensive to start.

Love Prime lenses.

O.

 

[Paul Leeming]

Thanks for the input everyone. I like the idea of the Birger/Viewfactor combo... but not if it voids the warranty.

Paul is yours voided? I read that the Birger installation was okayed to NOT void the warranty.

I'm confused.

O.

I signed the warranty agreement between Birger and Red so I'm fine, but it would be good to verify the current situation with Birger before buying if it worries you.

That said, I'm stage 2 also so I'm doubly ok as I'm keeping my Red M-X regardless (and it's been 2.5 years anyway so there's no more warranty to speak of).

HTH

Paul

 

[Billy McCannon]

Hi Frank,

I've been very happy with the Canon/Birger/VF setup. The miss having a fast ultra-wide but the focus system is very satisfying. What are the major benefits of the RPPs.

 

[Frank Weeks]

The benefits of RPPs... are very sharp and T1.8 across the board (18-100) making it easy to match shots. For the price they are the best bang for the buck. Their only down side for me is weight. At about 5 lbs each they can be a handful if you work alone.
If I need a zoom (for run and gun) I might temporarily go back to the canons.