DSMC2 / Cabrio 19-90 intermittent data

[Eric Gulbransen]

DSMC2 Helium 8k pairing with the Cabrio 19-90. No lens data, then lens data, now no lens data..

I went into the lens and set RED's suggested pin placement for Camera Communication - ON. LDS/i Switch - OFF.

I have power to lens via hirose cable directly to battery. Zoom control works fine.

I go into menu and hit Lens Info - nothing. I hit Discover Lens - button stays red eternally, nothing ever gets found.

I powered the camera down, then back up and there the lens was. Great! But it's never worked again even though I changed nothing. However that one time it did connect I was able to confirm that the lens does have firmware version 6.4, like RED suggests it needs to have in order to communicate properly.

I have not found a way to update the lens firmware to a more recent version yet (if there is one), although I have searched extensively.

I searched the forum before posting this. Didn't find anything but I swear I've read about this problem while lurking. If it's already here I apologize.

Any advice is well appreciated.

Thanks,

Eric

 

[Michael Tiemann]

It's been a long time problem for me, too. I've sent reports to RED both directly to support and via the Beta program, but they have never responded with any encouragement.

 

[Eric Gulbransen]

Thanks for responding Micheal. At least now I know it's not me simply having something wrong.

 

[Scot Yount]

What is the firmware on the lens....? I took this up with Fujinon and they said to send the lens back and get it updated. I never did it, but I bet Mark Toia knows the answer. He uses the 19-90 all the time in spots where there is a lot of VFX and that requires accurate lens data. I think.....

RED peeps have told me that it was all going to work at one point until Arri filed a suit...not sure if that is right or not....

 

[Michael Tiemann]

What is the firmware on the lens....? I took this up with Fujinon and they said to send the lens back and get it updated. I never did it, but I bet Mark Toia knows the answer. He uses the 19-90 all the time in spots where there is a lot of VFX and that requires accurate lens data. I think.....

RED peeps have told me that it was all going to work at one point until Arri filed a suit...not sure if that is right or not....

When I got this response (over a year ago), I did send my lens in, got it update to "Version S" and the result was pretty much the same as before: the lens passed aperture and focal length information, but focus distance information was contaminated by focal length and not only wrong, but wrong scaled by the zoom factor. I've given up on it ever working as expected.

 

[Scot Yount]

When I got this response (over a year ago), I did send my lens in, got it update to "Version S" and the result was pretty much the same as before: the lens passed aperture and focal length information, but focus distance information was contaminated by focal length and not only wrong, but wrong scaled by the zoom factor. I've given up on it ever working as expected.

This doesn’t surprise me I am sad to say. However. I have found this to be a fantastic piece of glass regardless.

Edit: another plus on this lens over the newer 20-120 is a significantly larger image circle. Works on my Helium in all but 8K FF.

 

[Eric Gulbransen]

Just to update, as I've struggled with this I learned that the most reliable way to get the camera to sync with the Cabrio 19-90 (which is still unreliable), is to connect power to the lens AFTER the camera is powered up, with the manu set to Auto-Detect PL Lenses. On my camera at least, when you power the two simultaneously it is impossible to get the camera to detect the lens. I can hit "Detect Lens" four hundred times and it never detects the lens once. Also makes no difference whether Auto Detect PL Lenses is checked or not, when I power both together they do not connect.

One extra cool thing about using this lens while the camera recognizes it, is focus peaking works. It doesn't work as designed, but it does work. IE: doesn't matter what I adjust on the lens; focus or zoom or iris, they all initiate the focus peaking. Kind of annoying but worth the trouble to me at least since I like the focus peaking so much. Focus peaking does not work when the lens is not recognized.

 

[Scot Yount]

Just to update, as I've struggled with this I learned that the most reliable way to get the camera to sync with the Cabrio 19-90 (which is still unreliable), is to connect power to the lens AFTER the camera is powered up, with the manu set to Auto-Detect PL Lenses. On my camera at least, when you power the two simultaneously it is impossible to get the camera to detect the lens. I can hit "Detect Lens" four hundred times and it never detects the lens once. Also makes no difference whether Auto Detect PL Lenses is checked or not, when I power both together they do not connect.

One extra cool thing about using this lens while the camera recognizes it, is focus peaking works. It doesn't work as designed, but it does work. IE: doesn't matter what I adjust on the lens; focus or zoom or iris, they all initiate the focus peaking. Kind of annoying but worth the trouble to me at least since I like the focus peaking so much. Focus peaking does not work when the lens is not recognized.

On the focus peaking; my camera doesn't care what glass is on it, or whether it is "detected" or not. Specifically with my Fuji, I keep Detect Lens off as well as power disabled. When I have tried to power anything on the glass with these features, I get an iris creep...it slowly closes down to T8....very slowly. In any case, with all of these things off, I use focus peaking all the time and it works just fine.