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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 :)

Flare - OLPF Port Bushing for Dragon?

Hello

as you may have read already in other threads I have had the same problem with Nikon mount. I informed RED Sent over several tests and even went over to RED Europe to show them some tests. I compared both the aluminium and the titanium and both were just as bad.

RED then Sent me a customised Nikon mount with some matte black material on the mount, and similar to your tests I see a massive improvement. REd has said that a proper factory fix is underway, so I am not sure how close the final solution will be to the mount they sent me. Anyways, they know about this and are working on it. I suggest you get in touch with them about possibly having your mount swapped out.

Red had been really amazing dealing with this issue for me, their customer service is the best I have experienced ever.

What at is still a issue though is the gate flare shadow, that still happens. It's not as bad as before and happens less often, but it's there.
 
Thanks Bevan for reporting back. I didn't have the chance to read your thread. I would have followed up...

Have a nice shooting.

Pat
 
Hello,

I've flocked out the nikon mount, but there is still some bouncing from the body side/Olpf. David have you any further news about the OLPF module, if it will resolve the flair issue and when it comes to the market (read : in our hands)?

Pat
 

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Patrick Tresch said:
Hello,

I've flocked out the nikon mount, but there is still some bouncing from the body side/Olpf. David have you any further news about the OLPF module, if it will resolve the flair issue and when it comes to the market (read : in our hands)?

Pat
Click to expand...

I'm not privy to any news, but I know RED reads these boards and do listen. The last gate flare was resolved with an elegant and factory solution. I am imagining the same thing for this round. It's hard to pinpoint what part of the optical path is causing the Flare, but I think it is the OLPF housing. The mounts have their own different, separate issues.

Good to hear from Bob that Nikon mount has been resolved.

I did this about two days after I got mine.

Battistella
 
Patrick Tresch said:
Hello,

I've flocked out the nikon mount, but there is still some bouncing from the body side/Olpf. David have you any further news about the OLPF module, if it will resolve the flair issue and when it comes to the market (read : in our hands)?

Pat
Click to expand...

To me it seams like the little plastic frame around the olpf in combination with the rounded shape and the non flocked interior of the olpf bussing is causing the "top clipped lens flare". I'm guessing red did the redesign of the port for dragon to acommodate for leica glass, which I think is great. But as it also has some drawbacks when using other glass I think the best forward approach would be to make a version for the olpf swap program that has a square shaped flocked / black anti reflex coated interior for the port hole... Or cone shaped with steps or what ever works the best.

But I think they should still have an option of the current olpf bussing or at least the shape of it and possibly flock treated and call it "the leica bussing" or such.

Those bussings and even versions of olpfs must be quite marginal in cost so I think it would best if red, when they sorted it all actually provided a little kit with all options available and made sure to at least include it in all further sales of dragons and gave it away to all current users or atleast sold the kit a a reasonable priced bundel. That way there will not be to much of an issue when renting cameras etc. All cameras would have all the options available. Lowlight olpf, regular olpf, possible other options and a some options for bussings.
 
Here a video showing the improoved (not yet perfect) flocking of the Nikon mount. I suppose the remaining flair is from the OLPF side of the mount.

Pat
 
Hey Patrick,

Just wanted to chime in and say that I've had the exact same Nikon mount "gate flare" issues on a Dragon. I use Nikon G Primes 35, 50, 85 and the great 14-24mm f2.8 zoom and had issues with all of the lenses depending on angle of sun/lights etc. This happened while using a proper mattebox etc. Luckily the director I was working with actually liked the flares. If they ever became overly obnoxious we would switch to 5k (which makes me shed a single tear when working with a Dragon:). I also shot with old non-AI Nikkor primes and had the same issue.

When did the new Nikon mount come out? It would be great if RED offered some sort of return program for the old Nikon mounts because this is clearly a design flaw when used with certified lenses. In the grand scheme of things however, I'm just happy to be able to use beautiful Japanese glass that is significantly older than me on the best camera in the world:)
 
Maybe they will develop a limbo curtain as well....for about three million dollars. :)


battistella
 
Surrey NanoSystems’ Vantablack[SUP]®[/SUP] is revolutionary in its ability to be applied to light-weight, temperature-sensitive structures such as aluminium whilst absorbing 99.96% of incident radiation, believed to be the highest-ever recorded.

 
bevan goldswain said:
Surrey NanoSystems’ Vantablack[SUP]®[/SUP] is revolutionary in its ability to be applied to light-weight, temperature-sensitive structures such as aluminium whilst absorbing 99.96% of incident radiation, believed to be the highest-ever recorded.
Click to expand...


DOo we have an idea of how resilient it is, or scratch resistant? Might be overkill. Good optical matte paint is about 95% absorption and can do the trick.

Battistella
 
I have been in contact with the company that makes the stuff, and sadly it's a very fragile material. It cannot be touched.
 
I have asked that actually , waiting for a response. It's pretty amazing stuff.
 
bevan goldswain said:
I have asked that actually , waiting for a response. It's pretty amazing stuff.
Click to expand...

If it was reasonably affordable their entire booth would be pure black. The fact that a trade show only has about 16 square inches means it's thousands per inch I imagine.
 
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