Hello Mr. Nikon.. Meet Red One.

[jaadgy akanni]

Very, very nice. Great photo, too! I'm still undecided between this mount with a standard follow focus and manual prile lenses, or the Birger mount and AFS zooms... I'll wait for Evin's tests. And, Ketch, I'd love to see how those Zeiss ZF lenses perform on a RED.

Jaime one word in English and another in Spanish: Both, ambos. I'm getting both 'cause there'll be situations where I'll prefer to work with my manual primes, just like I sometimes have the "artistic" need to leave the computer and write with a pen. I mean, once you have the Birger mount, what's another grand for the RED Nikon mount and the RedRock Follow Focus?

 

[Joel Kaye]

Jaime one word in English and another in Spanish: Both, ambos. I'm getting both 'cause there'll be situations where I'll prefer with my manual primes.

You can put a Nikon manual prime on a Nikon autofocus mount. I do it with my D-70. Use a manual FF when your manual lens is on board. A lot easier than changing the whole mount.

Am I missing something here?

 

[jaadgy akanni]

You can put a Nikon manual prime on a Nikon autofocus mount. I do it with my D-70. Use a manual FF when your manual lens is on board. A lot easier than changing the whole mount.

Am I missing something here?

I know you do, the question is what FF gear to use when you're using your manual primes. Some FF's are better suited for the simple design of the RED nikon mount.

 

[Jarred Land]

Collimation is done at the factory, and flange depth is set with Shims. The PL can be shimmed seperate from the backplate so if the backplate is correct you dont need to adjust for variances when you put on a Nikon mount for example.

The outer collar is just cosmetic that is held on with 4 screws... below the mount is a complete set of screws holding the mount to the body.

 

[Joel Kaye]

Collimation is done at the factory, and flange depth is set with Shims. The PL can be shimmed seperate from the backplate so if the backplate is correct you dont need to adjust for variances when you put on a Nikon mount for example.

The outer collar is just cosmetic that is held on with 4 screws... below the mount is a complete set of screws holding the mount to the body.

Ok - so to clear this up in my mind... when we're switching between the PL and the Nikon or Birger mounts are we likely to need collimating equipment? Or is everything machined precisely enough that we'll confidently be able to swap on our own?

 

[Jarred Land]

oh.. and you absolutely can change mounts in the field if you have a clean environment, a work area, and some time.. its about a 15 minute process.

 

[Jarred Land]

Ok - so to clear this up in my mind... when we're switching between the PL and the Nikon or Birger mounts are we likely to need collimating equipment? Or is everything machined precisely enough that we'll confidently be able to swap on our own?

when you take the PL mount off, if its shimmed you keep those shims with the mount. when you put the PL mount back on, you put it on with the shims just like it was before. Normally, you would not need to re-collimate after a mount change. If you however loose or damage your shims during the process, then you will need to re-collimate. You can use special tools, or in a pinch just use a lens you know is calibrated correctly and measure it out.

 

[Shawn Nelson]

oh.. and you absolutely can change mounts in the field if you have a clean environment, a work area, and some time.. its about a 15 minute process.

But Jarred, as I understood it, Ted explained to me last Friday that if I switched to another mount, or tried to go back to the PL, I'd have to re-collimate: by shooting a test pattern and viewing a nice 1080p signal and grinding/shimming until it was good again.

That doesn't sound like a field process at all. I'm knee deep in personal FUD over changing mounts.

 

[Jarred Land]

If your nervous about it Shawn.. you can always send your camera in and we will change the mount for you.

 

[Shawn Nelson]

Thanks Jarred, I appreciate it. But if I got a second mount (Nikon, Birger, etc.) I would want to be able to do it myself. I am exhorbantly confident in all things software but hardware/mechanical stuff gets me nervous. Perhaps once someone else gets a second mount and can freely go between the default PL and another, that person (perhaps you Jarred) could post about the experience and how to do it easily.

 

[Joel Kaye]

If your nervous about it Shawn.. you can always send your camera in and we will change the mount for you.

Hmm... it sounds to me like the first time you put a new mount on it needs to be shimmed/ground but every subsequent change will work easily. So you guys could setup both the Nikon and the PL mount there at the factory and send the proper shims for each along and we'd be good to go right?

The birger would be a little tougher since it's coming from elsewhere.

 

[Jarred Land]

you are completely right Joel.. once its done (either at the factory or after you buy a mount to install yourself) then you normally can just switch between the two with confidence.

 

[Shawn Nelson]

I like hearing you say that Jarred! But this is weird, because I said pretty much exactly that to the Red employee I was talking to with Ted (I forget his name, he is the guy who was pictured in the screen cap you posted that used the Nikon as the glass). I said "But going back should be easy right? Because this mount is already collimated?" His response: "Nope, you have to re-collimate since the act of unmounting and remounting is enough to throw it out of whack"

 

[T. Glen Phelps]

Hey Jarred,

If I install the Birger mount, and have collimate properly, will I then be able to go back to the original PL mount without having to re-collimate it?

 

[Jarred Land]

I like hearing you say that Jarred! But this is weird, because I said pretty much exactly that to the Red employee I was talking to with Ted (I forget his name, he is the guy who was pictured in the screen cap you posted that used the Nikon as the glass). I said "But going back should be easy right? Because this mount is already collimated?" His response: "Nope, you have to re-collimate since the act of unmounting and remounting is enough to throw it out of whack"

its ok.. Ted most likely meant that its possible to screw it up.. which it is, if you drop a brass shim and step on it or you loose a shim.. you gotta start from square one. But.. if your careful, you shouldnt have a problem. we have been doing it for 6 months at Red.

 

[Joel Kaye]

its ok.. Ted most likely meant that its possible to screw it up.. which it is, if you drop a brass shim and step on it or you loose a shim.. you gotta start from square one.

Sounds like shims are an item we should purchase to have backups. Are they all the same thickness?

 

[Jarred Land]

backup shims are good, and there are various thicknesses. Same with screws.. its always good to have a few extra screws in your kit as well.

 

[Kyle Spicer]

backup shims are good, and there are various thicknesses. Same with screws.. its always good to have a few extra screws in your kit as well.

Can these be items that we can purchase from RED, or will we need to get them from somewhere else?

 

[Charles Adams]

I know we will be using Nikon lenses exclusively on our Red and will move up to PL only when we can finally afford that kind of glass.

So my question is can we order the Red with the Nikon mount already installed at factory so we don't have to worry about collimation and setup?

 

[Shawn Nelson]

backup shims are good, and there are various thicknesses. Same with screws.. its always good to have a few extra screws in your kit as well.

Could you talk to Jim about you guys selling a basic "Collimation Kit" that would include some shims and screw of various lengths and simple instructions in how to collimate?