Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
  • 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 :)

Mount and use incompatible lenses Nikon?

R

Robin_Eriksson

Member
Joined
May 25, 2017
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Örebro, Sweden
Hello everyone,

So I'm gearing up for another trip soon to see some wildlife in Norway and this time I want to use my Nikon AF-S 400mm f/2.8 VR lens however this lens isn't supported yet and goes bananas when mounted to the RED Scarlet-W. RED support is looking into adding the lens in future firmware updates which would be brilliant. But I would like to use the combo sooner than this will be fixed as I fear the firmware release will be after my trip is already over. But it's nice if they add it for future trips :)

2f0bx34.jpg


I read up a bit online but doesn't seem to many have gone down this route yet. Hopefully someone here have tried this solution before I give it a go or have you used this particular lens and got it working. How did you do it?

What I came up with is basically making the lens "dumb" and making it not electronically connected to the RED by using a Nikon BR-6 adapter which is made for mounting lenses backwards for Macro work. On this adapter you can adjust the aperture on G lenses (just like the 400mm). And after this you need a reversing ring to mount to the RED.

Setup would be like this: RED -> reversing ring -> Nikon BR-6 -> Lens.

In my head I no issues and that it should work. I know it may affect image quality and focusing at infinity, but how bad is it? Has anyone tried this combo? This should make every Nikon lens out there compatible with the RED Nikon F mount? Am I in the right direction? I'm awaiting response from my local dealer and Nikon Europe. Will get back with results.

Best Regards,
Robin Eriksson
 
I have had some luck with 'incompatible' lenses, specifically the 70-200 f4 VR, but not that lens.

Try switching VR off, AF on, and the focus range switch to ∞-6m (instead of full). This prevents the lens from constantly focusing and going bananas.

Once it initializes I have had luck turning VR back on if you want it.

This is with the offical red Nikon mount.
 
Robin_Eriksson said:
Hello everyone,

So I'm gearing up for another trip soon to see some wildlife in Norway and this time I want to use my Nikon AF-S 400mm f/2.8 VR lens however this lens isn't supported yet and goes bananas when mounted to the RED Scarlet-W. RED support is looking into adding the lens in future firmware updates which would be brilliant. But I would like to use the combo sooner than this will be fixed as I fear the firmware release will be after my trip is already over. But it's nice if they add it for future trips :)

2f0bx34.jpg


I read up a bit online but doesn't seem to many have gone down this route yet. Hopefully someone here have tried this solution before I give it a go or have you used this particular lens and got it working. How did you do it?

What I came up with is basically making the lens "dumb" and making it not electronically connected to the RED by using a Nikon BR-6 adapter which is made for mounting lenses backwards for Macro work. On this adapter you can adjust the aperture on G lenses (just like the 400mm). And after this you need a reversing ring to mount to the RED.

Setup would be like this: RED -> reversing ring -> Nikon BR-6 -> Lens.

In my head I no issues and that it should work. I know it may affect image quality and focusing at infinity, but how bad is it? Has anyone tried this combo? This should make every Nikon lens out there compatible with the RED Nikon F mount? Am I in the right direction? I'm awaiting response from my local dealer and Nikon Europe. Will get back with results.

Best Regards,
Robin Eriksson
Click to expand...

we offer Nikon mount for RED DSMC/DSMC2 systems with proper iris control.
Mechanical only- no electronics.
RED approved
http://optitek.org/products/nikon-prolock-for-red-scarlet-epic-weapon/
 
Nice! Thanks for all the replies.

There seems to be a few good alternatives, I don't know which one to pursue yet.
If the price is going north of € 500 it would probably be wiser to get the Canon mount on the RED instead and I will be able to use a few lenses from my mates that shoot with those. There's also tons of great video lenses out there for the canon mount.

I have also found an old Canon 500mm f/4.0 in the office that hasn't been used for many years which I could try and buy cheap. I work at a construction company and we use camera equipment for documentation purposes but we have now moved onto smaller cameras as this is an old thing from the days when they shot on film. So now it's just a little decoration in my office simply gathering dust. I think it would much rather enjoy going to Africa with me...

RED got back to me and will try and include the Nikon 400mm lens in future firmware updates which is great. Hopefully some more people are benefiting from this as well. I'm interested in getting a few more good lenses soon but I'm not sure they will work neither with the RED so I will probably run into this issue every now and then.

Best regards,
Robin Eriksson
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top