Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

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 :)

my EOS "smart" mount...

I want a smart mount with wireless to use as a follow-focus. . .

Stephen
 
I wonder if RED will be Santa Claus........


It is strange that Andy hasn't gotten back.... Maybe Red did buy the mount or Andy....
 
1Dog said:
I wonder if RED will be Santa Claus........


It is strange that Andy hasn't gotten back.... Maybe Red did buy the mount or Andy....
Click to expand...

or Andy is working. He has a day job so progess reports can sometimes be
delayed, but he has been very good at the updates.
 
Hey guys, apoligies for the ever so often delay. work has had to take a bit
of a front seat the last week or so. I plan on a big update this weekend with
new pictures, ect. but to sum it up, basically last week and a half, I have
almost completely rebuilt everything, essentially taking what was learned and
instead of patching things here and there, just rebuilt from the ground up
this includes the main mount on the camera. visually mostly identical. biggest
difference comes in ease of assembly (on my end, not user end) to be able
to get these out in quantity. also had to make sure all else is perfect on the
controller end, there has been lots of testing of lenses ect. and tweeks to
the firmware. (cue broken record.. almost there... )

good thing is this should prevent further delays, it's all done, and turn-around
from my manufacturing supplier is a few days at most. and components are
in for over 100+ controllers.

last 10% is always 90% of the effort.

look for saturdays's post.

-Andy
 
Hi Andy,
Thanks for the update today, looking for the update tomorrow
Exiting
 
Andy,

Could you address the issue of the lens motors burning out. Birger have said that they addressed this issue. I'm assuming it won't be a problem with your system????

Thanks

Kris
 
Aack, enough with the "Burning Motors" canard

Aack, enough with the "Burning Motors" canard

Jason Ing said:
Is Alex aware of the "burning motors" issue and has he addressed it?
Click to expand...

Where did this worry originate? Has anyone ever burned out a focus motor on their SLR lens? I've heard it repeated several times now on Reduser, but I've never seen any proof that it's an issue. We run Canon L lenses with an (industrial version) Birger mount, and have never had a problem.

Consider that these lenses are designed to be in continuous, professional use, constantly autofocusing.
 
No one has reported burned focus motors here.

Btw autofocus use still lenses motors with fast actions and motors are active for a short period.
So many here have guessed what happens to the small focus motor inside of this lenses when are operated at slow speed and for a longher time.
For sure they become hotter than if they were operated by a standard camera autofocus.




with an (industrial version) Birger mount
Click to expand...
???What is that?
 
I do not understand the "burned motor" issue.
I have been shooting on my 1D mkII (8.5fps) using AI Servo (ie full time autofocus tracking of a target) during the 2004 Summer Olympics and ever since then with no motor issues on my L glass.

Though you should know there's three different USM types of motors Canon is using on their lenses
http://www.canon.com/technology/canon_tech/explanation/usm.html

I also found this site with lenses, reviews, etc
http://www.eflens.com/

I am researching USM patents. There should be a report about durability.
Anyone know if USM is a Pentax technology by any chance? Found many entries by pentax and none by Canon...
 
ah crap I did say saturday didn't I...

The Latest.

Here's the current situation.
We have the new design and built versions of it now. did a shakedown of it the last few days.
It needs a few more days testing before I can "pull the trigger" and get a couple hundred units ready to go.
I've included some pictures of the new unit.. (looks surprisingly like the old unit!, with some changes.)
1. )New Cables. these are nice. and match the look much better now.
2.) Power and GPI/Tally from RED Camera.
3.) Focus speed switch.
4.) it's shiny!.. <--- big feature! ;)

We now use power from the RED AUX Port. this gives us much more reliable
source of energy, as well as provides GPI/Tally functions, which are quite
nice and allow us some new features.

Power Management.
I have been asked as well as seen questions asking about "motor burnout.."
Since even the first tests I have done, one big Issue I saw could lead to
such a case.. Still lenses were not designed with constant power applied.
canon does a good and clever job in power managment, I have made a pretty robust
and smart power control system in the mount-controller and have not had any issues.
(this has taken probably the longest time in development and tweeking,
as bad thing happen if you keep iris and focus in an "energized state" for long periods of time... )
just rest assured we're on top of it.


Assembly
Like I mentioned in my previous post. I did a big re-design on the components
of the mount, using more modular components, this will allow me to get about
10 units+ per day assembled, and tested.


couple of things still left to address.

1) cables, right now the controller has an integrated cable going from the
controller to the lens mount, and controller to the AUX power port.
I want to replace this with a connector on both ends, thereby giving you the
option of longer cables if necessary to attach the controller in other places outside the camera body.

2) that ugly silver switch on the right side of the controller, that controls the
speed of the focus mode, "slow/med/fast" (user adjustable values), it's kinda an eyesore, and will be
replaced with a nice small 3way rocker switch, just havnen't found one I like (or is small enough) yet.

3) Mounting options?
right now.. I'm using the power of "velcro" to get the job done. but planning on some strategic mounting holes / bracket to attach to rods? what
would you all like to see?

4) run all this past RED. (email coming your way Jarred!)


Lastly here are the pictures of the controller, my 1ds is out on a shoot, so
had to resort to a cheap-o-sony point and shoot... ich... but ya get the idea.


-Andy
 
Mounting

Mounting

alesniak said:
couple of things still left to address.

1) cables, right now the controller has an integrated cable going from the
controller to the lens mount, and controller to the AUX power port.
I want to replace this with a connector on both ends, thereby giving you the
option of longer cables if necessary to attach the controller in other places outside the camera body.
Click to expand...
Yes, please.

alesniak said:
3) Mounting options? Right now.. I'm using the power of "velcro" to get the job done. but planning on some strategic mounting holes / bracket to attach to rods? what would you all like to see?
Click to expand...
A plate on the back would work well. Need both a 19mm rod version and also a flat version with 2 holes -- to mount to an ET cheese plate -- version. OR... make it like the ET EFV mount which has a rod and the flat 2 hole all-in-one piece, that would be excellent

This is looking really good! Thanks Andy.
 
Looking great alex. Have you been able to check PMs and emails? Just wanted to make sure I get on the list. Hope all goes well with the RED inspection.

As for the controller, if you're able to add a standard whip port and marking disc, that would be great. Then it can be used as a traditional FF completely.
 
Looks great Andy...

How long and involved is it to go from PL to your mount? Has anything in that regard changed?

Kris Denton
 
NuclearNerd said:
Where did this worry originate? Has anyone ever burned out a focus motor on their SLR lens? I've heard it repeated several times now on Reduser, but I've never seen any proof that it's an issue. We run Canon L lenses with an (industrial version) Birger mount, and have never had a problem.

Consider that these lenses are designed to be in continuous, professional use, constantly autofocusing.
Click to expand...

This is where it all started, this quote is from takano-san:

Hello my good RED friends. This is very nice product but I would like to tell cautionary warnings for using EOS USM lenses on video camera.

I was member of team to design the USM long time and they no good for video and can cause bad trouble to USM motor mechanism for signal active very long time. For this reasons, we do not put still photo USM lens on Canon video lens products. In testing we burn motors inside USM lens on XL2 product. Just be warning for my friends to use no USM motor lenses. Normal Lenses ok!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top