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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 :)

PL Mount and data connection

Greg M

Greg M

Digital FX
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In order to align the data connections on my Arri Ultra Primes the lens mounts with the focus scale facing up rather than toward the operator as it should (see attached image).

When the new PL mount is installed is it possible to re-align the data connection so the lenses will mount with the correct orientation toward the operator?
 
One more question- Is the data connection actually capturing data in the current release?

I don't see any lens information in the metadata.
 
Most PL mounts have a slot in each of the four ears which allow four different mounting configurations. 90 degrees apart.
 
chuck colburn said:
Most PL mounts have a slot in each of the four ears which allow four different mounting configurations. 90 degrees apart.
Click to expand...

This is about the data connection, not the PL slots. Yes I can rotate the lens to the correct position in the PL mount, but if I do the Data connection on my lens does not mate the camera body.

EDIT:
I attached two more photos to better illustrate what I am asking for;
1. This is the correct orientation of the lens on the body (obviously "correct" is subjective, but it is the typical position so the operator can see the focus scale)

2. If the lens is in the position shown in the first image the data contacts are not aligned as shown in the second image.
 
How it is with ARRI, Moviecam, Sony, Viper... cameras?

How it is with Cooke lenses and Angenieux Lenses?

Also with RED lenses?
 
K.Berlin said:
is there any reason why it is build that way?
Click to expand...

Ok, did a bit more research and this is what I learned;

The Red lenses and Cooke S4i lenses have the data port dead center of the two focus scales which is why Red has the port at this position. Arri LDS lenses have the port above one of the focus scales and on the Arri camera bodies they have two data connections 90 degrees apart so you can put the lens in either position.

So the data port is in the correct place if you have Cooke or Red lenses...If you have Arri LDS you are SOL...unless Red decides to add a second connection similar to Arri.
 
digitalfx said:
This is about the data connection, not the PL slots. Yes I can rotate the lens to the correct position in the PL mount, but if I do the Data connection on my lens does not mate the camera body.

EDIT:
I attached two more photos to better illustrate what I am asking for;
1. This is the correct orientation of the lens on the body (obviously "correct" is subjective, but it is the typical position so the operator can see the focus scale)

2. If the lens is in the position shown in the first image the data contacts are not aligned as shown in the second image.
Click to expand...

Sorry about that. I see what your talking about now. I'm not fimiliar with those lenses but most PL mounts have a slot on the lens side seating surface that mates to a pin or such on the lens itself. This keeps the mount from rotating on the lens. If these are your personal lenses perhaps you could have an additional slot cut on the back of the PL mount to align right on the RED camera.
 
chuck colburn said:
Sorry about that. I see what your talking about now. I'm not fimiliar with those lenses but most PL mounts have a slot on the lens side seating surface that mates to a pin or such on the lens itself. This keeps the mount from rotating on the lens. If these are your personal lenses perhaps you could have an additional slot cut on the back of the PL mount to align right on the RED camera.
Click to expand...

I can get it to align, its just that when the data connection is aligned the focus scale is on the top and bottom of the lens instead of left/right.
 
digitalfx said:
I can get it to align, its just that when the data connection is aligned the focus scale is on the top and bottom of the lens instead of left/right.
Click to expand...

Ok, Some lenses have moveable scales. As I said I don't know those primes but you might ask Arriflex about that. Or you could tape mark the footage scale like in the days of yore.
 
ARRI has two standard systems that you can apply on the camera the LDM-1 that works with Ultra, variable, standars and super speeds. Then they have the LDM-2 that is compatible with certain lenses from Angenieux and Cooke. These two mounts are usually "mounted" when the camera is rented and they know what lenses are to be ordered. There is other LDM mounts that works with other lenses if you ask for it. I think that we maybe should put in an request that the RED team (god bless their souls :innocent:) that they maybe could consider a solution for this? I myself prefer Cookes but there's a lot of times you need want for example the Ultras. The RED camera so far has been designed to be the ultimate modular "little" beast, so why not squeeze this "little" feature in as well :innocent: :innocent: :innocent:


fred
 
Looking myself at ultra & masterprimes for the red I would also ask to the Red team being able to use all of these would give us extra flexibility.

I've seen different adapter rings on the arri site, but had not the time to figure it
out exactly .
 
It's my understanding that Red's metadata will work only with Cooke's "i" or the Red lenses. I think that LDS is a closed system and, although a Cooke "i" lens (and in theory a Red lens) will supply data to an Arricam, the Arri LDS won't supply data to Red.
Could be wrong about this, but I had a conversation with Les Zellan along these lines...
Cheers,
Harry

Digital FX, can you confirm this?
 
I can confirm that I dont see any lens info in the Metadata...but I have posted several times asking if they are actually capturing data yet and have not had a response. I assume that the data port is not active yet.

I sure hope you are wrong though as I was really looking forward to having lens info in the metadata for our VFX work. I will be very dissapointed if the LDS lenses arent supported.
 
Looking into the lens mount, it seems like the contacts could be rotated to the proper position. Since the entire lens mount [old and presumably new] can be removed from the camera body, I see no reason why it couldn't be rotated 90˚ to move the contacts into place. Since the contacts are connected with a cable, the cable could be lengthened or shortened as required to put the lens mount in its proper orientation.

Thoughts?
 
no, I have not looked at this as to my knowledge the data is not included in the Metadata w/ the current builds...as soosn as someone can confirm this is enabled I will do some more testing.

btw- looking at an arri 435 Extreme it has the contacts in both positions...can anyone w/ REVISED body confirm if this has been added to the ne PL mount?
 
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