Problems with Auto Focus and Nikon lens?

[Rui Guerra]

My Nikon mount stopped working properly regarding iris control on all of my lens, but was replaced by RED under warranty.
Now it works ok.

But I have the feeling that even with iris control working fine, the exact f/stop indicated in the monitor doesn't match the real aperture (for example, I can't see any light change between f16 and f22). Not a big problem for me, because my feeling is that it works in all the aperture range, but the indications are not exactly accurate.

Regarding the completely inaccurate autofocus, maybe is something that can be fixed by a firmware upgrade. I really hope so, although I stopped trying to use it since I found it completely useless. It just hit accurate focus, sometimes, just because, with no pattern nor any obvious explanation (I'm talking about well lit high contrast scenes). Even if I try to autofocus twice at the same spot, without moving the tripod in between, sometimes if autofocuses and sometimes not. I have to say, very weird and very sad for such an expensive camera.

I was hopping that someone from RED could say anything about this...is there still hope?

 

[Jonathan Berube]

Hi Rui.
I believe Red engineers are presently working on some fixes and improvements for Nikon lenses, and Nikon mount lenses (such as the Sigma Art Series).
We did a test a few weeks ago with Foolcontrol and Latitude and both systems had issues while the lens was in auto focus mode.
Additonally, aperture control was spotty, and occasionally we'd have to re-mount the lens a number of times before we would gain control of the iris.
These issues have been addressed by Red and are being worked on, so I'm told.
It's would be nice, for a number or reasons and applications, to have autofocus work reliably, whether using it for something delivertate (focus pull) or event based tracking a skier etc.
We also tested canon lenses and they were much more responsive.

Hello Jason,

Thank you for your information. I do have the same problem where when mounting Nikon Lenses, it takes a few tries before the camera can attach the aperture control.
I get the "N/A" as Aperture a lot and even when cleaning the contacts really good. I thought I was maybe from tightening the lens mount to much but happens when either tight or loose.
Seem to be software related? idk. Do you know of any timeline in regards of the release of a new mount or updates?

Thank a lot.

-Berube
www.johnberube.com

 

[Mike P.]

Hello Jason,

Thank you for your information. I do have the same problem where when mounting Nikon Lenses, it takes a few tries before the camera can attach the aperture control.
I get the "N/A" as Aperture a lot and even when cleaning the contacts really good. I thought I was maybe from tightening the lens mount to much but happens when either tight or loose.
Seem to be software related? idk. Do you know of any timeline in regards of the release of a new mount or updates?

Thank a lot.

-Berube
www.johnberube.com

Just a heads up, this thread is almost a couple years old, and RED have since discontinued the Nikon mount. Gonna go out on a limb and say no further development will happen on the nikkor lens front. (Ironically, support for Nikon lenses had actually gotten worse going from DSMC1 to DSMC2.... Who would've a thought? Not me.)