R1MX Birger EF adapter and Aux 12V connector questions

[Nick_Brown]

I have this adapter and have seen it distinguished from "dumb adapters" like the Leitax, which leads me to believe that it could have aperture control and maybe even support image stabilization. Does anyone know the answer to this? It's extremely difficult to find info on this adapter these days. Most of the links are dead.

My Birger adapter shipped with a small lemo cable. I tried to power the adapter from one of the camera's Aux 12V ports but the camera wouldn't turn on until I unplugged the cable from Aux port. I think I read somewhere that this is a failsafe built into the camera. Something to do with an unregulated source? Unfortunately, I haven't been able to relocate that post. Any idea what's going on there? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Michael Hastings]

I have this adapter and have seen it distinguished from "dumb adapters" like the Leitax, which leads me to believe that it could have aperture control and maybe even support image stabilization. Does anyone know the answer to this? It's extremely difficult to find info on this adapter these days. Most of the links are dead.

My Birger adapter shipped with a small lemo cable. I tried to power the adapter from one of the camera's Aux 12V ports but the camera wouldn't turn on until I plugged it in. I think I read somewhere that this is a failsafe built into the camera. Something to do with an unregulated source? Unfortunately, I haven't been able to relocate that post. Any idea what's going on there? Any help would be appreciated.

The mount definitely does aperture control. Not sure what you mean the camera won't power up until you plugged the DC cable in. Even though I had the first Birger mount and was a major promoter (it was essential for underwater use) I'm having a hard time remembering some of the details.

Did you plug in the four pin LDS data cable from the front of the camera to the mount? That was a source of a lot of problems as it was a funky physical routing and not short protected (be very careful with it) - that's why they went to the separate power cable. There maybe some conflict there.

Not sure, but seems like image stabilization was controlled by the lens switch and unaffected by the mount.

 

[Nick_Brown]

Hi Michael. What I meant to say was that I tried to power the Birger adapter from one of the camera's Aux 12V ports but the camera wouldn't turn on until I unplugged the cable from Aux port.

The cable I have is a mini male-to-male lemo cable with four pins on either end. I don't see a 4-pin port towards the front of the camera (Aux 232 under the Viewfinder and Monitor ports has 10 pins). The only 4-pin ports I have are at the rear of the camera, both labeled Aux 12v.

To make things more confusing, the Birger adapter has three 4-pin ports on it -- should I assume that do they all do the same thing? There are three silver buttons on the other side of the Birger, which must be for changing the aperture.

 

[Nick_Brown]

I just found the post about the Aux 12v port being unregulated so I'll post it here, in case anyone else is looking:

...the Aux ports are really only reliable for GPIO triggering and not for powering external devices, unless they draw very little current. The most reliable is to power directly off the camera battery via the D-Tap/P-Tap connector on the battery plate (being careful of plug polarity!).

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?60099-aux-12v-port-doesnt-work

 

[Michael Hastings]

Hi Michael. What I meant to say was that I tried to power the Birger adapter from one of the camera's Aux 12V ports but the camera wouldn't turn on until I unplugged the cable from Aux port.

The cable I have is a mini male-to-male lemo cable with four pins on either end. I don't see a 4-pin port towards the front of the camera (Aux 232 under the Viewfinder and Monitor ports has 10 pins). The only 4-pin ports I have are at the rear of the camera, both labeled Aux 12v.

To make things more confusing, the Birger adapter has three 4-pin ports on it -- should I assume that do they all do the same thing? There are three silver buttons on the other side of the Birger, which must be for changing the aperture.

Nick: IIRC yes you should be powering it from one of the auxiliary ports. The ports on the adapter also include a port for a separate handheld controller they use to make or you could also control via one of those ports by a computer. Problem is I can't remember which one does what? I will try to find some of my old documentation. I actually have some old cables and a little remote control board that we used in our underwater housings back in the day.

I went to Birger.com but I get a warning on my Mac so didn't go through - so not sure if it is still viable. If you remind me and I can't find useful documentation I will try to contact Erik (the designer) by phone. I haven't spoken to him in a few years and don't know the situation.

 

[Nick_Brown]

Appreciate your willingness to help, Michael. I was in touch with Erik back in April when I first go the adapter. He sent me some helpful links that are now mostly blocked and, as your post post just reminded me, an installation guide for the Birger mount in PDF format. I just looked at it and revealed that powering the adapter required the cable to be run from an Aux 12V port to the bottom of the three lemo ports on the adapter. I tried with the bottom Aux 12V port and the camera started to boot but then turned off off a few seconds later. I then tried it in the upper Aux 12V port and the camera went through its whole boot cycle and seemed to be running perfectly. I then attached a modern EF lens onto the camera but was not able to control aperture with the three buttons. Also, the IS did not seem to be working. And lastly, the focus-by-wire lens was not allowing focus either.

I looked back through my emails with Erik and found this:

Note, do not update the software on the unit. Newer versions do not support the lens data to the camera, or the push buttons.

My camera is running the latest firmware v32+ so maybe that's why I can't use the buttons. Oh well. At least the Birger adapter still has life as a dumb adapter! And a pretty solid one at that.

 

[Nick_Brown]

I also tested powering the Birger adapter with the middle and upper ports, but no luck.

 

[Michael Hastings]

Nick IIRC there was a two button press to initialize the lens. Not sure which, but don't think it can hurt to try the various combinations. I think my little circuit board had an initialize button as well. When it initializes you see the focus bounce from one end to the other. Contact me off line and maybe we can get a way for you to try that.

 

[Rick Cook]

I had the Birger mount and it was a real pain. Mine also never powered properly or had proper control.

 

[Nick_Brown]

Nick IIRC there was a two button press to initialize the lens. Not sure which, but don't think it can hurt to try the various combinations.

I'm pretty sure I tried that and every other combination I can think of to no avail. It's not really mission critical to me to be able to use EF lenses, I just like knowing the full capabilities of my equipment. Image stabilization would have been nice to have, but I've been doing alright without it (this is where the heft of the camera becomes helpful).