Update (sort of) on Birger Canon EOS mount

[Michael Hastings]

Also posted in the Underwater bubble blowers group:

I have been a close follower of the Birger mount option for many months because it is a huge deal for us in the underwater world to have the low cost, high quality lens options as well as the electronic control it offers for focus and iris. I speak to Erik regularly but infrequently as I try not to bug them too much. I know a lot of people are wondering what happened to Erik as he hadn't posted in a while.

I suspected that the changes to the RED mount and shipping delays were either causing changes/delays on the Birger mount or at least causing Birger to hold off finalizing their product until things were solidified at RED and RED was closer to delivering cameras again. (Remember us third party accessory manufacturers don't really get to sell our stuff until the cameras are sold. During these production holds we still have to make a living so have to keep working with our existing customer base.)

I spoke to Erik on Friday, and he confirmed that they had to make a few changes to the mechanical parts, but he thought they were essentially on track to be able to ship the first production units about the time RED ONE shipments resume or shortly thereafter. He felt pretty confident that he would have a prepro unit available for the LART tests (December 2)

I know some of my underwater customers have been getting nervous and wondering if it was ever going to happen and should they look at other options. I don't have a lot of hard facts, but I have been doing short run and custom manufacturing for 25 years and have developed a pretty good feel for these things, and I have talked to Erik enough to feel pretty strongly that he is on top of the situation, knows what he is doing and will be getting people these mounts very quickly after RED comes out of the production hold. So my recommendation is: "hold tight and soon we are going to see some pretty amazing and cost effective capability"

[jaadgy akanni]

Thanks Aqua, much appreciated. In Erik we trust :-)

[Joel Kaye]

I spoke to Erik on Friday, and he confirmed that they had to make a few changes to the mechanical parts, but he thought they were essentially on track to be able to ship the first production units about the time RED ONE shipments resume or shortly thereafter. He felt pretty confident that he would have a prepro unit available for the LART tests (December 2)

Awesome news. Thanks for the post. I'd really like to get one of those mounts if they work!

[Barry Gregg]

As a still shooter as well as a cinematographer... I am still wondering if it is possible to mount PL lenses on a Canon EOS body. It seems to me that it would be a great directors finder and would allow for screen caps of the scene at an earlier stage of production. i.e. being able to work on Luts and CC prior to shooting the scene.
Anyone aware of such a lens adapter?

[jimhare]

Great news. Any estimates on cost?

Jim

[Fergus Meiklejohn]

thanks Aqua, that's all we need to know.. :construction:

[Michael Hastings]

Great news. Any estimates on cost?

Jim

Jim: With all of the changes and such I've actually lost track of the last estimate. I think it was about $1500 or $1700. Maybe a little more maybe a little less, because I can't remember exactly what the package is - it is basically a follow focus setup too because you have follow focus type knobs to control the iris and focus, with cables so you can mount the knobs on the rails, tripod handle or whatever and I'm not sure what extra cables, knob knickknacks, etc were included.

Basically, use this number as a ballpark, but for people that haven't tracked its progress I wanted to point out that it's not $700 but not $3000 either.

[MikeHedge]

thanks for the update.... will this allow for a lens with IS to work? or this will just allow for you to change f stop, focus, and zoom?

[Justin K Phillips]

Yes, IS will work, as will EF-S lenses.

[jbeale]

I am still wondering if it is possible to mount PL lenses on a Canon EOS body. [...] Anyone aware of such a lens adapter?

Hmm, the flange focal distance for Canon EF lens mount is 44 mm and for Arri PL is 52 mm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_mount

So a PL->EOS mount lens adaptor would need to add 8 mm effective length. Taking into account the required mechanical mounting parts, I'm not sure if it's possible. In any event I haven't heard of such a thing.

[Mark Crabtree]

This is not an adaptor that fits into the PL mount. The PL mount is removed from the Red One. It is replaced by the Birger EOS mount which has the proper FFD for EOS. Also Erik is addressing the back focus issue so that we can fine tune it in case of any physical variations that may or may not exist in the Red One.

[Dominic Jones]

Hmm, the flange focal distance for Canon EF lens mount is 44 mm and for Arri PL is 52 mm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_mount

So a PL->EOS mount lens adaptor would need to add 8 mm effective length. Taking into account the required mechanical mounting parts, I'm not sure if it's possible. In any event I haven't heard of such a thing.
What usually stops PL -> Stills mount adapters being possible is the rear extension of the barrel in PL mount glass - the diameter of the PL mount is very large relative to SLR mounts and usually the rear barrel of PL lenses won't fit through the opening available from the SLR mount...