PL Mount and data connection

[Evin Grant]

There are holes at the top but no contacts.

[Mark Pedersen]

Evin, Greg, Brook,

How can we escalate this to the Red team to get a clear answer? According to the Cooke Website, Cooke and Arri collaborated to make the two systems compatible. Seems the Red, with it's open system philosophy should support metadata capture from the two dominant lens manufacturers, who have worked together to create a compatible system for the industry.

Greg, I sent you a PM regarding the Ultraprimes and where you sourced them. Can you get back to me on that? I'm interested in a set, but would feel better about shelling out the dough if I was able to take full advantage the intelligence built into the system.

Thanks guys,

M

[Wes Printz]

I noticed this in early photos of the mount. Initial thought would be install the connectors at the top AND left side of the mount as on the ARRI Mounts, so either system can be used, and the lens mounted correctly. Not all RED owners will be buying lenses, many may be renting as lens choice is generally a decision of the D.O.P.

Next question is... Is there a separate Lens Data display in the works to show approx DOF, lens marks and other data available? or incorporate this info on the LCD / EVF? Possibly plug into the RS232 Port?

[Brook Willard]

Pana-tech, the metadeta from the lenses isn't even captured by the camera at this point. I'm sure a display like that will come eventually, but lens metadata capture is still at least a build away.

As for "escalating" this to the RED team... I'll bet you $10 they've been aware of it for months. Hopefully there's a solution, but I wouldn't expect a mount redesign at this point [as they've just redesigned and shipped a new mount anyways...].

[I Bloom]

If the holes exist for the seperate contacts then it might be possible to mod your mount so that it can take both. I know I'm going to want that, I can think of somebody who I will be doing that type of work as soon as he gets his camera.

Ian

[Greg M]

There are holes at the top but no contacts.

Evin, do you mean screw holes or a hole where a contact could fit?

Can you post a pic?

[Mark Pedersen]

Brook,
What I meant by "escalating" is that it sounds like there hasn't been any response or information coming from Red on this issue, and was wondering if you guys have any influence with Red since you have cameras and/or have been involved in the development process longer than I have.

There are two fundamental issues here that need to be addressed1)can physical contact be made and with the scales in the correct orientation and 2)assuming lens/body contact can be made, does the red software recognize and communicate with the data output from the Ultra/Master lens?

It would seem like the physical connection would be the more difficult problem to solve (there's always a solution in software - just a matter of time and resource allocation - plus there must be some existing data compatibility/standard if Arri and Cooke collaborated on this).

Given the pressure to solve the shimming issue, etc., and to get cameras shipping again, I suspect that Red did not provide two data connections on the new mount. If they had, I would think would have mentioned it in the "announcement" and/or forum discussions. (In fact, the lens data feature seems to have gotten very little attention to date, even though it's an important feature).

So assuming that Red didn't add a second set of contacts (something that should be easy enough to find out!) it would seem the next step would be to see if Arri lenses can be modified or adapted to align to the contact position on the Red without having to deal with focus scales in the wrong position.

Greg, have you checked with Arri to see if there are alternate mounts or a way to rotate the data connection/PL mount relative to the focus scales?

Hopefully there is an existing solution from Arri/Zeiss (like a certain version PL mount) that takes care of the issue. Or something that a qualified lens technician could do as a mod.

Once the physical contact is made, I would think Red could easily support the metadata capture.

So Red guys, can you weigh in here?

I'll check with Arri next week to see if they're aware of the issue and know of a solution.

Thanks all, and Happy New Year!

It should be a fun with new toys in hand :)

[Wes Printz]

I wouldn't expect a mount redesign at this point [as they've just redesigned and shipped a new mount anyways...].

One might think that with a newly designed mount, and 200 cameras shipping, this may have been addressed and the contacts installed in both positions. The engineering, machining, and materials cost alone would be incentive enough to only want to do this once.

From looking at the new mount picture posted by Jim, it appears to have 8 mounting screw instead of 6, which would impede placement of the second set of contacts? I could be wrong here, if I am let me know.

I understand what RED is doing with the open design format, and think it's great. I feel they may be trying bit too hard to deliver as quickly as possible, which is not a bad thing to serve your customer, but the down side could result in hardware updates, which eventually costs RED and the end user time and money, which could be spent in better places. They have been great at responding to customer feedback to address issues found by the first 100 brave souls.

[Wes Printz]

So assuming that Red didn't add a second set of contacts (something that should be easy enough to find out!) it would seem the next step would be to see if Arri lenses can be modified or adapted to align to the contact position on the Red without having to deal with focus scales in the wrong position.

This would be the equivalent to someone building a new compact automobile to compete with the big boys, but making the wheels with 6 lug nuts instead of 4, and having all the wheel manufacturers modify THEIR product to fit yours.

There are things called industry standards for a reason...

[Evin Grant]

Evin, do you mean screw holes or a hole where a contact could fit?

Can you post a pic?

I can on monday when #199 arrives but #102 (Tonaci's) had holes in a small plate but there were no gold contacts like the first 100. My guess is that they will retrofit or send out the part when this feature is enabled.