EPIC Titanium mount... why not stainless steel?

[Andrae Palmer]

I've been doing some research online to see what some of the differences would be between the Aluminum Canon Mount and the Titanium mount. What I've found is that on camera bodies like the 5D Mark II the material used is stainless steel for the mount. I'm presuming that the stainless steel mount is stronger than an aluminum mount. If this stainless steel mount is good enough for Canon on all their cameras... why did RED go with a titanium mount as the only option available for the EPIC cameras? Does any DSLR's currently have a Titanium mount?

[Justin O'Neill]

Just a couple guesses: one, cinema lenses tend to be a lot heavier than still lenses. Two, keeping back focus is much more important when you are measuring focus out. Titanium doesn't shrink or swell in heat or cold.

[Elsie N]

removed


edit: Oops, thought you were talking PL mount for the Epic, Andre.

[roryhinds]

my guess is if they are making PL Ti mounts then it would make them more cost effective to be making Canon Ti mounts too... more Ti you purchase the cheaper it becomes.

PL Ti Mount makes sense as Cinema lenses are a lot heavier than Stills lens and personally I think the Ti Canon mount is total overkill. Like you say Canon make camera's without a Ti Mount.

[Andrae Palmer]

Just a couple guesses: one, cinema lenses tend to be a lot heavier than still lenses. Two, keeping back focus is much more important when you are measuring focus out. Titanium doesn't shrink or swell in heat or cold.

I can understand the logic with the Titanium PL mount... but the Canon Titanium Mount is designed for still lenses. I just bought the Canon Titanium Mount used today and am just curious to see why the decision to go with Titanium instead of say Stainless Steel that Canon uses on their mounts.

[Alan Skinner]

Cool factor?

"and my lens mount is milled from a solid piece of Titanium. Would you like to go up to my room and see it? It is right next to my etchings........................."

:)

[Andrae Palmer]

Cool factor?

"and my lens mount is milled from a solid piece of Titanium. Would you like to go up to my room and see it? It is right next to my etchings........................."

:)

LOL... it does have a certain cool factor but it just cost me $2500 to get it used in the sales section. A stainless steel cheaper option would be great... I wouldn't buy the aluminum version knowing that Canon uses a stronger mount.

[Alan Skinner]

Yes, I choked hard when I sent the money for mine. Feels like I am sporting around a chunk of gold. But, the pain wears off and the darn thing will last longer than I will............

[Blair S. Paulsen]

The first couple of years that the RedOne's were in the wild there was chatter about some issues with back focus. Most of the time it was folks with a video background that weren't hip to shimming PL mounts and hadn't been bought up measuring to witness marks. Another issue that led to badly set FFD, even at competent rental houses, was the OLPF filter in front of the sensor giving them a false read on the focal plane. It was certainly not RED's fault that camera techs measured to the wrong surface, but the end result was a couple of high profile focus snafus that spiraled into the overblown FUD that follows everything RED.

(Digression alert: Considering how desperately the entrenched players in the industry wanted to smear RED, what is truly amazing is how few genuine problems there have been, even in the earliest quasi-beta days. I maintain that over 95% of all "problems" linked to RED's program were actually erroneous assumptions by users. You can take shots at RED for the atypical way they, to some extent, "crowd supported" via RedUser, but that would be ignoring the level of technical support that has always been available directly from RED. OK, rant over.)

My point is that RED was determined to make a bulletproof mount next time around. The Ti mount on my Epic and every one I have rented has worked a treat. It may be perceived by some as expensive but I LOVE it.

All that said, I look forward to an Al EOS mount for $500 that strikes me as the right balance of cost, strength and precision. Most lenses designed for stills use are much lighter in weight than their PL cousins. Since stills lenses typically don't have repeatable focus markings on the barrel, either auto focus or eye focus is typically employed which (as long as the FFD isn't WAY off) means that you just find sharps wherever they live anyway.

Now, what if the next generation of multi-purpose electronic lenses employs an EOS mount and some are much heavier than the typical stills market lens...? Perhaps the Ti Canon mount is worth an extra $1,500 after all...

Cheers - #19

[Scott Crawley]

Are the benefits of stainless over aluminum enough to justify offering another mount at all when aluminum is really sufficient for most users? They had already invested in the Ti milling equipment for the Pl mounts, so why not leverage that investment? Why invest in a third line of material? Why not go all the way with the premium version and capture the cool factor? Use the absolute best. It seems like a no-brainer.

It's attitude, status, style AND function. It is the Red way. It is branding as much as anything, I suppose.