Birger Mount

[Erik Naso]

I believe Erik knows Birger made a mistake with a release date and he has since retracted it. RED and Red Rock Micro failed with this same issue so please just let it be. I'm one of the Red Rock matte box victims. I have it and like it. I also waited way to long for a camera update because of the 3K for 3K RED fiasco. I get it. I learned a lesson. I want this as much as anybody but this constant whining wont get you the adapter any quicker so move forward and use the lenses you have and when its ready buy it.
Peace.

[dustylense]

When it comes it comes. Move on. If Birger ever ships the adapter, GREAT! Until then use your camera with whats available. Who knows, maybe large sensor 4k will be in your hands before you even get to enjoy the birger mount?

[Birger]

Speaking of "vaporware" I emailed them on July 29th and did get a reply from Erik Widing himself on August 8th. Here is what I wrote to Birger:

Sure you get this a lot but, WHEN WILL THE EOS ADAPTER BE AVAILABLE?

This is something I am highly interested in as are several other shooters. However, over the last few years we shooters have been cruelly taunted with suggested releases of vaporware.

I understand there are changes in designs and manufacturing and other factors but telling us the mount will be shipping by May then failing to deliver and not producing any information regarding when it will be available is just not cool.

You let the cat out of the bag by publicly displaying the product then announcing a delivery date. The least you could do is inform the many shooters who are waiting on you to give you their money what the hold up is and give us a REALISTIC date when we can get our hands on one.

I hope you will give us an update. Many of us can deal with waiting as long as we know why we are waiting and how long the wait will be.


He replied with:

I thank you for sharing your opinion. But, until we are ready to announce a firm ship date, we will not offer any projected schedule. We have not announced the ship dates or dealers yet. To receive the updates, please segn up for the "general news" email list on birger.com.

It is amusing to me that my email to you has ended up here on DVXuser. I do give you great credit for posting your email that prompted it. I've received a couple of these in the past few weeks, with a similar tone, and frankly "thanks for sharing your opinion" is the only response I am going to offer. Maybe this is where I should stop this post... but I haven't been here in awhile...

We publicly withdrew the announced ship date. I've stated that previously here on dvxuser, and emailed over 1500 people on our news list to state the same. So having now withdrawn the date, there is no ship date that has been announced. My email to you really does encapsulate it quite completely. After eleven years in business we still make a few rooky mistakes. Probably still have one or two left in us before we get everything done. No good reason to give visibility into all of the inner workings here at Birger. The voyeuristic reality-tv-esque thing that we did with the REDone development, is not the way I am going to run my business. This isn't American Choppers or the Jersey Shore... at least it isn't any more. I will say that the wonderful support we have received from Panasonic and Sony, ranging from running demos for potential customers, to extended equipment loans, has made this situation significantly different than the last one. Thanks Jan and Juan.

As I have said before, my crystal ball has not been so good on this program. I just do not have the information to give an accurate date right now. There are a few details left. Everything will go very fast once these issues are resolved, and I will announce a short ship date, and we will meet it. Period. No email like the one sent me is going to impact the decision to move forward as we are. It offers a sixty second reminder that people have a great many un-constructive ways to deal with disappointment. We are moving forward as fast as we can, given the constraints within which I and Birger are able to operate. If that last sentence is not understood, there really is no point in my even popping my head up here as often as I do.

On the topic of the other cameras... this is a platform-based product, intended to be compatible with many different cameras. Each of the cameras has a different set of complexities. The F3 talks the same protocol as the REDone - an hour after the F3 showed up here for the first time, we had it talking to the lens mount. Admittedly this was with a frankenstein setup, but we were displaying f-stops on the viewfinder powering the lens mount externally. Power analysis, finding the achilles heel of the camera and the older lens mount platform, took another hour or two... The FS100 and AF100 talk protocols that are different than ones we had previously implemented and had to be reverse engineered. Because of power issues with each of the mentioned cameras, and some of the complexities of communication with the AF100/FS100, we have to base the products for these cameras on this new platform that we are releasing very soon, not the one we have been shipping for many years. We made initial estimates to ship based on being able to use the existing platform. We will continue to offer demos on lots of different cameras. This work moves the entire platform forward, and does not move back the ship date for the AF100. Pedal to the floor engineering resource is not the gating factor right now. We still expect the AF100 to be the first on the new platform to ship.

I want to remind everybody of the fact that there is no one more motivated than me to get this out. Birger has not taken a single penny from any distributor, reseller or end user yet... and will not until we are ready to announce the ship date. I don't make any money until this ships. But I do still continue spending quite a bit moving it closer to the finish line. The complaining is not affecting anything but my mood, as we reach the home stretch. It isn't making it go any faster or any slower. Cut a guy a break?

[Rick Burnett]

Erik, I just wanted to say thanks for all the hard work. From one engineer to another.

[Greg Smith]

Erik, as another sometime engineer and entrepreneur, thanks. You are doing this in a careful and responsible way, and as much as I am looking forward to the product, I understand what you are up against and the realities of R&D. I will continue to be patient. My AF100 and lenses will still be here.

Occasional updates here, like this one, will go a long way toward keeping the potential users satisfied, I think.

- Greg

[Barry_Green]

I want to remind everybody of the fact that there is no one more motivated than me to get this out. Birger has not taken a single penny from any distributor, reseller or end user yet... and will not until we are ready to announce the ship date. I don't make any money until this ships. But I do still continue spending quite a bit moving it closer to the finish line. The complaining is not affecting anything but my mood, as we reach the home stretch. It isn't making it go any faster or any slower. Cut a guy a break?

Quoted for emphasis.

Good luck to you, Erik. Thanks for putting in the work and we all look forward to when this much-anticipated product ships.

[groveChuck]

And I'll emphasize this one.

As I have said before, my crystal ball has not been so good on this program. I just do not have the information to give an accurate date right now. There are a few details left. Everything will go very fast once these issues are resolved, and I will announce a short ship date, and we will meet it. Period.

No email like the one sent me is going to impact the decision to move forward as we are. It offers a sixty second reminder that people have a great many un-constructive ways to deal with disappointment.

We are moving forward as fast as we can, given the constraints within which I and Birger are able to operate. If that last sentence is not understood, there really is no point in my even popping my head up here as often as I do.

Thanks for popping your head in, Erik, and good luck on the home stretch
From a former (uh... HO electric train) engineer

[mcgeedigital]

One more reason i will never even try to bring to market any camera related products these days.

People commenting and complaining about delays who have no idea the r&d, setup, setbacks, and other costs of doing business in manufacturing highly technical pieces of camera gear.

Much easier to sit in your living room and bitch about it I guess.

[Jay A. Kelley]

Good luck Erik

Jay

[jmarkham]

I wouldn't get too bummed .. you're dealing with a bunch of people that want your product really bad.
Pent up demand vs. Yawn ... you're on the right side of that situation.

If it comes out and is awesome .. all will be forgiven ..

Thanks
jeff