Birger News by email

olof

olof

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I just got this email:


In a few hours I am flying off to Stuttgart Germany. Birger will be exhibiting at Vision (www.vision-fair.de). Find us in hall 4, stand B50. We will be demonstrating our real-time focus control system for Canon EF-mount lenses. We will be using an Imperx camera for the demonstration.

On the broadcast front, we are finishing off the final details on the adapter for the Sony PMW-F3, and expect to start shipping after we get back from Germany. We were forced to go back to the drawing board, when we came to realize a few seemingly minor changes between the production and preproduction cameras would have a major impact in the geometry of the product. We're talking to the camera and powered from the camera, so no cables are required. After seeing the announcements for the new Canon and Red cameras on 3 November, I am convinced that the winning camera for those wanting to shoot Canon lenses at this price point, is going to be the PMW-F3 with a Birger adapter. Neither of the other manufacturers talk about supporting real-time servo follow-focus - like we have supported on the Red-one for many years now.

The cost reduced broadcast products, for the Panasonic AF-100 and the Sony FS-100, are still in a bit of a holding pattern. We're going to burn off the initial demand for the F3 before putting these into production. With the holidays coming up, and the family time I and my employees do not plan to give up this year, January is the new target for volume shipping. We'll have first articles out to Sony and Panasonic, and our dealers before the end of the year. We are not supporting any further demos for broadcast until we get to first articles.

The great news is on the manufacturing and distribution front. These past few months, as we have brought our new manufacturing capabilities online, we have taken a few week detour to apply these processes to all of our existing products. We have been able to realize enough of a cost savings, and reduction in field failures to the point that we are able to apply our new, distribution friendly pricing model, to all of our existing products. When we return from Germany we will re-engage with those that have expressed interest in reselling our products.



Regards,
Erik.
 
Glad I made the decision to invest in some Lumix primes and cancel my pre-order, back in February, when it became clear that Birger were not likely to deliver. The little Lumix's have paid for themselves many times over now, and I'm looking forward to some serious PL glass next year. I bet Birger will still not have produced anything for anyone to buy.

"Bit of a holding pattern"? What does that mean for a product which was meant to have been shipping almost a year ago?

I know it isn't easy bringing high tech products to market when you are a small company, but still...! Maybe try finishing a project and shipping some product before jumping ship to the next one. You'd have sold a ton of AF100 adaptors if you'd been prompt. What next? Autofocus adaptors for Canon's own C300, putting the F3 adaptor into a holding pattern?

Hywel
 
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Had a decent chuckle when I read the email. "January [13 months late] is the new target for volume shipping." Sheeeit :)


sheeeit.jpg
 
I got the mail... didn't get the news I had hoped for...

This is the disappointing part:
I am convinced that the winning camera for those wanting to shoot Canon lenses at this price point, is going to be the PMW-F3 with a Birger adapter.

The cost reduced broadcast products, for the Panasonic AF-100 and the Sony FS-100, are still in a bit of a holding pattern.
We're going to burn off the initial demand for the F3 before putting these into production.
Click to expand...

What's "The cost reduced broadcast products"?

January is the new target for volume shipping.
Click to expand...
Erik, is this a target that you expect to hit?
And thanks for the email, albeit not the best news...
 
I got the extremely dissappointing email as well. A bit like, "would you want the adapter you should consider buying the F3"

Not a fan of Birger Engineering Inc. at the moment..... :cry:
 
"Cost-reduced" probably equals can't deliver on what he said he could deliver. The only thing that would surprise me now is if the mount did indeed ship in January.
 
The Birger adapter is a sad tale. Sony F3 owners are in the front of the line now and its hard to believe MFT users will see a Canon adapter for their first generation digital cinema cameras. Many people that would have bought it have already sold their cameras and moved on. This might be the real missed opportunity.
 
Let's stay on subject here - there's a Redrock thread if you want info on it's use - though I have to say, just 10 posts into this thread and we're right back where we left off after 500+ posts on the old Birger thread.

No where.

Personally, I've revived my Nikon collection of glass and am happily shooting with my Voigtlander adaptor after canceling both my Birger order with Rule and my LiveLens order with Redrock.

I'd suggest we close this thread as well and, until Birger has something positive and substantial to say, let's not waste energy talking about something that doesn't exist and probably won't exist for some time.

Just my own opinion...

Regards,
Scott
 
Got an email today from my dealer concerning the Birger.

Basically they don't know when the unit will ship, & speculated around NAB, so offered a refund on my pre-pay.

I'll hold off through January, but don't have much hope.
 
Ditto. Got one from Rule. Wish they didn't CC a bunch of other people on the same email, when the BCC button is just pixels away. Not holding my breath either.
 
This just in: in a fitting move, Birger has decided to change the name of their adapter product to "Duke EF-Mountem Forever".
 
How do they expect to be taken seriously anymore? What a Joke. For those wanting to use their Canon glass here's my advice, get a Scarlet. The Redmote Pro will ship before the Birger.

Just my opinion.
 
Barry_Green said:
No need to go that far. Just get the Redrock, which has been shipping for several months, or get the new MTF mount. Birger is no longer the only game in town.
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The Redrock works fine. If the Birger comes .. cool .. but don't hold yourself back if you've got Canon glass.

jeff
 
I gave up waiting for the Birger and bought the Redrock. It works fine for the two main tasks of physically adapting the lens and controlling the iris. If Birger gets its product done and can give me IS and remote and auto-focus support as well as pull power internally from the camera (no dangling battery box), I will still buy one when it comes out. But I'm neither holding my breath for that, nor suffering too much in my day to day use of the Redrock.

- Greg
 
For a few months I have been planning to sell my AF101 but thought that I would hold off until my Birger mount arrived just to see how it worked with all my lovely Canon 'L' lenses. Now sadly I'm guessing that as there hasn't been any further communication in tweet or email for over two months Birger must have either some serious technical or financial problems. It doesn't look like this is ever going to see the light of day.
 
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