NOW SHIPPING Redrock LiveLens MFT - Canon EF Lens Compatibility for Micro Four-Thirds

I just ordered it, we will see how fast they ship and how well it works. Also interested in when the Birge and Mtf adapters are going to ship. But there is something to being the first too market. I am going to be a little upset if they are not actually shipping yet.
 
I just ordered one as well.

I will post first impressions in a few days. The RR web site says they ship in one day or less from order placement.

This is great I am just about to start a large foliage project and I want to use my 70-200 f2.8. And my 24-70 f2.8.
 
Does anyone know if this is supposed to work with Nikons as well? Or is it just for Canon?
And what exactly does that mean, all the functions on the camera like autofocus will now work or
does it mean now you don't have to fiddle with the adapter to control the iris?
 
this looks great, does anyone know if it will also work with tokina, sigma, and tamron lenses in ef mount?
 
dtzfilms said:
Does anyone know if this is supposed to work with Nikons as well? Or is it just for Canon?
And what exactly does that mean, all the functions on the camera like autofocus will now work or
does it mean now you don't have to fiddle with the adapter to control the iris?
Click to expand...

All the info is at the RR web site. OP posted link.

It is only for EOS (Canon EF Lenses) to MFT. It will control iris but not provide power for IS and will not control focus.

Here is a spec quote from RR.

"The Redrock Micro LiveLens MFT™ is the first active lens adapter that enables Canon EF lenses to be used with any micro four-thirds (mft) camera, such as the Panasonic AG-AF100, Panasonic GH1/2, and Olympus Pen cameras.

Canon EF lenses require power and electronic controls in order to adjust the lens’ aperture. Without power and control electronics, The aperture of the EF lenses are stuck wide open, severely limiting the usefulness of the lens. The Redrock LiveLens mft active lens adapter solves this problem by providing power to the EF lens and a control pad to adjust the lens aperture. With LiveLens mft you can set the EF lens' aperture to any stop in increments as small as 1/3 stop. It works with just about every lens available today, including variable aperture zoom lenses, prime lenses, consumer-level lenses, and professional L-series lenses. It also works with most third party EF-compatible lenses. There are some limitations to please make sure to read Technical Details.

The Redrock Micro LiveLens mft is the solution for using sharp EF-mount lenses on Micro Four Third bodies without sacrifice. Where standard “dummy adapters” just physically mount EF lenses to the Micro Four Third body, the Redrock micro LiveLens MFT talks to the lens, giving you the ability to adjust your aperture without the need to use time consuming workarounds on set. Don’t work around the ability of your lenses; make your lenses work for you, starting today."
 
OK first impressions is a little disapointing. The unit arrived I put it on the camera with a 24-70 2.8L and nothing happened. So I double checked the battery and the connections. One of the pins on the Hirose connector is live with 9.3v so the cable seems OK.

I called RedRock, just messages no person. I have emailed and tried Live Chat on their site, it does not seem to work.

I know these things happen and maybe I am doing something wrong. But it would be nice to talk to someone at the company.

I still hope that this is a great unit. I will report back soon hopefully. I am about to try another lens as well.
 
Sorry to hear your RR LL is not working. If it gives you hope, I did see a working unit at the Panasonic booth at DV Expo last Thursday.
 
Well this is a bit disheartening for those of us with Canon glass.
One company delivers a product that may not be ready for prime time. The other company about all they can deliver is announcements and of those you can't believe one word in them. I guess we are going to have to wait once again for a foreign company to do right.
 
I am sure the system works. But I just got a bad unit or I am doing something wrong, though I doubt that. Here is a shot of my setup.

I am still waiting to hear from RR. Just tried another lens, NOGO.



MFTlivelens.jpg
 
olof said:
I am sure the system works. But I just got a bad unit or I am doing something wrong, though I doubt that. Here is a shot of my setup.

I am still waiting to hear from RR. Just tried another lens, NOGO.



View attachment 40840
Click to expand...

Nice rig.

So... what's a no-go, the adapter (LED readout off), or is the adapter on, but doesn't do anything to the lens? Bummer, regardless, and it speaks poorly of QC :/
 
Works with our 24-70L. iris control has a little lag but works as promised. I set the aperture then turn off the battery unit.
 
Looking forward to testing ours with our 16-35, 24-70, 70-200 and some other non L primes. Ours comes in tomorrow and I sure hope it works since we are shooting a film festival over the weekend and it is booked all next week on a production.

On a side note I am super excited about the Oconnor Baseplate coming in tomorrow as well. Is it sad that I am almost more excited about the baseplate than the lens mount?
 
mkfotos.com said:
Nice rig.

So... what's a no-go, the adapter (LED readout off), or is the adapter on, but doesn't do anything to the lens? Bummer, regardless, and it speaks poorly of QC :/
Click to expand...

The small LCD has no read out and the iris does not respond to buttons.

I have tested the Hirose plug and one of the pins passes 9.3v when turned on so I don't think it is the cable. The unit just seems dead. What irritates me is I can't contact a person at RR. All I have got is an automatic email states they will reply to my email within 24hrs. Phones just give you recordings and no call back yet.

I still have high hopes for this kit but it seems I will not be able to use on tomorrows shoot, I hope they will be prompt as I paid extra for 2 day delivery.

I will post any updates on the solution.
 
breakbeat46 said:
Works with our 24-70L. iris control has a little lag but works as promised. I set the aperture then turn off the battery unit.
Click to expand...
How much of a lag is little lag? Are you turn it off just to save battery, or is it just no holding aperture if you keep it on?
 
OK thing look a little better this AM.

I got an email from RR this AM and they asked for some photos and info. I supplied this.

I then did some further testing and found that the problem is a bad ground in the wire or the Hirose connector. I do get 9.3v at one of the pins but the ground is not working, so by jumping a ground to the Hirose sleeve I got the unit to work right. So I need a replacement power unit, or I may re-solder / replace the cable. This is up to RedRock when they get back to me again. I am also hoping that the Live lens can be used with power from a D-tap. More on this later.

One point of interest is when the power to the LiveLens is turned off the lens opens up all the way. So at least with my 70-200 f2.8L IS turning the power off to save battery would not work.

Other than this rough start I really like the MFT LiveLens. It is small and easy to work, it shows the Iris in 1/3 stops. and the adapter seems very well made. I will shoot some tests later when the power issue is solved. Bad cables are not a new thing to us in this industry, it may even be that it left RedRock in fine shape, sometimes a cable is defective or a solder joint just is weak and fails. I must have had dozens of XLR's and BNC cables as well as others go bad over the years.

RedRock did get back to me by email within 12 hrs, this is good. I do like companies that have good tech support and I do prefer to have phone contact with them.

Here is a link to some photos of testing of the unit. More soon.

http://www.westsideav.com/LiveLensMTF/
 
I now have repaired the Hirose plug, the negative wire was broken in the cable where the brass strain relief is crimped on.

The LiveLens now works perfectly. I really like it.

RedRock TechSupp called me twice this morning and they are shipping me a new battery power unit overnight. So I would say this is very good customer support. The issue was resolved quickly and I did get to talk to a human, twice even. They are also letting me keep the original setup so I can shoot today and tomorrow, naturally it is now raining.

And they told me that it is fine to use an AB or IDX battery plate with a D-tap as a power source. This is great I will convert this cable to a D-tap, so I now have one battery that runs the AF100, Nanoflash, LiveLens, Zakuto EVF, and an on camera LED light if I like.

As I stated earlier this is a nice small rugged adapter and it works very well. I will report more after using it in the field.

A note. If you set the Iris and then turn the LiveLens power off, the Iris will stay at the setting, however when you turn the LiveLens power back on it will return the lens to wide open.
 
Are you noticing a lag when changing aperture? How much time do get out of those IDX with all those gadgets connected?
 
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