Not all PL mounts are equal

Stephen Williams · May 9, 2007

Hi Jim,

You may be interested to know that I had a problem with some PL mounted lenses on a Phantom HD camera that I was testing. The mount was beautifully made but was slightly too tight, I was therefore unable to properly close the mount with some but not all the lenses.

I had a selection of lenses, I wanted to see how Zeiss Standard lenses would work on a digital sensor .(They don't with a P+S adapter)

My best

Stephen

Stephen Williams · October 7, 2007

Hi Jim,

You may be interested to know that I had a problem with some PL mounted lenses on a Phantom HD camera that I was testing. The mount was beautifully made but was slightly too tight, I was therefore unable to properly close the mount with some but not all the lenses.

I had a selection of lenses, I wanted to see how Zeiss Standard lenses would work on a digital sensor .(They don't with a P+S adapter)

My best

Stephen

Hi,

Just an update, I understand from Mitch at Able Cine that the mount issues have been fixed on the Phantom Cameras.

Stephen

Rob van Gelder · October 7, 2007

Stephen, how did those lenses perform? I am interested.

The company I work for has now a Cine-Speedcam and that camera has a full size chip too, though a slightly different format than the Phantom.

We are testing now but others experiences are welcome.

Our first problem was that the company did make the mount inside to shallow, so a few lenses (Ultraprimes) could not be used. But a short trip to the metal workshop solved that.

Regarding the closing of the lensmount/bajonet, what i know about the mounts is that the part that actually locks can be turned several times before reaching the part where it locks to the flange (the 4 wings" of the lens.

These flanges can be slightly different in dimension , depending on the manufacturer. Often a retaining screw is used (Arri cameras) to prevent people from turning the locking loose (the 2 tabs on the ring will hit a blocking screw).

In certain cases you can remove this locking screw if the "wings" on the PL-mount are a bit too big.

(Not sure if I should say this.........) <_<

Stephen Williams · October 7, 2007

Hi Rob,

The Zeiss Standards 16, 24 (probably 32) portholed unless stopped down to about T4. You would notice this on a even colored Background. My Cooke 20-60 looked very good.

Arri Bayo lenses in a PL adapter can be an issue depending on who made the Adapter.

It seems that the makers of Digital Cameras don't take enough care with lens mount design & correct FFD.

Stephen

Stephen, how did those lenses perform? I am interested.
The company I work for has now a Cine-Speedcam and that camera has a full size chip too, though a slightly different format than the Phantom.

We are testing now but others experiences are welcome.

Our first problem was that the company did make the mount inside to shallow, so a few lenses (Ultraprimes) could not be used. But a short trip to the metal workshop solved that.

Regarding the closing of the lensmount/bajonet, what i know about the mounts is that the part that actually locks can be turned several times before reaching the part where it locks to the flange (the 4 wings" of the lens.

These flanges can be slightly different in dimension , depending on the manufacturer. Often a retaining screw is used (Arri cameras) to prevent people from turning the locking loose (the 2 tabs on the ring will hit a blocking screw).

In certain cases you can remove this locking screw if the "wings" on the PL-mount are a bit too big.

(Not sure if I should say this.........) <_<

chuck colburn · October 7, 2007

Most times the problem with any breech lock type lens mount is the thickness of the ears themselves. This is true for any of them be it Arri, Panavision or Mitchell etc. I never ran into a camera side that was wrong. Don't know about that video camera though.

The same is true for the Arri S/B lens mounts. The position of the ears and their deminsions is very critical.

Edited October 7, 2007 by chuck colburn

Patrick Neary · October 8, 2007

we had a problem mounting a primo 11-1 on a pana-435, and it turned out to be the tiniest bit of grit on the lens mount, it looked like a pencil smudge. Those tolerances are tight!