Hi Schuh, welcome to the lab!

Some questions :)

The IMS is traditionally rather high quality but also rather expensive which was the primary reason why we opted for designing the Beta with an exchangeable lens mount system itself. Would you be OK to pay 500€ for the mount and ~ 500€ per mount adapter for the IMS?

Open interfaces and reprogrammable user interface are all possible out of the box!

A cable tunnel is an interesting idea, but I am not sure where/how it could look exactly as you never know to/form which locations a cable should ultimately be going in advance. Maybe we will need some concept images and ideas for that.

• IMS: Good point. Too expensive. But maybe it would be a good idea to use an already existing standard like the red mount. It is very simple (4 screws only) and there are already a lot of 3rd party mount adaptors available, some of them rather cheap. And I suppose that you could use it without an expensive license from RED, because for example Wooden Camera is offering a conversion of the BMCC to RED mount for a reasonable price.

• The cable tunnel is probably rather for the Axiom Gamma. Most cables run from the back (batteries, wireless receivers...) to the lens (follow focus motor etc.) and to the top (monitors, ultrasonic tape measure…). And of course from the camera to a video transmitter (or directors monitor) - I always wished that these SDI and HDMI sockets were protected inside the camera body rather than to stick out of it.

Thanks for your fast reply!

Red mount is a good idea - but you should asses any potential licensing issues.

I ask wonder if it is worth contacting P+S to see if they could offer the IMS slightly cheaper to Axiom users.

However ultimately I suspect there won't be too much of an issue getting different mounts for the Axiom as the designs will be publicly available - meaning any of the plethora of existing companies that manufacture lens adapters will be able (and no doubt willing) to make mounts for the Axiom.

Personally I'd say the only important thing for the lens mount to be is robust and manufactured to a high tolerance - if the flange depth is off you get issues with infinity and near focus. If it goes off-plane you end up with 'shift and tilt' focus problems. If it's loose you get movement in the image when you focus (in addition to the others).

So I'd be happy with a 'proprietary' system so long as it is solidly locked to the sensor board and body and manufactured to a high tolerance.

Red mount adaptors already available, so you can just screw them in and start on day 1.

I dont´t think Wooden Camera would offer Red Mount for other cameras if they had to pay a lot for licenses.

A solid mount is mandatory. But I also miss an easy flange focal distance adjustment on most of the cameras.

Ah, okay. I've had a quick look at the Wooden Camera website - it's not entirely clear what is going on there.

The way I read it they've developed a system that means a Red brand mount can be added to a black magic 4K - although they also clearly manufacture their own PL mount based upon this. Having said that, given that the Red concept is basically just a system to allow a series of patent expired mounts to be used, they may not be able to Patent it.

It would be good if the Axiom system included scrims for flange adjustment. According to Wooden Camera they are developing their own interchangeable mount system - so it might be worth contacting them to enquire about using it on the Axiom - although I note the Wooden BMPC upgrade costs $1,300 and the PL mount $400, so may not be much cheaper than the IMS!

Arri is just about to release the Alexa-Mini, with the same interchangeable mount like the Amira. So there are now at least five different basic mount systems already available: Red, Sony FZ, Amira, P+S IMS and the Taiwanese Allstar.
For each basic mount, every rental place (or owner of several cameras) would have to buy a whole set of secondary mounts (like PL, BNC, OCT19, Canon, Nikon etc.) for the lenses that he is using. This is really stupid. It would make mount adaptors a lot cheaper, if there would be just one system on the market.
So for everybody - users, rental places and mount manufacturers - it would be great not to introduce another 4-screw basic mount system, but to use an existing one.

The Arri mount system seems to just be a plate held in place by four locking screws (like the Red mount) with the mount in the middle so I don't see why the Axiom system couldn't position the locking screws in the same place.

However I think the most interesting thing about the mount in the Alexa mini is that it attaches directly to the sensor block - ensuring a solid constant flange distance.

I'm not sure what the current state of development of the Beta sensor block is - but it would be good to see this concept carried across to the Beta design (if possible) or the Gamma.