KipperTie Revolva – RED Lens Mount With Built In ND Filter Wheel

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by Tim FokDecember 8^th, 2017

KipperTie has announced Revolva, a new mount for the DSMC2 RED cameras offering a PL or EF mount with built-in ND wheel. The wheel can be swapped out quickly to more ND or even a diffusion set.

Kippertie has been known for making filtration-related RED products for some time. The Revolva may just be their most significant yet.

With a name and colour wave akin to another favourite UK camera accessory company, the Revolva is suitably garish in appearance as with many RED-related products.

It’s a lens mount and ND wheel built in-one. Both PL and EF mounts will be available, electronically also for aperture changes and lens data (exactly the same as the RED EF mount).

The 4-filter wheel (or cartridge) can be quickly removed and switched out to one of the following

• Clear, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 (0-3 stops)
• 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, 2.1 (4-7 stops)
• Gold, Carbon, Pearl, Optical Clear (diffusion set)

Backfocus issues are supposedly non-existent:

“Revolva compensates for back focus with its high refractive index rear optical window, combined with a precise and specific flange depth. As long as you have a Revolva cartridge fitted, back focus will be correct.”

Like any standard lens mount for DSMC2 RED cameras, the Revolva sits in front of your OLPF, and does not affect it in any way.

There’s a very handy FAQ on the KipperTie website, which highlights a few downsides:

• Certain lenses just don’t fit.
• A small number of lenses vignette on VV.
• Gate flare when not using a sunshade is potentially different from normal expectation.
• Certain combinations of camera accessories will obstruct the fitting and require changes to your rigging.

In terms of the positives, if the NDs are of good quality and don’t shift in colour, this looks like it could be a great product. Not only would it make ND changes much quicker (like, instant), it would be cheaper to a new user.

Pre-order prices for a single mount (EF or PL) with a full ND set will cost £2000. A complete set of 4X5.65” Firecrest NDs plus a standard mount will cost you much more than this.

As a RED user, I’m pretty keen to try this out and see how it holds up.

KipperTie state they won’t start shipping until they get full RED approval, and have their targets on Q2 2018.