Great Accessory if you've ordered an F3..

[jashunter]

Hey all
when i was shooting the first bunch of pre production F3 tests, i recognized the need for a riser block to either accept LW 15mm rods or adapt to 15mm/19mm studio slide plates. i approached Trevor at Griptech to get me out of trouble with a quick fix...however he's not a man who does quick fixex by half.

So he now sells a riser block that has its own LW 15mm rod clamps. works really well and is machined to be very light. Anyway thought the link was worth pimiping. and if your ever in a tight spot you know who to call :-)







http://www.griptech.net.au/index.php...d&productId=83

Cheers
Jason

[Jason Davenport]

Very nice, Thanks. That's very interesting.

Now. if you can bend his hear a little... What would make this perfect, is cut out a slight angle "step" going up about where the I is and stop and leave 15mm of material at top and cut straight back to rear (maybe extending all the way to rear of camera). Then just screw in a nice Sony or Panasonic real shoulder pad under the step. You can go from sticks to shoulder all without adding stuff. Sort of a Alexa bottom form factor.
And an add on would be some sort of 15mm rod mount just behind shoulder pad (attached maybe to rear top plate) For adding vertical battery mounts and recorders with short rods. Acting as ballast as well.

You can always fatten and widen the bottom to add 19mm rods and loose the dovetail plate all together. (Seperate unit)
And add your own drop down hand grips.
Here's a very bad drawing of..
IMG_1740.jpg

I'd buy that in a second!

[ddh]

Nice piece of kit ... I'd go with JDDalllas' suggestion on this riser. It would be a gem!

[jashunter]

Interesting thought dallas
tho the F3 .. err isnt the most sturdy or rigid of bodies and we needed all the surface area and rigidity we could get. tho i believe they've beefed up the rigidity of production versions.

Doesn't help your cutout suggestion but the rod holes do go all the way through the block? so any length rods or rod mounted shoulder pad can be fitted there.. just not as close as youve drawn ?

[Jason Davenport]

That's the problem, if the rods go all the way though, now the shoulder pad area is too far behind the camera now you have all this unwanted front weight. You need it up under there. The base of plate would extend all the way to back, so the entire base of cam is supported. No rigidity issues.
Here's a better drawing.
scan0002.jpg

[jashunter]

Thx for that. understand and can totally see your point. The F3 being a Pl mount cam is going to be asked to mount some heavy glass, rods, matte boxes, FF's etc That amount of contact surface area at the bottom isnt going to be enough to keep all that weight out front nice and solid IMHO. Also how do the rods go all the way through on your drawing with the shoulder cutoff? The F3 is a kinda weird beast as more lens weight means it should be designed more for shoulder use.. yet the EVF is at the bag. ahh sony.

[Jason Davenport]

As for the front surface area that connects to tripod is more than strong enough. 3 or more inches of flat plate aluminum bolted with 2 3/8 screws to another flat piece of aluminum the camera would tear off before the plates ever would. Even with a small triangle dove tail, like the on my Avatar, I have plenty of weight hanging off the front of mine and no worries. But your right on tripod balance with a large lens being off. That's where I would suggest leaving it a Arri dove tail rail underneath for sliding along plate for better balance. As for the rods going all the way through, they don't. They would go into a rear rod block, leaving the space for shoulder pad.

Take alook at what Abel Cinetech has for their Phantom rental, this is pretty much what I'm talking about. except rear rods.
http://www.abelcine.com/store/Phanto...-Speed-Camera/

Saw this too
http://www.abelcine.com/store/Phantom-HD-Gold-Camera/

[n21k]

I'm still looking for a handheld rig for my F3...suggestion? Guess it will take another few weeks before other manufacturers release the rig.

[Mitch Gross]

Thanks for pointing out our current product. Great minds do think alike and we are developing a product for the F3. Should be available shortly. Stay tuned.

[CinemaElectronika]

You might certainly want to look at this...

http://vimeo.com/19233508

Sony PMW-F3 outfitted the Zacuto way!