Redrock M2 + HVX owners...

M

Martyn Park

New member
I have just purchased the Redrock M2 Hd bundle and follow focus with Nikon mount for my HVX, it is still sitting in the box waiting to be setup. After downloading the tutorials off the Redrock site and searching their forum and this one, it seems that there isn't a one size fits all methodology to setting up the adapter (particularly in regard to shimming and to hard mount or not).
As this site is the premier site for HVX users, and after downloading some very good examples of clips that have been shot by members with M2/HVX combo's, I thought it might be prudent to get some advise from you guys in the front line before I attempt to setup my own rig.
I will be using this setup to shoot a Sci/Fi feature before the end of the year. At the moment I only have one lense, Nikon AF 85mm f1.4, but I will add to that when I see what I need.
 
Make sure you have access to the Redrock Forums.

Go to "Tutorials & Documentation" and there is a setup manual at the top that you can download. There are also tutorial videos for setup. These cover the "soft" mount. Also, further down the page there is an HVX-specific section.
 
Shimming is really just a guessing game. But I found that I needed to shim it more than I originally thought. So aim high and take off, and be sure to utilize those 1/16" or whatever the smaller size ones are.

I definitely recommend hardmounting. Otherwise it just becomes a pain in the butt. Make sure you research it good though.

Hope that helps.
 
It is a little intimidating at first. But, it's not as difficult as you might think. With mine, I've got it set up now where everything is marked and I can have it up and ready with very little trouble -- in about 5-7 minutes. I always keep the plate attached to the camera and have marked my rods with a Sharpie. I might have to fiddle with the M2 a little each time I set it up, but it's always a minor adjustment. Good luck!
 
I agree with Brian... I think it's more intimidating at first than after you finish putting it all together and realize that it's a pretty simple process. I personally used the Zacuto plate and not the Redrock rails, so I never needed to use the shims. Hopefully you'll be able to figure that part out ok.

All you really need to do once the adapter is lined up is pull the rubber hood on the adapter over your achromat, zoom in with the HVX far enough so you can't see the edge of the motor any longer, and focus to the ground glass without a lens. It's easiest to focus on an area of high contrast, and I would reccommend using both the focus assist as well as the detail peaking feature on the HVX in order to ensure that you've locked in on it completely. Once you have pristine focus, it's just a matter of slapping a lens on the front and going to town. Your focus on the HVX should never be modified, so you use the lens' focus ring to dial in focus for your shot. If you can, I'd recommend leaving the HVX around a 5.6 as that is where the lens is sharpest, but as you'll soon find out, you'll probably need it open if you're shooting indoors to capture enough light.

One little caveat; you may want to tape down the focus and zoom rings on your HVX to ensure they do not move once you've set them to focus properly on the achromat - if they get bumped out of position (which is very easy to do), you'll have to remove the 35mm lens and go through the setup process again. We had some pretty strong gaff tape that lasted through entire days of shooting, but it's good to check the focus every now and then anyway just to make sure that you're tack sharp. As your image will be upside-down, you're probably going to need an external monitor for framing anyway - and if it's not HD, it's going to be very difficult to judge focus accurately. But you probably know these things already. :)

Cheers, and good luck!
 
We hard mounted ours as per the threads on the RR site. The rod mount is shimmed and we removed the UV filter.

The motor did have to be lowered and the GG adjusted and there was mild panic thinking we had invested in a dud product before we tuned up the assembly and removed the UV (it was causing ghosting).

If you PM me I'll send you some pics of our setup when the rig comes off hire(next week)

You can see samples of what our clients have done under the theatre/footage HVX section.

The HVX and M2 is a hell of a combo.
 
Thanks for the input guys. It seems that the question of whether to hard mount or not is one of preference, would that be right? I suppose I'm speaking out of turn having not hooked mine up yet but, as long as you are getting reasonable edge to edge focus (depending on the lense and F stop you are using) that's about all you can ask out of this device. Are there other considerations to the hard/soft mount decision that I am overlooking.

Thanks again for the replies.
 
Some focusing questions from a total newbie...

Is the purpose of a follow focus to focus the 35mm lens only? Do I use the camera's focus wheel to focus with only my stock lens? Is"backfocus/ground glass" referring to my stock lens?

Based on Haakon's explanation, of taping down the focus wheel, does this mean I will have to make these adjustments for each shot?
Thanks for any help you guys can give...
 
you set the focus on the camera and leave it and then pull with follow focus only on the 35mm lens - the stock lens remains focused on the ground glass which is the image element inside the M2

You make the stock lens adjustment once (and then verify it once and awhile)

How are people handling critical focus with this setup - with the stock lens I would zoom in and use focus assist - but with the adapter on you cannot do this - so I guess you MUST have an external monitor. Any thoughts?

I performed the mod on the hinge plate to create a hole to hit the flip switch (harrowing experience) so now I can flip the image but focus is still an issue.
 
Martyn Park said:
Thanks for the input guys. It seems that the question of whether to hard mount or not is one of preference, would that be right? I suppose I'm speaking out of turn having not hooked mine up yet but, as long as you are getting reasonable edge to edge focus (depending on the lense and F stop you are using) that's about all you can ask out of this device. Are there other considerations to the hard/soft mount decision that I am overlooking.

Thanks again for the replies.
Click to expand...

As a rental company the hard mount option is the best as it makes for a very simple setup and it keeps the m2 unit sealed. Wish the HD Achromat had come with a cap for the exposed glass but will check out local photo stores for a solution.
 
What I am waiting to see is if hard mounting gives you edge to edge focus. The distance the M2 is from the achromat is the variable the determines total edge to edge focus (given that the gg is perpendicular to the line of sight). I have the soft mount system so i can adjust for that and find that sweet spot that gives me the center and the edges of frame crisp focus. Once it's hard mounted, you get what you get at that distance. There is no option for adjustment.

Any reports?
 
There is more to edge-to-edge focus than hard-mounting.

- Having the HD achromat is key.
- Alligning the camera plate relative to the M2.
- Distance of achro to M2
- Camera zoom/focus
- Ground glass placement inside M2
- Quality of the lenses

The hardmount only locks the distance of the achro to the M2.

:beer: Matt
 
Distance of achro to M2 is key to ideal corner vs center sharpness. I ended up with a cross between hard mount and soft that works quite easily.
I'll describe it when I get a chance.
 
Hey Marty. I was doing a job for Turpo covering one of the Human Surfing Contests and I heard that you had your car broken into and you lost some gear. Not the HVX I hope?
 
peter orland said:
Hey Marty. I was doing a job for Turpo covering one of the Human Surfing Contests and I heard that you had your car broken into and you lost some gear. Not the HVX I hope?
Click to expand...
Boy, bad news does travel fast. No I never leave any video gear in the car. Unfortunately I had my Nikon 35mm camera and my one decent lense the 85mm f1.4 stolen along with a few other useless items. I'd set aside some time last weekend to rig up the M2 but now I don't have a lense to test it with so it's still sitting in the box :violin:. My own stupid fault.

I'll try and pick up some second hand lenses. Anyone have any favourites they feel work well with the M2?

PS: Say hello to Turpo for me.
 
guys...
im reading alot about this hardmounting. i went to rr site and found that the hardmount kit isnt avail anymore. wuts my next option.
im not really clear on what hardmounting refers to? is it the process of attaching the achromat to the cam? to the m2?
i have hvx200 and m2...no flip yet.
 
Martyn Park said:
Anyone have any favourites they feel work well with the M2?
Click to expand...

I have a range of lenses from 28mm to 200 mm. I've found some vignetting using the 28 mm. It seems to be somewhat unavoidable when my aperture isn't wide open on the camera lens (i.e., not the HVX lens).

I love the 50 for wider shots, and the 85 mm is suitable for medium to close up shots. I haven't had any vignetting with either of those.
 
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