redrock rails and other adapters?

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DM_rider

Veteran
so I've had the redrock for a few months now and I'm beginning to realize that it's not really for me. I do A LOT of eng shooting now. I went with the redrock in the first place because they had their holiday special going on and it was a great deal. Hundreds less than the other adapters.

Don't get me wrong, the image the redrock produces is amazing, and I've been very pleased. But in the past few months I've slowly realized that I need something that doesn't have as much light loss and that's way more compact. So I'm looking at either the Brevis or the Letus. I've also been having many small little annoyances go on with the redrock and I've already had the motor replaced once...

My question is, does anyone run the letus or brevis with the redrock rails? I'd like to be able to just sell the adapter and keep the rail system, so I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with this?

thanks!
 
the redrock rod support system isn't easily height adjustable which can pose a problem with other adapters, especially ones with flip modules. i guess you could shim the qr adapter up, but i would imagine that trial-and-error process would make anyone go mad. that said, it's not impossible, but you would probably have to get a little creative. i'm not a big fan of camera plate risers and i think i'm one of the few people that actually likes the rr support base, so i keep the lex on a redrock baseplate. i decided to flip the lex, and am using a couple of adjustable letus supports to keep everything stable. my quick-and-dirty pic from another thread:

letus_riser_short.jpg


i hear you about the m2. the pictures it produces are gorgeous, but it does need a ton of light. when jumping from the m2 to the lex (we currently use both) in low-light, the difference is quite stunning.
 
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that's a nice rig. If I ended up getting a lex or brevis with a flip, I'd probably set it up like you have yours.
 
z-riser

z-riser

Where did you get that "z-riser" from to step the rods up? I don't see any products like that from Letus Direct.

thanks for any help
markus
 
I ahve an extra RR support base also that i am wondering what to do with and that is a good solution, very much like a Zacuto only cheaper.
You could get the "z-riser" from Zacuto for $330, but i too would like to know where you got your riser.

Lenny Levy
 
i made the riser from spare letus parts.

howto_riser.jpg


picture 1 is a spare letus standard support bracket. you can buy this from letusdirect here:
http://www.letusdirect.com/cart/Letus-Extreme-Rods-Support-Bracket-p-15.html

picture 2 is the basic letus rods mount. getting a hold of one could be the only tricky part. i pulled one off the letus rod support system i'm not using. you may be able to get a hold of one from letus as a spare part. if that's not happening, you might need to buy a second letus standard support bracket (picture 1) just to get it. even if you have to shell out for a second, it's still going to end up at least $230 cheaper than the zacuto riser.

picture 3 is the assembled, completely height-adjustable "letus riser." i've had this on my redrock, cavision, and letus baseplates, so it should work with any rod support system with any flip adapter.

picture 4 is the assembled letus riser on rods.

note: the upper rods will be a little lower than standard distance (i would approximate about 1/8", possibly a little more). if you're using rod mounted accessories on the upper rods like a follow focus or mattebox, make sure you have the adjustability or tolerance to account for the difference. i had to shim my follow focus up 1/16" to properly take on my smaller diameter lenses.
 
that's exactly what I'd probably end up doing.


now, does anyone want to trade an M2 for a brevis or lex? :laugh:
 
Now that's very ingenious, and certainly beats $330, but i would worry about whether it was firm enough with only one screw holding it all. Maybe it depends how much you put on there.

Along the same lines, I've always had a problem with my Letus support bracket - that I can't seem to tighten it enough to really grip on the rails. In fact at thins point I'cve lost the screw as well - another problem with that whole unit.
Was tightening it enough an issue for you?

Well -- I just went into my garage and found a replacement screw and really wanked down on it ( more than I could have with a little hand tight knob. It tightened - so I'll just leave it over tight for a while and maybe the metal will get used to that position. Its still awfully difficult to get it tight enough even witha screw driver - is mine defective?

Lenny
 
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i hear you lenny. i love the zacuto fasteners -- when they're on, there's no mistaking that they're on. i too find the hold on the letus stuff to be a little iffy. you think it's on there tight, but then one of the rods spins a bit. i really tighten every bolt down now with an extra turn of the allen wrench. here are some quick pics i just took to demonstrate the rigidity of the riser. it's solid.

riser_rig.jpg


riser_rig_cu.jpg
 
thank you!!!

thank you!!!

Henry,

Thanks for the nice pictures and description. This is exactly what I had in mind, its just that I hadn't seen it yet in action. By the way, your last two pictures demonstrating the rigidity of your setup no longer load up. Could you re-up them?

Maybe Letus should consider this setup, seeing as how the Zacuto setup is so popular. To me, cinching the screws down tight is not an issue: once correctly aligned, I should never have to take the Z apart again. I might even lock-tight it just to make it totally solid.

markus
 
i think letus making their own, affordable riser is a good idea. while my hack is working well for me, there are definitely a couple of machining adjustments that would make it better for heavy production use. one would be to notch the bracket in picture 2 at the top to push the upper rods up a bit further and get them to standard height. the other, to lenny's point, would be to add at least another set screw to the upper bracket to solidify the hold further. i would keep the height of the riser adjustable -- that way you can move the riser from one setup to another with relative ease.

letus_riser.jpg
 
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