FS7: Another Baseplate/Shoulder pad/Rig thread for FS7 thread

Ben Scott

Ben Scott

Veteran
So the options out in the wild so far are:

Vocas


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Which is approx £620 for the plate and fits on a VCT-14 plate.

Shape FS7 Rig

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Which is £1,044.00 but includes a handle and again fits a VCT-14 tripod plate.

Zacuto Universal Baseplate

VR8NPvEl.jpg

£549 and again is a VCT-14 plate

Tilta

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Prices from £600 to £2,000+ depending on which kit you want - http://www.cinegearpro.com/tilta-rig-for-sony-fs7.html

EDIT: UPDATE on the TILTA price - The baseplate on its own is £450 inc VAT

Not released yet:

MovcamWooden Camera - which will be Arri dovetail compatible
Arri PCS
Berkey System - Pics in posts below

Any more to come?


I'm probably going to need something before Christmas so any feedback on people's real world experience of the various setups greatly appreciated. Would love the Movcam solution to come out soon, but aside from that I'm veering towards the Zacuto offering as it might be suitable for other camera setups too.

In an ideal world I would have as small and lightweight a baseplate/should mount as possible. The dream is to have an arri dovetail system but super lightweight without having to have a 19mm plate as part of the setup too.

I'll update this first post in the thread as other offerings come to light.
 
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I am working on a kit for the F7s, I should have shipping units next week. Here are a couple photos of the testing non anodized prototype. It can use VCT-14 wedge or any other tripod QR. Emphasis is on comfort and light weight.

The optional back cheese plate with brick battery is my preferred way to balance the rig as I don't like the camera too far back, it makes it hard to use the buttons ND filter wheel and small lenses. There will be options for 15mm rails front and back.

FS7DevV11.jpg

FS7DevV15.jpg

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Cool Olof,

My initial concern from looking at that prototype the moment you have a large lens on it is front heaviness and what you would do if using the extension unit.

My main concern from most of the other solutions I have seen so far are either that, or how the hell you use a follow focus with it when the other solution is to have the body sitting by your ear.
 
The only shot I've seen of the Movcam option

Uo4P6izl.jpg


Looks balanced with the extension unit and follow focus in a decent position, but for use without the extension unit it would be so front-heavy.

Another lightweight option for run and gun could be the Zacuto shoulder mount with rods adapter. Would be about £350

HceXy0xl.jpg
 
Ben Scott said:
Cool Olof,

My initial concern from looking at that prototype the moment you have a large lens on it is front heaviness and what you would do if using the extension unit.

My main concern from most of the other solutions I have seen so far are either that, or how the hell you use a follow focus with it when the other solution is to have the body sitting by your ear.
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Good points Ben,

I am going to make sure the extension unit will work with my kit. I may bend the back down a bit if necessary and even add a VCT-14 tail hook there.

What I do if I need more counter weight is add more IDX batteries, they stack. The same as I do on my FS700 and EX3 kits. We also can ship a bag with the back angled cheese plate that can hold spare batteries or any other weight to balance rigs.

Here is a photo of Sharyn with my FS700 kit showing dual IDX batteries and FF. This is with a Metabones adapter and 24-70 f2.8 L Canon lens.

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This shot of the Zacuto Universal plate looks good balance-wise, but again I have no idea how you'd use it with a regular follow focus

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Hey Ben, Berkey System is working on a new plate for the FS7 that connects to their universal-style baseplate. It's compact, it has the hole pattern on the bottom to align onto the ARRI 19mm bridge plate.

Here are some out of date pictures, the baseplate is too far forward in this picture. This was me just testing out the standard C300 plate they offer. (pictures taken before the FS7 top plate was finished)

1cyiu+

1jVah+


The pictures show how the pieces come apart. It's pretty modular. I forgot to pull out the front rails, but of course those remove as well. The shoulder pad is great because it's so low profile. Doesn't get in the way of your tripod. Berkey also has a prototype for adding a small VCT pin-connector on the back of the shoulder pad (along with the V to go on the baseplate) if you want to make it into a VCT plate. The nice thing about that is that you can take it or leave it. All these other guys are building big baseplates that force you to always have the size, weight, shoulder pad, VCT, etc.

As fancy as the Vocas and Tilta plates/cages look, they are specific to the FS7 and won't work on any other cameras in the future. And many of them are incredibly expensive. This Berkey setup is probably around $500-600. I personally like the modular and universal design. If I'm traveling and need to pack up small, everything comes apart. If I'm doing a corporate shoot and don't need back rails, shoulder pad, etc, then I can just pull them off. If a new camera comes out in the future with a slightly different height than the FS7, all you'd need is a small cheap interface plate for the Berkey baseplate (the interface plate basically shims camera to the standard 85mm lens-to-rails height).

Berkey is still doing some development on their FS7 baseplate. I can pass along feedback if you have any insight or recommendations. I've been sort of guiding them toward the universal/modular approach.
 
Ben Scott said:
I wonder if the Zacuto Recoil V2 rig would give proper spacing for use of a mattebox with the FS7?

http://cvp.com/index.php?t=product/zacuto_usa_z-crllv2&gclid=CLOxouvBtMICFanMtAodbTkAHQ

WukWqEwl.jpg


The Arri rig looks nice but that bottom pic looks like it would kill after 10mins of shooting.
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Judging from the rails on that, it would probably be more than 85mm from the lens center. The FS7 is similar to the C300 in that the rails need to be running essentially *right* along the bottom of the camera. That's why so many plates have cutouts that expose the top of the 15mm rails, because they need to cut away baseplate material to get the rail high enough for the 85mm standard.

As for Zacuto's plate... it does look balanced like that, but I'm of the mindset that if you want to properly shoulder mount this camera, you have to use V-mount or counterweight of some kind. That's all there is to it. Otherwise you need to just be OK with having it a little front heavy or find those other compromises (sliding it back like Zacuto... reaching behind your ear for buttons/toggles... reaching across your face to focus.)
 
Looking good Josh and Like the options there I don't want a VCT-based setup because with the tripod plate it's another 1kg or thereabout to carry about and this setup for me is all about weight saving.

When do you think it will be on sale?
 
jshbckr said:
I'm of the mindset that if you want to properly shoulder mount this camera, you have to use V-mount or counterweight of some kind. That's all there is to it. Otherwise you need to just be OK with having it a little front heavy or find those other compromises (sliding it back like Zacuto... reaching behind your ear for buttons/toggles... reaching across your face to focus.)
Click to expand...

It's certainly starting to look that way. That said this option

HceXy0xl.jpg


looks like the rails will be directly underneath the bottom of the camera so might be an option...
 
Ben Scott said:
Looking good Josh and Like the options there I don't want a VCT-based setup because with the tripod plate it's another 1kg or thereabout to carry about and this setup for me is all about weight saving.

When do you think it will be on sale?
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I can follow up with Berkey, I would guess in a week or so? Maybe two. The nice thing is that they essentially only need to make the small interface plate.

As for your link to the other Zacuto shoulder pad... there is no way to attach the camera to that. It's mean to attach to existing rails.
 
It doesnt - personally I shed my matte-box with great glee when I got a cam with ND

Of course I have a rig too - but the camera is light so these full on solutions are not the only way.

S
 
In my opinion there is absolutely no substitute for a good follow focus and if you're doing a job that needs one then you need one. And while i am happy not to use one if I don't have to again, when you need one tbh a mattebox is a lot lot more than just a filter holder

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