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

"Bottom line is that Im shooting a street based shoulder show and what is needed is a camera appropriate for shooting on the street from the shoulder!"

Yeah thats sort of my point.. these shoots that would have been shot with say PMW500 .. fujinon 4.5 wide angle zoom.. you could shoot for long periods.. never change lens and get all your shots.. it would still be knackering,and give you a few back twinges .. but now the same programs are made with a tighter schedule in s35..(sometimes 4K) with the beloved SDF etc.. presuming you dont want to muck around with non par focal stills zooms.. and avoid odd looks from the director on "up market" shoots.. there is only Cabrio or Canon zooms.. hey presto.. a damn heavy rig.. with added joy of Sound Devices work flow adding 2 receivers on the back ..
What to do..? with due respect .. a fanny pack and a monopod is not really going to cut it on most productions.. and stupid as it might be we are also judged to some extent by the gear we have.. I know it totally F**king mad but it is a reality .. cheap stills lenses and poles coming out of fanny packs is really not going to do your image much good.. repeat.. YES I know its stupid.. but anyone who thinks it doesnt happen is I believe wrong based on what Ive been told directly from dir/producers or what i happen to have over heard .. so I guess get rid of what you can off the rig.. and put up with it.. or easy rig.. not ideal at all.. but at least you have a career over the age of 40..
 
Donny you are basically right.

We are shooting 4k 50p!

I think an 'easy rig show' is not a 'shoulder show' - I guess that is just a new look, Im also not convinced an easy rig is suitable for 'the street' (which includes bars shops etc)

Im not experienced with the 500 or similar but have shouldered them..

I think there is something that makes such cameras less of a burden.. my theory is that they are thin and sit closer to the ear therefore loading the spine in a less offset manner than a fat camera like the FS7/F5

The best exponent of a thin camera that can sit close to the neck is the amera..

amera.jpg
 
Yes I would think your right.. if your suddenly piling into interiors the easy rig could very easily bash into something.. and yes Amira is a nicely designed camera.. with sliding shoulder pad etc.. I dont know the actual weights .. but it seemed quite a bit heavier than an F5... they actually had to reduce the weight before they put it on the market.. due to such bad pre release chatter about the reported weight.. but have never said what they actually "took out" to achieve it !!

A side note about the CN7.. whats really weird is that in EF mount form.. in the C300/C500 the lens also needs outside power .. so doesn't work on their own camera !!!! but the Sony its all through the lens mount cook interface.. a bit odd .. C300 II I dont know.. but I,d be surprised if its any different..
 
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Just a guess but the 'stupid for video' EF mount probably cant carry the required current through the pins.

Im gunning for the F5 :)

S


Ive been anti EF ever since T90 owners were bummed by it!
 
Yeah stills mount I guess.. I just thought it was strange that their"flag ship s35 ENG cine zoom" basically didnt work on their own camera,s.. even the high end C500.. but on the Sony F5/55 it works perfectly,all functions .. without a single cable.. all through the mount.. as it should be.. even easier than an Amira.. !

I agree you should try for the F5 on your shoot.. it will get rid of all the rear stuff.. well alot of it.. . and the side LCD "hot buttons".. makes for quick menu changes when needed..

But make sure its an up graded F5 that has internal 4K.. I would think all rental companies would have done so.. but better to check.. !! also SxS card.. might be an adaptor for the Fs7 cards..?
 
Donny 123 said:
" with due respect .. a fanny pack and a monopod is not really going to cut it on most productions.. and stupid as it might be we are also judged to some extent by the gear we have.. I know it totally F**king mad but it is a reality ."
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With equally due respect Donny I gotta say that makes me laugh. To my eyes the easy rig looks ridiculous and is a hazard, but to each his own. Actually there is a commercially made version similar to my rig but I don't think its a s flexible. I don't care what you do but I offered the idea as something to try and I have turned other people on to it. Would you really not use a monopod if it actually worked for you ? To me that's nuts. Your clients should pay attention to the work not how cool you look - but maybe I'm too old fashioned. I've always got a fanny pack with batteries & access in it anyway.

Re: the easy rig. Some people love it , but I tried it once for a week on a 100% handheld TV show. It was comped to me as a test. I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and was about to buy it when I did a brief test comparing it to my handheld work in every conceivable situation - long lens interview, walking running stairs etc. (BTW for handheld I was already using a great old shoulderpad that attached to a home depot backbrace that allowed me to shoot about 5 times longer and steadier than I could without it-That looked silly too. I thought the Easyrig blew it away though) . Anyway when we looked at the tests We were shocked to see that in every case I was steadier without it . I also found that while it reduced the stress on some parts of my body it increased it in other parts of my back - after all you are adding a lot of weight.

I got into the monopod when shooting with those little cameras you had to hold in front of you. Then I started attaching to a regular 2/3 B4 camera through a screw in the sony quick release. Now I always use it .

Whatever works for you though. Don't bang into any doorways and be careful you don't knock someone in the head when it starts swinging around.
 
I don't think Don was saying that your system would not work.. just some eyes might roll. .

To some extent I agree - production (in the post Bloom Twitter generation) is a fashion show and my gel kneepads, hombuild monitor cover and all the rest do not look cool. The easy rig has some acceptance on set however stoooopid we think it looks

(I always want to present minimal 'gear' to the talent)

I like the idea of monopod but it needs to have 3 axis at both ends and I dont get it working with the (CN) zoom handgrip which is basically designed for the shoulder

As I said before I just don't like a monopod pointed at the soft bits of my body

I think your statement of the easyrig stressing other bits is valid - it has to put odd torque on the lower back. That would not be the case when using a Movi outfront of course
 
Well with a MOVI I think you just need the damn thing. My experience is the tilt head works best because it gives me an extra bit of stability and balance. I find you can still tilt for an angle with your body since that's usually not for very long. Most of the time you want to be horizontal, You can quickly lock or unlock the tilt ahead or lift it out of the monopod if you need more range of movement. I've tried 3 axis and ball heads but found it too loosy goose for me. Handheld tools are very individual though. Maybe I could even come to like the Easyrig, but what a pain to lug around.

Re eyes rolling. When I used to use that backbrace shoulder pad, I had a friend who said "That's a great idea but I wouldn't be caught in one!" . A week later he was flat on his back moaning when his back went out on him during a shoot.

Gel knee pads are a good idea too - I've never used them but on the job wished I had them sometimes. Gotta confess that the fashion look gives me pause of that one though :)
 
Gel kneepads.. you dont wear them.. you place them then kneel down.

Ive added a caribena to mine so I can hang them (or one on a light shoot) off my belt/bag.

--

Overall I think it is about using the wrong core tools for the wrong job. That is why to me the FS5 is so interesting.. small light and with 'crop' (to make small zoom enough) it should be a fine thing for making HD with little effort. I think the less effort the better the content.

S
 
Lenilenapi said:
With equally due respect Donny I gotta say that makes me laugh. To my eyes the easy rig looks ridiculous and is a hazard, but to each his own. Actually there is a commercially made version similar to my rig but I don't think its a s flexible. I don't care what you do but I offered the idea as something to try and I have turned other people on to it. Would you really not use a monopod if it actually worked for you ? To me that's nuts. Your clients should pay attention to the work not how cool you look - but maybe I'm too old fashioned. I've always got a fanny pack with batteries & access in it anyway.



Re: the easy rig. Some people love it , but I tried it once for a week on a 100% handheld TV show. It was comped to me as a test. I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and was about to buy it when I did a brief test comparing it to my handheld work in every conceivable situation - long lens interview, walking running stairs etc. (BTW for handheld I was already using a great old shoulderpad that attached to a home depot backbrace that allowed me to shoot about 5 times longer and steadier than I could without it-That looked silly too. I thought the Easyrig blew it away though) . Anyway when we looked at the tests We were shocked to see that in every case I was steadier without it . I also found that while it reduced the stress on some parts of my body it increased it in other parts of my back - after all you are adding a lot of weight.

I got into the monopod when shooting with those little cameras you had to hold in front of you. Then I started attaching to a regular 2/3 B4 camera through a screw in the sony quick release. Now I always use it .

Whatever works for you though. Don't bang into any doorways and be careful you don't knock someone in the head when it starts swinging around.
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Yes the swinging arm is a known problem.. I just use a long hair band on the advise of another user.. hook to vest..

Agree with you.. I have no doubt your system works for you.. and of course the rushes count most.. but really I do believe.. mad/stupid/immature/shallow as it is.. you will be judged to some extent, by the gear you turn up with.. before they have seen your rushes.. this is just human nature ,even the car you turn up in.. which plumber do you have the most confidence in .. the guy with the brand new Mercedes van and fancy German tools,or the guy with the old an rusting Ford transit van.. with tools from a museum .. its just the way it is.. I also totally agree the easy rig looks odd.. but I would say its a pretty well known bit of gear and is used on big productions.. Wolf Hall in the UK etc.. and yes i would love to not have to use it too but it works for what it is..
Sorry I didnt write my pervious post very well..just to make the point.. that it is a bit of a "fashion show out there.. ".. and if your freelance and working with new director,s /producers each month.. they will check out the gear you have.. and anything looking a bit hokey.. they will notice it.. there is a bit of a dance on both sides ,on the first day..
 
I suffered through a few shows with the Easyrig 8-10 years ago with the early big-sensor cameras and was never a fan of the results. Certainly it was a help when it came to reapportioning weight on the body but there was always that strange pendulum-type effect caused by the natural rocking of the hips magnified by the leverage of the "gallows", which resulted in a constant tipping up and down of the camera. And for the life of me I couldn't quite glide in the harness and keep the camera from doing it's own thing, as opposed to the tried-and-true methodology of making yourself one with the camera for walking shots. Below you can see one of my attempts to tame the beast by limiting the length of the string and taking some the weight on the shoulder to try to keep things more manageable, as well as making sure the camera was balanced fore and aft and side to side. What a mess!
F35handheld.jpg

From what I've seen, the "killer app" for Easyrig is the suite of products that Flowcine makes to isolate the rig from the whims of the string.

Finally, about the trend towards "rig chic" aka the fashion show--while there has always been a certain amount of common sense involved in this (gear that looks to be held together with duct tape and fashioned out of household objects is not going to inspire much confidence by your employers), I can imagine that the explosion of affordable gear means many clients have just enough knowledge to be dangerous in this regard and the dog-and-pony show has to be worse than ever at a certain level.
 
CharlesPapert said:
Finally, about the trend towards "rig chic" aka the fashion show--while there has always been a certain amount of common sense involved in this (gear that looks to be held together with duct tape and fashioned out of household objects is not going to inspire much confidence by your employers), I can imagine that the explosion of affordable gear means many clients have just enough knowledge to be dangerous in this regard and the dog-and-pony show has to be worse than ever at a certain level.
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I think that drive towards streamlined simplicity is where the very latest cameras are starting to get really exciting. Like the way the Alexa Mini interfaces with the WCU-4 and allows you to simply plug (and daisy chain) lens motors directly into the camera. No clutter, just simple, streamlined operation.

If we can start to see some similarly streamlined options for wireless video transmission, proxy recording, and timecode/audio built into cameras moving forwards, I think life will become notably simpler, easier and less stressful for all of us.
 
Yeah i think Sony are doing pretty well with that ,with the F5/55 anyway.. the RAW recorder just clips on.. no cables.. proxy to internal SXS .. or proxy on the same card even .. of course TC I/O.. and Gen lock.. no need for lockit box.. (in my experience anyway on a 2 month shoot).. C and A type lens interface in the mount..again no cables..
Also why I like the iDX CW7 wireless.. V mount.. no power cables , no antenna ,just one very short BNC for SDI .. the connectors are almost too close together ..

Charles . love the gallows humor.. one thing.. from the pic looks like you have the 2.5 vest.. the Cinema 3 is much better design.. two strong straps down each shoulder.. for the weight you have there I would advise a change to the cinema 3 for sure
 
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Donny 123 said:
Charles . love the gallows humor.. one thing.. from the pic looks like you have the 2.5 vest.. the Cinema 3 is much better design.. two strong straps down each shoulder.. for the weight you have there I would advise a change to the cinema 3 for sure
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That picture was from 2008, towards the end of my operator days. Not surprised the Easyrig has been improved since.
 
Just received SmallRig's baseplate for the FS7.

Much lighter build then Shape's compact baseplate, but that thing is overbuilt, & heavy for it's size. Haven't used it in anger yet, but due to it's lightweight & compact form, think it will replace my Shape, especially for air travel.

Ordered mine when it was still a pre-order, & 1/2 priced, but even now it's still a bargain.

EDIT: Think the rod-to-optical center might be off. Seems a couple millimeters too high.
 
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Bern Caughey said:
Just received SmallRig's baseplate for the FS7.

Much lighter build then Shape's compact baseplate, but that thing is overbuilt, & heavy for it's size. Haven't used it in anger yet, but due to it's lightweight & compact form, think it will replace my Shape, especially for air travel.

Ordered mine when it was still a pre-order, & 1/2 priced, but even now it's still a bargain.

EDIT: Think the rod-to-optical center might be off. Seems a couple millimeters too high.
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Yep, received mine a week ago and pretty much same conclusion. Great little plate for the cash.

In comparison to the Wooden Camera plate, it's about 3mm to 4mm shallower but the weight is comparable.

My only problem is that now I have the XDCA back, I find that the plate, due to its small size (like the WC one) isn't great for offsetting weight of a back-heavy rig. I'm using the Sachtler Video 20p and the spring is already at the minimum setting. So, I'm going back to my Chrosziel VCT mount!
 
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