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

Ever seen this monstrosity, sam?-

KinomatikDOFadapter.jpg

check out the shoulder pad. Can you imagine shooting with that beast on your shoulder?
 
With all of the rigs people are making for this camera, none address my major beef that the angle of the handle is wrong - at least for me . Since I am holding some of the weight in my hand I want my palm up & out about 45 degrees or more instead of parallel to the line of the of the Sony Arm . That's where most of my fatigue is. I don't know exactly how you would rig that. If Sony's arm had been a tube that could turn it would have been perfect. Some kind of an angle adjustment right at the control handle would be great.
 
Olof you solution is appealing in terms of cost/benefit and simplicity. I like that you have added multiple points of securing the baseplate to the camera. I still use my EX3 for event work and run & gun where I *need* to get the shot kind of gigs, so I am very familiar with Sony's penchant for creating Henry Moore styled camera bottoms and mount points utilizing ill suited hardware.

Lenny, here are a few solutions for you or others to consider when you want to angle either a handgrip device designed to mount to a rosette or a set a rods.

https://www.shootingmachine.net/products/roseclamp

https://www.shootingmachine.net/products/clockarm

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/871953-REG/vocas_0390_0106_tilted_handgrip_for_15mm.html

Shooting Machine also has a device for centering the arm under the camera but you have to buy an additional rails mount device (to warm you):

https://www.shootingmachine.net/products/long-l-bracket

These elements could be used on Olof's solution or others.
 
Lenilenapi said:
With all of the rigs people are making for this camera, none address my major beef that the angle of the handle is wrong - at least for me . Since I am holding some of the weight in my hand I want my palm up & out about 45 degrees or more instead of parallel to the line of the of the Sony Arm . That's where most of my fatigue is. I don't know exactly how you would rig that. If Sony's arm had been a tube that could turn it would have been perfect. Some kind of an angle adjustment right at the control handle would be great.
Click to expand...

I'm confused. Is this something you can't address with the "RELEASE" button on the grip (which lets you rotate the grip around the point that it's mounted to the arm)?
 
Andrew,
I'm not sure if those solutions would work but it does move in the general direction I'm thinking about it. Got to do some visualizing on that. Is the hand grip itself attached by a rosette?

Josh - No that only lets you rotate in one direction . it is great but I want to o in the other direction. Place you hand out as if to shake hands - That's how the sony handle works . Now bend your palm back a nit and lift it halfway toward your shoulder if you were carrying something . That's much more comfortable for me. Am I just old?
 
I don't own an FS7 so I couldn't tell you. There is a LANC cable that communicates from the grip to the camera, correct? Also not sure if the rosette is the ARRI standard or the Sony FS700 sizing. Probably the later but maybe Sony has standardized their rosettes.

The Rose Clamp would be the smallest investment to test it and would certainly be handy to have on hand for general rigging purposes.

Here's a link to a demo of the Clock Arm:

 
Hmm, I think the short clock arm just might do it if its solid enough. I'll have to make sure it really matters to me before dropping $350 but that is a solution. Thanks Man.

Next is how to get a shoulder pad that rides on rails to actually follow the slope of a shoulder down from the neck to the shoulder joint .
 
After a weekend pondering the handle I put it in a box. Hopefully ill get a simple lanc with start stop focus check at some point.

the handle looks good in promo pics but IMO is just wrong.
 
morgan_moore said:
After a weekend pondering the handle I put it in a box. Hopefully ill get a simple lanc with start stop focus check at some point.

the handle looks good in promo pics but IMO is just wrong.
Click to expand...

Morgan, I would love to hear about your thoughts about the handle. I have contemplated making a wooden handle, just for me initially for the FS7.
It is funny the handle initially seems really good but it is uncomfortable after a long time on your shoulder, I have had a few hand surgeries so I thought it was just me. Do you Skype? Can we do a Skype call. If so contact me direct. Or send a Skype message, I am westsideav on Skype, but I keep it off so email me first.
 
The Clock Arm looks amazing. I would love to see a hack to attach the Sony Fs7 grip to it ...
Mark Knobil
Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh!
 
Handle works fine for me, especially repositioned on the WC baseplate rosette.

Lenilenapi said:
Hmm, I think the short clock arm just might do it if its solid enough. I'll have to make sure it really matters to me before dropping $350 but that is a solution. Thanks Man.

Next is how to get a shoulder pad that rides on rails to actually follow the slope of a shoulder down from the neck to the shoulder joint .
Click to expand...

The Zacuto QR pad looks to do that. Mine is coming on Tuesday, will report back.
 
I think the clock arm is on the right track. Turning your wrist will do the same as reshaping or making a wooden handle that is comfortable, it puts the wrist and arm in a natural strong position. It is really easy to do and I can see how this will work with just the handle or with a mod to the Sony arm itself. I am going to play with this concept this week. I have lots of rosettes as I use those for my FS700 extension arms. The wooden handles I made for the AF100 were turned this way, they let the palm rotate up. I made 3 different sizes of those for different hands.

It is amazing how a few degrees make a huge difference. So a rotating the wrist is a new mod I will be working on. It would be great if we can do this w/o making a whole new handle. I am now thinking just putting a rosette on a 15mm rail with a very stiff clamp may arrow the existing handle to rotate very simply, it would also put the handle closer to the centerline of the camera, something I have been thinking about.

Stay tuned, I will post progress here.

I love this forum so many concepts and a great place to find new ideas, or ways of looking at things.
 
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Glad you will be working on this and that I'm not the only guy interested in the palm rotation. My only concern about putting the handle closer to the centerline is whether that may inhibit getting the camera on and off a tripod . In my set-up I think it would, but if it was easily adjustable then you could just adjust quickly each time you go on & off.

Looking at the clock arm, frankly i'm not sure anything else is needed , though that rotates the whole arm instead of just the handle and the arm does seem like it is designed for max strength to remain vertical .
preferably something small for rotation was just at the handle and you kept the Sony handle with its functionality.
 
You have to be a gentleman with your tripod - "enter from front" - either by mounting your tripod head backwards or do what I have done - mill/file out all the "safeties" on the manfrotto system - or consider a drop in style plate like miller sachler or the Kessler kwik system
 
frankkinen said:
Here is a link to smallrigs dogbone rosette arm, if anyone is interested in offseting the FS7 handle further forward for better comfort. Vocas has one aswell, but I think this one is more affordable. I usually like smallrig's stuff, so maybe someone finds this one useful.

http://smallrig.com/dogbone-rosette-arm-w-arri-style-rosettes.html
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fyi- I purchased the Birns and Sawyer rosette extender thinking that I could use it to increase the movement of the Fs7 control arm. ( moving the pivot point of the arm slightly further away from the body prevents it from hitting the body and thus increases it's position range. ).

HOWEVER, I was unable to get the B&S rosette extender to happily mate with the rosette on the Fs7's body. I was also unable to get the Movcam rosette extender to properly fit with the rosette on the Chrosziel shoulder plate. For some reason the extender will not tighten all the way and never fits snugly. Maybe I am doing something incorrectly but the center bolt on the rosette extender bottoms out before everything becomes snug. It felt like I was stripping the center threads on the rosettes.
 
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Maybe just grinding about 1/16th off the end of the rosette bolt thread will solve that so it will tighten the way you want it. I am also leaning towards the Chrosziel FS-7 plate with VCT mount for my rig when it has to have added weight on the back, but for a lighter set-up, I'm thinking of just the Zacuto QR shoulder pad with the Kessler Kwik Mount. Sony FS-7, F5, PMW-500 XDCAM, Canon C300 and Panasonic HD
 
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