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

Getting back to the handheld operation debate. I think a good monopod is criminally underated. If you can build a dovetailing/quick-release system onto the bottom of your camera, you can switch from a monopod to shoulder-mount in seconds - and therefore keep the weight off your shoulder as much as possible. Any static shot, the monopod takes the weight, have to run around, it's on the shoulder where you can control it properly.

It's faster, it's smarter, less wear and tear on the body, and you don't have an easy rig drawing pedestrians eyes from miles around as you try to film someone or something.
 
I will often run a monopod with a VCT adapter for my shape shoulder baseplate. Easy to get the camera on and off the monopod too shoulder. Works well for long days when I'm shooting BTS doc style stuff on larger productions over 12hrs.
 
Hanging the camera from straps attached to a arm/boom/Ubamngi can be an effective technique for faking handheld, especially when it's all mounted on a dolly.
 
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moldcad said:
I think I like this Tilta plate with VCT included for $465 :)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271719954684?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&autorefresh=true

Just two questions for anyone using it:

- are the rosettes compatible with the FS7 arm rosette?
- what is the distance between the plate axis and each of the rosettes (I wonder if the arm could swing from its front to rear position on my rather wide Manfrotto head)?
- is the shoulder pad comfy enough?

Thanks

Piotr
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I have that plate, but with the Sony VCT-14 plate. The rosette extends out about 23mm and yes, the silly Sony grip fits on fine.
 
Liam Hall said:
I have that plate, but with the Sony VCT-14 plate. The rosette extends out about 23mm and yes, the silly Sony grip fits on fine.
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Do you mean 23 mm more sideways than the FS7 rosette? Or how do you measure this 23 mm - from the base plate side?
 
I'm about to pull the trigger on the ebay offer of the VCT locking plate. But I do have a very important question to you guys; it so happens I never had an opportunity to put my hand on the original Sony (or other high-quality manufacturer's) VCT plate, so I'm unable to guess how much worse is the design the this particular seller is offering, where the grey part of the plate is plastic, and only the black (structurally most important) parts is aluminium. I guess it's a cheap Chinese copy - but do you think using plastic in those fragments makes the plate so weak I should dismiss it immediately? Please advise, as I'd like to decide whether to buy it asap! Here is the listing I'm talking about:

http://www.ebay.pl/itm/Tilta-15MM-S...late-BS-T10-With-VCT-U14-plate-/271719954684?
 
Hey there, camera operator gurus - you most certainly are very well acquainted with the industry-standard VCT tripod plate. Please advise - should I or should I not risk with this Chinese, half-plastic, unit? TIA

Piotr
 
Yes, seems solid. Two things I don't quite like about it:

- the "sandwich" approach elevates camera too high to my liking
- the price :(
 
moldcad said:
Hey there, camera operator gurus - you most certainly are very well acquainted with the industry-standard VCT tripod plate. Please advise - should I or should I not risk with this Chinese, half-plastic, unit? TIA

Piotr
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I haven't tried the Tilta VCT but I have tried others which have been terrible. Tilta make decent accessories, so theirs might be better, but it's not something I'd try and save a few $$$s on.

This is the one I have:
http://cvp.com/index.php?t=product/sony_vct-14
 
moldcad said:
Yes, seems solid. Two things I don't quite like about it:

- the "sandwich" approach elevates camera too high to my liking
- the price :(
Click to expand...

Agreed, it makes it into a big rig, which is fine for some uses, but I much prefer the FS7 stripped down.
 
2 experiences from me:

Cheap VCT was total crap and had intolerable amounts of play - luckily bought from a UK dealer, who reluctantly accepted it back, albeit with a "re-stocking" fee.

FS7 with VCT is nice in an old school ENG, clunk click , kind of way. However, a year after buying the Chrosziel shoulder plate and a genuine Sony VCT, I ditched both and now just use the QR plate on my Miller heads - same amount of reassuring hold, but a fraction of the weight. As Liam says, stripped down FS7 is much more preferable, in my opinion.

Ben.
 
I think the type of rig to use is really dependant of the type of work you do and how compact you want your kit to be when traveling. For portability and compactness, I could not agree more, the VCT plate and full shoulder rig is overkill. I am currently using a Sachtler S-Plate (14cm travel) with Sachtler FSB8 head. I am still able to use the FS7 minimalist shoulder pad which is not that comfortable but since I keep the camera lightweight, it's not much an issue. Once locked in and tighten, there no play in the camera to head link. And with a 75mm to 100mm bowl adaptor, you can mount Sachtler's FSB8 on standard legs which makes for a very stable support.
 
I cannot decide whether go for smallrig/shape minimal baseplate with shoulder pad or Zacuto VCT.

Side question: what low profile handle replacement would you recommend for FS7?
 
Here's my DIY run/ gun rig since I hated the Sony handle so much. The handle started slipping anyways, so it's useless.

It's on a Tripod in this shot, but it's super light for handheld. I attached a 15mm Rod block to a Manfrotto PLong plate which is forward enough so it still has the shoulder rest area on the FS7. I recently added a 1/8 aluminum plate (Not pictured) and a 1/2 inch skateboard riser between the FS7 base and the Manfotto Plate which coincidentally spaces it to industry standard 85mm between the rods and the center of the lens for Matte Boxes.

I now use a Smallrig Carbon Fiber rod and a Red Rock handle placed in the middle of the rods which balances the camera way better than the Sony arm.

Basically, it sets up in no time and is super light. The camera balances way better this way with the handle in the middle and just on the fact that it's so light it sits much easier on the shoulder. And it goes onto a tripod easily, which was not possible with the Sony arm.

I also use a Zacuto FS7 / BMPCC Z-Finder which is much better than the stock Loupe.

Additionally, I used an L-Bracket from Home Depot attached to my Wooden Camera Nato Handle and the lens collar flipped upside down, which supports a Canon 70-200 f2.8 without the need for rods and a camera support.

Real basic and cheap, but works really well. I way prefer this any of the big rigs that I experimented with.

Rig2.jpg
 
Thought I would share my FS7 rig as well as a little of the philosophy behind it.

Parts List:

Zacuto VCT Pro
KinoGrip Wooden Grip
Vocas Angled Rosette
Chrosziel Follow Focus
SmallRig FS7 Top Plate
SmallRig 90 Degree Cold Shoe
Zacuto Recoil Handle
Zacuto Axis Mini
Zacuto Gratical Eye
Tilta V-Mount Plate
PTAP Hub

95% of my shooting is done over the shoulder doing run and gun event coverage. The additional 5% is doing interviews with lighting and everything. So this setup for me was built around that - being on the shoulder but able to be clipped into a tripod as needed.

I had the normal Zacuto VCT plate previously and really liked it - when I saw that they were coming out with a new one that fixed a lot of my complaint (weight, difficulty to adjust, not able to remove quickly) I bought it. It's definitely a nice upgrade but to be honest it's not THAT much lighter and while I don't regret my decision I think the previous version is a bargain at where it's priced now. Supposedly the gel pad is where a lot of the weight comes from and it's a single piece of instead of a split two piece like on the original.
The Zacuto VCT is excellent, if a bit heavy. It allows me to go from shoulder to tripod in seconds, and it makes balancing the camera on my shoulder super easy and efficient. Proper balancing of the camera is essential for all day shooting and saving your arms.

I love the KinoGrip wooden grip. I got the LANC controller version so I can start/stop recording; I thought about getting the version with the second button but didn't feel it was worth it. I still don't. The KinoGrip allows the rig to sit flat on the ground and not tip over which is essential for giving my back a break, riding in a car (on the floor or seat), and it also allows me to occasionally use nearby objects as a make shift tripod.

The Chrosziel follow focus is nice, I wish it was a little smaller but it's not a big deal. My one real complaint is the adjustment knob is a little hard to twist; something like the Zacuto knob would be excellent. As far as lenses go my Canon 24-105 w/Speedbooster Ultra pretty much lives on the camera. For low light situations I have a Sigma 18-35 I use in combination with the Speedbooster (crop in on the sensor), and the Canon 70-200 occasionally gets some use as well. The Speedbooster is great - gaining both the extra stop of light and a more (in my opinion) usable focal range makes the price more than tolerable. I also have a cheaper Fotodiox adapter if I don't want the speedbooster which will get used with Canon EFS lenses (the 55-250 is a really lightweight zoom I can keep on my all the time if needed).

The SmallRig FS7 top plate is decent. It's an absolute steal at it's price point however I wish they made a one piece version that covered the top handle connector - I think it would shave some weight down but also give you more real estate on top. I have a SmallRig 90 degree cold shoe on the side with an Auray Shock Mount and Sennheiser ME66 shotgun microphone attached. I love how it allows me to move the microphone closer to the body and back so wide angle lenses don't pick it up and it's much lower profile.

I came from an FS5 and a C100 before that and one of my major complaints with both systems was the top handle. I love that I am finally able to use my own top handle without sacrificing any XLR ports, and the Zacuto Recoil handle is an absolutely stunning piece of equipment. Attached to the rail I can move it back and forth depending on the lens or battery size to make sure it's properly balanced. Even more important it has two rod mounts on the front of the handle and two cold shoe mounts on the back. I can attach a Sennheiser G3 wireless receiver to the back of the handle where it's nice and out of the way but still accessible and occasionally a SmallHD 501 for the occasional interview. Towards the front I have the Zacuto Axis Mini coming off the side, and the front of the handle has another rod mount which I use to either attach the stock monitor or another rod with a cold shoe mount on it for a light. I have the monitor on a single rod facing up - I typically have the monitor in a pouch on my belt and will put it off if I am going into a car (difficult to use EVF) or I am going to use my hipshot. I really can't emphasize enough how much I like the handle - Zacuto described it as a "Swiss army knife" and they are absolutely correct.

The Zacuto Gratical Eye is a really solid piece of equipment. I love that the screen is roughly square allowing for a histogram and audio levels to be displayed below the image from the FS7 so as to not block anything. The build quality and screen is really nice and well built. I do have a couple complaints: no 3D lut support (WTF?!), no on/off button (have to remember to unplug from the v-mount if you don't have an on/off switch connected to the battery - which I do), and the diopter ring adjustment is too loose (will get bumped and needs to be readjusted all of the time - I just put a piece of tape on it). The peaking levels are nice as well, but it shows the text overlay peaking which is annoying.

The Tilta V-Mount plate is really nice and affordable. I have no need for RAW so the XDCA is a bit overkill for me. The fact that it has an on/off switch is absolutely clutch - I have a PTAP hub I bought plugged into the plate and then all of my devices (including camera) plugged into that; having everything running off of a single battery makes battery management much easier and I am able to turn everything on/off simultaneously. The PTAP hub is great - I have the FS7, my Gratical, Sennheiser receiver, and eventually an LPE6 adapter (for 501 as needed) plugged into it. The PTAP hub is velcrod to the top of the plate (where it meets the camera body) and is easily accessible.

As far as audio monitoring goes I went a slightly different route and bought a Bluetooth transmitter off Amazon and have it plugged into the headphone port so I can do wireless monitoring. The transmitter is just velcro'd to the SmallRig top plate. There are definitely some shortcomings - there is about a 1/4 to 1/2 second latency with transmission, battery powered (should last about 10 hours), and it takes about a minute to turn on and connect to my Bluetooth headphones. These are exclusively for use on the shoulder; I found wired ear buds to be very annoying to the point where I wasn't using them. I will always have a pair of wired ones with me just in case.



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Left Side.

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Front Left

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Right

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Top Left

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Top Right

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With monitor on recoil handle

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With LED light on recoil handle
 
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