Berkey System Top Plate for FS-100

Stephen Mick

Stephen Mick

Totally Usable
So, I sent my friends at Berkey Systems my new FS-100 for a few days. Based on what I've seen from them in the past, especially their F3 plate, I figured they'd come up with some pretty unique solutions for mounting and rigging the FS-100.

One of the main things we talked about was finding a better solution for the handle and top mounting holes. After a day with the camera in their hands, and with some help from their friends at Cinequipt, Berkey came up with what I think might be THE must-have accessory for the FS-100.

Here are some pictures (my words won't be able to do it justice)…

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This is still in the prototyping/design stage, but it's pretty close to being production-ready. And best of all, the guys at Berkey System says it'll only be a couple of weeks before they're ready to ship in volume. It's designed as a bolt-on accessory that takes advantage of the three threaded mounting holes on top of the FS-100 (two on the body and one above the lens) allowing the user to use the factory handle without voiding the warranty or having to remove any parts other than the handle to install it, just three screws and it's on. This plate provides a number of additional mounting points for a monitor, an EVF, rod blocks and just about anything else you could think of.

Pretty amazing.
 
that's very awesome, do you know if that plate can go on the bottom of the camera too?
I own a custom berkey system adapter for my steadicam vest and glidecam HD4000 and it's one of the most finely machined aluminum pieces ever
 
imo this is what the camera should have had all along. The af-100 did a great job of giving us endless mounting holes and making it configurable in so many ways and never worrying about the accessories failing. This is a great prototype. Any idea on approx. cost and how much wieght it can support?
 
This is strictly for the top of the FS-100. They're looking into options for the base, so if you've got specific thoughts, post 'em up here and I'm sure Berkey will read about them.
 
vcfilms said:
imo this is what the camera should have had all along. The af-100 did a great job of giving us endless mounting holes and making it configurable in so many ways and never worrying about the accessories failing. This is a great prototype. Any idea on approx. cost and how much wieght it can support?
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No pricing yet, sorry. It's not quite far enough along for them to say for sure.

As for weight, given that it connects to three mounting points on the top of the camera, I'd say you can put quite a bit on there.
 
Cool. Now all I need is a body shell and the camera will be able to last more than a year without breaking ;)
 
It would be great to get a mod for the side handle screw hole. It has a non slip retaining pin hole as well as a 1/4/20 so some nice rosette hand grip can be developed as well as a separate mount clamp to attach 2 rods for accessories would be nice.
 
Ok Berkey if you're listening. You already got my money on your baseplates/accessories and for sure on the toplate thats coming.

I'd like to ask if you can give some consideration in making a rosette like side handle like I mentioned in my previous post.

And today I felt that I needed a top handle similar to the one that comes with the camera but with more abilities.

It needs to be higher because when I flip the lcd as far back as it can go for certain angles the handle and my hand get in the way. Making one taller, with the ability to offset the handle so it can move slightly from the center to off center side to side because there are times when my arm and the the lcd are in the same line and I can't see the lcd and also the ability to have the handle run perpendicular to the body as opposed to only parallel with the body might help me balance the camera if offset from center. Also having the ability to get the handle back further of forward further will help balancing the camera because with different lenses and different batteries the camera constantly shifts its center of gravity. Maybe what I'm asking for is to have the handle part rotate 360 degrees and also have the ability to move an inch or two side to side and front to back

Don't worry about a mic holder on the handle like the Sony. The mic can easily be placed elsewhere like on your top plate for instance.

If you think its worth your time I look forward to what you come up with.
 
Looks so sick! Was thinking of making something similar to that using the Ikan element, but I guess I will wait for Berkley.

I'm a little worried though if I have a short wide angle lens as the rods will stick out and be in the frame (i.e. NEX SEL 16mm Pancake lens).
 
Update…

Brian sent me this email at 4AM this morning…

"It might be hard to see in the pictures but the handle will have the ability to move fore and aft about a total of one inch for balancing. In addition, because we are adding those two holes instead of the just one for the stock set-up, when we design our replacement handle it will have two mounting holes for extra solid mounting. Our handle mounting pocket can also be used as a hotshoe if one were to use it without the handle."

And some new pics of the revised front plate with wings!

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the pre-order price of $230 is still a bit expensive for this kind of aluminum cheeseplate... and then $250 regular price?
the F3's top plate with extension costs less than the FS100's plate for some reason and the F3's plate is much bigger.
 
I felt the same way and also saw the F3 prices which made it puzzling. I'm not making excuses for them but there does see to be more tooling necessary because its more detailed that the F3 toplate. Like the useable shoe mount groove incorporated into it that has to be tooled and there seems to something more detailed going on underneath the shoe mount screw hole area for securing. I can't see it but there is a gap between the top of the camera and that shoe mount hole so it might be thicker in that area. This takes more machine time . Maybe Stephen can get an answer from them.
 
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speedracerlo said:
the pre-order price of $230 is still a bit expensive for this kind of aluminum cheeseplate... and then $250 regular price?
the F3's top plate with extension costs less than the FS100's plate for some reason and the F3's plate is much bigger.
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Thanks for the feedback and hopefully I can answer a couple questions. The F3 top cheeseplate was priced at a very low introductory price of $199 to go along with the launch of the new web site. The F3 top without extension will be going to it's regular price of $250 on July 1st. The extension plate for the F3 cheese plate was a fairly straight forward design and was priced at $95. The two parts together are presently $285 and when the introductory price ends on June 30th it will be $335 as a package. The new FS-100 accessory plate required quite a bit of engineering and testing to ensure we had as much flexibility and a good fit to the camera. The machining for the FS-100 plate is more complex than either of the F3 plates. I think the FS-100 accessory plate is the most elegant part yet from Berkey System. I hope that information helps and please feel free to ask any questions. Dan
 
Thanks for the insight Dan, I plan on buying the top plate regardless because it is a very nice product. I just wish the pricing would've been slightly more competitive, but I also know Berkey Systems probably isn't selling these for huge markups.
 
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