Berkey System Top Plate for FS-100

Once 16x9, genus, zacuto, red rock, letus, vocas, denz, solid, atomic and various chinese manufacturers make their own versions it will become competitive, just wait a month with your purchase....
 
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Techguy said:
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
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Dan I have the F3 cheeseplate and it is beautifully tooled and finished. Can you post a picture of the extension plate attached to the cheese plate on an actual F3? I can't find a shot of it mounted on your website.
 
powervideo said:
Dan I have the F3 cheeseplate and it is beautifully tooled and finished. Can you post a picture of the extension plate attached to the cheese plate on an actual F3? I can't find a shot of it mounted on your website.
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Thank you for the compliments on the cheese plate, I will pass them along. I just looked and I don't have a photo with it on the camera on my computer. I will talk to Brian and get something published both here and on the web site soon.
 
@ Steven, how does it feel, as far as strength wise? I see it's held on by two 1/4"screws on the top. Does it add any stress to the top area of the camcorder, or do you see or feel any movement in the plastic? Just wondering if it would be worth connecting the mount off the side to the top, for added strength, and another point of contact. I know it's a light cam, but once you start adding some cine primes, it's going to add a good bit more weight. But if you feel it's fine the way it is, Im more than willing to take your word for it.
 
Here's a photo from our NY showroom floor. We just signed up with Berkey as a reseller of these nifty plates.

Please excuse the fuzzy iPhone image:

Berkey.jpg
 
maranfilms said:
@ Steven, how does it feel, as far as strength wise? I see it's held on by two 1/4"screws on the top. Does it add any stress to the top area of the camcorder, or do you see or feel any movement in the plastic? Just wondering if it would be worth connecting the mount off the side to the top, for added strength, and another point of contact. I know it's a light cam, but once you start adding some cine primes, it's going to add a good bit more weight. But if you feel it's fine the way it is, Im more than willing to take your word for it.
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Well, here's what I did…

I put on the prototype top plate Brian sent me, and picked up the camera, with kit lens installed, by the top plate. It felt totally and completely solid.
 
Techguy said:
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
Click to expand...

It's a free enterprise country, so of course you can sell it for whatever the market will pay. But really? $250 for a $3 hunk of aluminum with a few holes in it?
 
stevedocmaker said:
It's a free enterprise country, so of course you can sell it for whatever the market will pay. But really? $250 for a $3 hunk of aluminum with a few holes in it?
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You're free to make your own. Time is money, so make sure you calculate that when you build one.
 
stevedocmaker said:
It's a free enterprise country, so of course you can sell it for whatever the market will pay. But really? $250 for a $3 hunk of aluminum with a few holes in it?
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That really is being disingenous. It is so much more than a piece of metal with holes in it. The Berkey gear is engineered as good as the Vocas and Zacuto equipment I use and it is way cheaper. Would you go to the local metal shop and get something like the Berkey plate for a few bucks and trust it to be machined and powder-coated well enough to mount on your $15,000 F3. $3? You have to be kidding me.
 
Jus t received my topplate and it is fantastic. Perfectly machined and ultra useful. I love it. I can mount side handles off the top and numerous other configurations. Brian who makes these pieces should be supported for making the FS100 more configurable than Sony originally made it.

Also my Sony tophandle just broke and Brian is working on a solution. thankyou Brian
 
A few new pics of the top plate and new handle
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Anyone have a contact e-mail address for berkeysystem? Their online contact form doesn't work for me, won't accept my e-mail addresses. I'd like to get in touch with them.
 
lunelson said:
Anyone have a contact e-mail address for berkeysystem? Their online contact form doesn't work for me, won't accept my e-mail addresses. I'd like to get in touch with them.
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Here you go. bberkey (at) berkeysystem.com Brian is a great guy and is the most helpful manufacturer I've ever come across. I have the F3 baseplate, top cheeseplate and 15mm posts. It's very good quality, beautifully finished and tight-spec stuff.
 
And I can say I am testing out the FS100 plate and accessories and I think even the pictures posted don't give full justice to the quality of the materials AND the engineering that went into making this plate. It really works well, is not overly heavy, is EXTREMELY STURDY, and will be staying on my FS100 as a permanent USEFUL necessity! :)
 
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