Best baseplate for the AF100?

Jon Furtado

Jon Furtado

Well-known member
I'm trying to find a base plate for my AF100 that will work on the tripod and adapt to a decent shoulder rig. Problem is, the all cost an arm and a leg. I'd like to find an affordable base plate below $300 that is height adjustable that works best with the AF100. Too many of them out there are only built for DSLR's.

I have a gini rig shoulder rig and would like to get it to play nicely with that if possible. I'm already exploring selling my great rig to explore a different option.

Thoughts? Links?
 
I was in a similar situation with Gini parts, and decided the baseplate was the crux of the whole deal, so better to get a decent one. I couldn't find anything below the $500 mark, was debating Berkey Systems and O'Connor. Thought that the O'Connor had some features that put it ahead of the Berkey, so went with that. VERY HAPPY (other than the price of all these units). I was very impressed by the forethought that went into the camera mounting screws. You'll be dealing with these twice every time you use the rig (if not a lot more). THe unique thing about the O'Connor is that the screws have holes in the sides so that you can tighten/loosen them with an allen key (like you need for other parts of your rail system), or, the bottom plate swings aside so you can get at the screwdriver slot that's machined into the bottom of the screws! Ingenious. Trying to get both 3/8 & 1/4 bolts socked down on the 100 while fumbling in the tiny area in the baseplate with just your fingers is frustrating (I'd imagine even with large "finger" type bolts). This method makes it much easier.

I'd weigh the extra $$ spent now versus the hundreds/thousands of times you'll be dealing with this component throughout your lifetime.
 
Being the frugal kind of guy I am, I have my AF100 mounted to a used Zacuto base plate, which is adjusted to mount standard accessories like a matte box and follow focus. Then I mount that to a used Allstar Arri style base plate with 19mm rods & dovetail. I find that between the two base plates I am covered for a variety of shooting configurations, and I saved heap by purchasing used gear.
 
David W. Jones said:
Being the frugal kind of guy I am, I have my AF100 mounted to a used Zacuto base plate, which is adjusted to mount standard accessories like a matte box and follow focus. Then I mount that to a used Allstar Arri style base plate with 19mm rods & dovetail. I find that between the two base plates I am covered for a variety of shooting configurations, and I saved heap by purchasing used gear.
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David do you have a picture of this setup? I googled Allstar and they have some interesting products for the RED camera.

http://allstar-cine.myweb.hinet.net/html/red_accessories/DAB.htm
 
I have pics somewhere.
The Allstar unit is their dual bridge plate. I picked it up used with an extended dovetail and 19mm rods for $800.
I picked up the used Zacuto universal base plate on eBay for $355

I needed the extra support provided by the 19mm rods for working with large cine lenses.
 
I will weigh-in with my review of the Pro-Aim gear I have seen and used: Their metal work is crudely finished, but it does work. The knobs you get are not the ones in their web photos. If function is more important to you than bling-factor you can probably live with Proaim but you will be making modifications and wanting to swap out parts.

I don't like drawing geographic lines on this kind of thing but from what I've seen the Chinese source stuff is much better designed/copied and executed than the Indian source stuff.

Seems like its hard to go wrong with 2nd hand Zacuto if the price is right.
 
aguia said:
I will weigh-in with my review of the Pro-Aim gear I have seen and used: Their metal work is crudely finished, but it does work. The knobs you get are not the ones in their web photos. If function is more important to you than bling-factor you can probably live with Proaim but you will be making modifications and wanting to swap out parts.

I don't like drawing geographic lines on this kind of thing but from what I've seen the Chinese source stuff is much better designed/copied and executed than the Indian source stuff.

Seems like its hard to go wrong with 2nd hand Zacuto if the price is right.
Click to expand...

Regarding Pro-Aim: Do NOT buy anything Pro-Aim. When it breaks, and it WILL break, you will have to throw good money after BAD. As our friend aguia says, everything about it says POOR QUALITY.

I had a bad baseplate from Cavision, which I replaced with one from Genus, their Hotplate. Some folks have found the Genus for under $300 (!).




 
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I have the ProAim baseplate and besides it being fairly heavy, it has worked very well for me. I replaced the heavy steel rods it has with some nice carbon fiber ones I took off my fairly crappy Indie Systems rig. If I happen to need the longer rods, I can always put them back on.

So far I have had no issues with their base plate. It is doing a great job for the price.
 
Not to insult our Pro-Aim owning friend, but I can tell you about the Pro-Aim Follow Focus unit that I purchased new in '09. It was made with stamped steel parts, many which were straight, then bent into shape. What little machining there was on the unit was piss-poor. The adjustment knobs were cast iron. The hex head bolts had the voids pressed into them, and, they were off-center... I have never seen anything like that before! WIthin one year, the gearbox was broken. It broke while in transit in a full-padded Pelican case. Nothing else in that case was damaged, including my Canon XLH1 camera and P&S Technik Mini-35 lens adapter with Nikon lens attached, just the Pro-Aim FF. I contacted Pr-Aim about it, but they never followed through on any repair or exchange offer. That FF unit sits in a parts bin in my office.

No, wait... there, I just threw it away!


Genus Hotplate

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=ProductDetail&A=showMultipleImages&Q=&sku=769537&is=REG
 
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Hey Jon,

Take a look at our microSuppot Baseplate. It's quick release, shimm-able, has left-right camera adjustments, and comes in $50 shy of your limit.

Here is it on an AF100 with a few other toys

As for connecting it to your shoulder mount, attach the Bogen 357 sliding system to anything with a 1/4"-20 or 3/8ths and be able to swap quickly from one rig to another since it is the same plate.

LiveLens_mft_3350.jpgLiveLens_mft_3340.jpg
 
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We have 3 plates...

1. Redrock Micro Plate
2. Zacuto plate
3. Oconnor Universal plate

Out of all 3, the Oconnor plate is by FAR the best one I have used but honesty, for the $$$ that Genus looks pretty nice. The only thing Genus we have is their "GWMC Wide Angle 4x4 Mattebox" that clamps right onto the lens (we use it on a DSLR B-cam) and I was REALLY suprised about how nice it was when it showed up. Only 0.7lbs too and for $475 the price is fantastic. That product totally sold me on Genus as a brand and I think we'll be trying out more of there stuff in the future.

But in regards to baseplates. A DSLR plate may be just fine for the AF-100 but either way, you're only going to have 1 or 2 screws actually mounted into the base of the camera so it become less important how large your baseplate is but rather how much SUPPORT the rails and camera have. For example, the Oconnor Universal Plateplate is small enough for a DLSR and also large enough with rail support to EASILY be used on the AF-100, F3, etc... and plates with lighter weight not only make your rig lighter but also have less force pulling on the bottom of your camera. I really liked the Zacuto plate as well but it was a HEAVY beast. For me, the Oconnor is the perfect baseplate, especially if you swap out the stock vertical rods for shorter 2" rods, but it is pricey at over $500.

http://www.abelcine.com/store/OConnor-Universal-Baseplate-Set/
 
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