C300: C300 Mk II Handle Quick Release Options?

[Jon Roemer]

Ingenious. Thanks for sharing. Tried a similar hack with all Wooden Camera parts but abandoned it as it was not robust enough. I literally bought and returned the Nato Plus twice trying different set ups. Do you still get any drift from the c300 mk ii cold shoe loosening?

Never. Haven't had it happen to me. Assuming you mean the shoe on the body.

The setup is very solid. Much more so than the monitor's foot in non-clamping cold shoe.

I may still give the Zacuto handle another go. Back when I tried an early version of it it did not have the two 15mm rod clamps and it did not have the ability move it's mounting point between either end of the handle.

Those changes make it far more flexible and practical.

 

[kohl-sudduth]

Never. Haven't had it happen to me. Assuming you mean the shoe on the body.

The setup is very solid. Much more so than the monitor's foot in non-clamping cold shoe.

I may still give the Zacuto handle another go. Back when I tried an early version of it it did not have the two 15mm rod clamps and it did not have the ability move it's mounting point between either end of the handle.

Those changes make it far more flexible and practical.

Ah, got it. Was looking at your shoeSpud set up and not the nato rail one. Looks bomber. Inspired me to tinker last night with a nato rail and ultra arm set up using the 1/4-20 hole in the monitor.



I'm kind of digging it. Like that it keeps a lower profile and can toggle the joystick with my thumb while recording. Can potentially put a few nato rails on the sides of the wc top plate and pretty much be free of needing to use the shoe mounts on the monitor all together.

One of the things I like about a well-rigged c300mkii is the ability to go from a fairly wide range of set ups from very compact handheld, to shoulder rig, to gimbal, to full on matte box studio set up fairly quickly.

Thinking some more experimentation is in order.

 

[puredrifting]

That Wooden Camera piece in the image above is interesting. I own an Ultra Light Control Systems longer monitor arm and the Wooden Camera piece above looks like Wooden either re-branded, licensed or ripped off the ULCS design, the little middle bit looks identical to ULCS. http://www.filmtools.com/ulbamomo.html

 

[kohl-sudduth]

That Wooden Camera piece in the image above is interesting. I own an Ultra Light Control Systems longer monitor arm and the Wooden Camera piece above looks like Wooden either re-branded, licensed or ripped off the ULCS design, the little middle bit looks identical to ULCS. http://www.filmtools.com/ulbamomo.html

Looks pretty much like the same design. Whoever came up with it and/or further refined it, it's a great piece of kit. Kind of like tinker toy modularity with all the various options. Will outlive the camera, that's for sure.

 

[Jon Roemer]

Ah, got it. Was looking at your shoeSpud set up and not the nato rail one. Looks bomber. Inspired me to tinker last night with a nato rail and ultra arm set up using the 1/4-20 hole in the monitor.

View attachment 125877

I'm kind of digging it. Like that it keeps a lower profile and can toggle the joystick with my thumb while recording. Can potentially put a few nato rails on the sides of the wc top plate and pretty much be free of needing to use the shoe mounts on the monitor all together.

One of the things I like about a well-rigged c300mkii is the ability to go from a fairly wide range of set ups from very compact handheld, to shoulder rig, to gimbal, to full on matte box studio set up fairly quickly.

Thinking some more experimentation is in order.

Kohl - I really like that. Looks interesting.

The shoeSpud I did works very well but isn't perfect. It relies on the monitor foot's lock-down knob (not great) and gravity. Since Canon got rid of the foot's lock down pin there is no extra security to it. It's also using a Wooden Camera Universal shoe which still leaves the monitor foot with a bit of play in it left - right. Not an issue at all if you are on sticks and have the monitor oriented vertically for easy viewing of the controls.

I experimented with putting a vertical rail back there (instead of the shoeSpud) along with a clamping shoe but it was too much in terms of pieces to be practical.

Like you, my goal with this is to be able to switch between various setups quickly and without tools.

I haven't tried WC's ultra arm yet. I was in their store in LA this past spring and they said it was a lot stronger than traditional Noga/Israeli arms.

Do you think the ultra arm into the monitor's ¼-20 will hold well enough? No twisting once it is screwed in?

 

[implicted]

Thanks for posting the pic of your C300KII with Trekpak!
I've had my TrekPak for months uninstalled because it was rough to figure out a workable layout including everything... much appreciated!

 

[kohl-sudduth]

I haven't tried WC's ultra arm yet. I was in their store in LA this past spring and they said it was a lot stronger than traditional Noga/Israeli arms.

Do you think the ultra arm into the monitor's ¼-20 will hold well enough? No twisting once it is screwed in?

The ultra arms are pretty great, but not perfect. There can be some twisting unless I crank a bit, which brings some negative side effects. I need to pick up one those nifty little knurled dials with 1/4-20 male and female on either side.

Also there are times when we've had to make sure the various segments of the arms stayed tight. Just too much leverage on the anchor points.

All in all, I think they hold well, but not flawlessly so.

Was thinking that another possible option for the ultra arm config is to attach the monitor shoe mount in addition to the 1/4-20 rail clamp. Not sure if the angles work, but if it does - that's two anchor points. Talk about overkill. That thing is going nowhere when running to get ahead of a shot. Yet it can relatively quickly transition to a different set up. We'll see how the experiment goes.

Wishing you well with your experiments and look forward to developments.