FS5: Camera Rosette for FS5 - New product announcement

[plasticam]

FS5 CAMERA SIDE rosettes are in stock. $78 shipped domestic / $88 International.



It's stainless steel with an M6 threaded socket. It comes paired with a neoprene ring that installs under the three bayonet flanges for a glove fit that protects the FS5 bayonet socket
with a sealed connection.



This combines with the new Sony Crony grip rosette to restore industry standard options to FS5 shooters.

The Crony is $145 with brass knob, shipped. 18K gold knob extra.
Here is the FS5 fitted with our Clockarm as an example of what you can do once you jailbreak



Clockarms extend on a sled and swivel and they come in 6/9/ or 12" lengths. 9" shown here.



The Clockarm was introduced on the FS700 at NAB '12 and has been a workhorse ever since- super piece of kit. Beautifully made at $345.
The swivelling of the Clockarm was something different and I really liked it. Just a few degrees of supination of the wrist was like money in the bank. That
stayed with me.

See for yourself- TAKE THIS TEST:

Center your fist in front of your chest. Your middle knuckles point due West, toward the wall to your left (if you're a righty). That's your natural position. Square one. Now without moving your elbow, rotate your elbow so your fist moves easterly until it comes in front of your shoulder. If you feel a slight tension develop in your right shoulder and arm- you're like most people. Now extend your elbow a couple inches out from you, straight ahead. Yep. Now go back to position one with knuckles facing west, fist centered on chest. Don't move elbow this time, just flex your wrist so the back of your hand moves towards the east until your middle knuckles point in front of you, North on the compass card. Hold it and you'll quickly feel a slight tension begin. Enough to prove the wrist wants to be straight with the backside of your forearm for work.

That's why the new Dutcharm is here. To be like that. Square one. The state of balance. The Dutcharm is NOT beautifully made, it's designed for function over form- to be a workhorse, a rough and ready arm, strong as hell (indestructable almost) and functional as hell. shown here on FS7.


It's a disruptive design- a new approach that took some actual thought to figure out - not just a commodity rosette on a stick. It puts your hand near and/or under the lens. We make 3 different offsets to get you either close to- or UNDER the lens. This idea evolved over 3 years, Adam Wilt first suggested the concept to me based on his using a Beaulieu 16mm handheld.


Great shot of Adam! Not a great shot of a Beaulieu - that's a Bolex. but you get the idea.



The Beaulieu R16 (memories of loading this cam in public bathrooms with lights off, crying, whimpering, snivelling for whoever designed the threading method to be punished)



The diagram makes it look easy ;-) Anyway the camera shot well and I understood Adam's point about "fist under lens is best". Following this down I made a Dovetail plate for use with 15mm rods.



This was the first time you could get your hand under the lens with a pro camera. I got some personal letters even one from a well known feature shooter thanking me for finally providing a way to do this. It so much better. BUT you needed rods. Until now. Enter the Dutcharm. (I have two Dovetails in stock for people with 15mm rods $325 I think)

If you shoot handheld and want MINIMAL- the Dutcharm is a real good reason to rosette your FS5- it is anatomically correct. Intro price $165 shipped. K?
Package price right now for Dutcharm, FS5 Camera rosette and FS5 Handgrip Crony is $325. About $60 discount.
I'm an email away- got text and real person talk for you old guys. For payment I'll send a Paypal invoice. Website is currently offline for product updates.

Thanks 504 355 6106

 

[JPNola]

"Center your fist in front of your chest. Your middle knuckles point due West, toward the wall to your left (if you're a righty). That's your natural position."

No, that is a position that you prefer and the position that feels natural to you. I don't know why you insist on declaring it to be "THE" position. What feels "natural" for you may not feel "natural" for others. That it is a position you like doesn't make it the natural position for the human body. There are numerous positions in which one can hold a paintbrush when painting. No brush grip is the definitive natural grip. As the saying goes, there are many ways to skin a cat.


Historically, high / low was a position often seen with the Beaulieu and other reflex cameras that were designed with a pistol grip. The pistol grip position, which is essentially the position you advocate, was a popular configuration with amateur cameras like the Bell & Howell. But it wasn't without good reason that the position was largely abandoned by the industry.

To each their own. Just don't be so arrogant as to think that your own is the definitive own and what everyone else should also be doing. It isn't needed in order to sell your home-brewed contraptions.

 

[JCummings]

Crying and whimpering will start early holding a camera like that. Can't beat a shoulder mount with four points of contact.
What's next, bell bottoms?

 

[Mitch Gross]

Now boys, play nice.

The main reason center-positioned handgrips fell out of favor was that cameras got heavy with big batteries and long front/back shapes that made them teeter and roll on the shoulder. But we don't have that problem with these modern little lightweight cameras. So I can see that this could be an excellent balance solution. I'm not saying for sure, only that it could. I'd have to try it for myself.

I can tell you that I know several DPs who have jerry-rigged handle systems that do go dead center under the front rods. One of them is perhaps the greatest handheld shooter I've ever seen -- he's been rolling on all sorts of cameras for decades for NFL Films and other gotta-be-perfect-the-first-time projects. He's been using the same handgrip forever, and it's built to go dead center under the rods about 6 inches or so out from his body.

To each his own, but don't summarily knock it if you haven't tried it. You can always rotate Caleb's mount to swing the handgrip out to the right if you want. In fact you could flip the rod in the mount and use the angle to get it WAY out. Most rigs won't give you that range of adjustment.

Not an advocate here for anything other than civility and the right to try something new to discover if I might like it.

 

[plasticam]

Wow JP that was quite a post to wake up to. Time to don your flame retardent suit. My post was not offensive so don't troll me. I'm not setting myself up as any authority- far from it! but I am a camera operator with some years of hard work under my belt who has been making "homemade contraptions" as you call them and been studying and trying to really learn what's going on with my own body so I can make improved parts that help move the ball forward - not mimmick other manufacturers with lower commodity price points.

You may be confused. People here on DVX reach out to me (actually call on the phone! I feel like Batman sometimes!) to solve issues and so I opened up my doors for DVX readers to see the design/development I go thru. I share the behind the scenes process- and it's not Glam. It's camera dept. problem solving JP - some people are interested, they have bought my ugly parts because they are the only thing in the world that solves a defined problem. Sometimes filmmaking is about nuts and bolts, it's not glamourous, it's just engineering. It's behind the lens so it's ok if it doesnt look camera ready- it is what MAKES the camera ready. Studios have machine shops because sometimes it aint been built yet and someone needs it NOW. I iike being that guy, on the back lot listening to a guy explain the problem, figuring out a fix.

I'm not just showing off "product shots". Ok? Some of us are interested in the details, and that's legit. I'm a cameraman and I like talking shop. I have my opinions but I'm not emotional about them. Well not often anyway. and HEY! I think my finished parts are pretty enough, I got the black anodizing, the gray anodizing and even the orange powder coating. Not even Arri powder coats! A woodpecker can't crack that finish! Made in the USA by a guy named Tony. Don't piss Tony off!

So c'mon, DVX is not twitter. Don't shame me, it keeps people from posting freely. I'm making stuff that is different and that I believe in. Sony thought my "homemade contraptions" good enough to fly on their entire pro camera line up at NAB several years running. F65 on down. Our Cinegrips pioneered smart grips with Sony at NAB in 2012 and led the way. I think it's pretty cool to do this in a little shop, w/o corporate support. Cameraman heaven. I call it Shop 9 - after the cloud.

If you're nicer you should stop by and have a cold one. I had football party in the shop and beer is everywhere. It really is Shop 9.

 

[plasticam]

J,
Do I get a bonus point awarded for inspiring a bell bottoms reference?

The Beaulieu/Bolex form factor was a joy to shoot with- like a still photgrapher. They were light! No battery or tiny one. Little Switar lenses you could make earings out of. The R-16 threading path was just unfair and degrading. My issue ;-)

Shoulder is crucial as soon as cams get heavy. My point is that even on shoulder, your fist still likes being near or under the lens. It's a pretty vanilla thought, most camera types agree. I'm just talking about a couple inches of preference which my new arm provides by being made in 3 offsets depending on your preference. I make a 3" 4" and 5" offset. The Dutch arm is cool, it actually DOES something nothing else does. And it's cheap. I even let you specify length and offset if you have a strong preference.

I'm waiting for it. There has to be a hell yeah out there somewhere.

 

[plasticam]

JP writes
'No, that is a position that you prefer and the position that feels natural to you. I don't know why you insist on declaring it to be "THE" position. '

I didn't insist. But my point was that if a person does place there fist in front of their chest, that where their hand lands is "their" natural position. Sure it varies slightly from person to person- which is the POINT. It is their natural position. at rest. I am trying to demonstrate what under the lens feels like to people who may not have tried it before. That should be pretty clear right? So I suggested a test for people to see for themselves. It is not about me telling people or insisting on the "right" way. It's a way to invite participation "see for yourself. Make up your own mind"

I have thought about it and formed ideas I think can help. That's just talking shop mate.

"Historically, high / low was a position often seen with the Beaulieu and other reflex cameras that were designed with a pistol grip. The pistol grip position, which is essentially the position you advocate, was a popular configuration with amateur cameras like the Bell & Howell. But it wasn't without good reason that the position was largely abandoned by the industry."

No, not at all correct JP. I know and custom make parts for shooters right here on DVX who prefer what you call an "abandoned" position. There are no abandoned positions in camera work. Camera in front of your face is elemental. Call it the Hasselblad style, whatever - the first shot I ever took at 8 years old was from that stance, now it's also on my knee, hip shoulder. C'mon. It's not an amateur position, it's not for "reflex cameras" and its not trampled under the boot of progress.

 

[plasticam]

This thread is about using rosettes on the FS5

For about $200 smackers I can rosette your camera and grip. Would that help you? Do you want an extension arm for hand held?

Ever use the Bolex- Hasselblad position when you shoot? The FS5 is a great candidate for that style.

It's not new. Not to anyone who shot with an EX1. If you do find yourself shooting hasselblad or Bolex style
I make a new arm that might help you out. If you shoot on the shoulder- same.

It all starts with the rosettes. The Sony bayo is so irregular - do we really want to invest in a whole slew of parts
that are obsolete in 2 years?

 

[JCummings]

Well...I'll plead guilty to piling on in the 3rd degree and ban myself for 24 hours. However, I do stand behind the crack about bell bottoms.
:happy:

 

[plasticam]

Spoken like a scholar sir!

May you serve your sentence in utter and complete silence to better reflect on the gravity of piling on!
Altho 15 mins may better fit the crime

 

[icarusfilm]

Sorry to piss on the past but they had almost everything wrong:
Chain-smoking, three martini lunches, tanning and pistol grips for cameras.

 

[plasticam]

Ain't life grand? I feel so much better in 2016 with the world all peachy.

Don't smoke, don't drink, stay out of the sun and never look at a pistol grip without a sneer.

 

[Mitch Gross]

Sorry to piss on the past but they had almost everything wrong:
Chain-smoking, three martini lunches, tanning and pistol grips for cameras.

Wait, which of those was bad?

 

[icarusfilm]

well pistol grips for starters

 

[plasticam]

Seriously? What in the world is wrong with a pistol grip? It's a thing that fits your hand and bolts to a camera. Seems a perfectly rational functional thing.
It's like sneering at stairs since they invented the escalator.

 

[icarusfilm]

and at the airport when you are pulling that 30 pound equipment case- do you take the stairs or the escalator?

 

[plasticam]

Icarus - I think the point is just use what works.

I'll take both

 

[Ben Scott]

You say that now, but see what happens when you take your beloved Zenit through customs

 

[plasticam]

Oh no. this discussion just became terminal. Ben you have to join J in the shunning corner ;-)

 

[plasticam]

If there is anyone left with any interest in fitting FS5s with ARRI rosettes, speak now and right the ship!