Defy G12 Gimbal holds F35

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yachacha

Well-known member
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Yes it just barely squeaks into the sled. Screws on the sides actually push on the camera, I am getting shorter screws without the thumbscrew attachment so that it will fit. No way to slide camera side to side to balance but that is ok, F35 is very nice weight distribution. Besides the wide body, the F35 actually fits nicely on the gimbal with it's boxy shape and back weight. It took me forever but it balances very nicely also on the gimbal.

F35 external power is the trick of getting it on a gimbal. I used my Abelcine AB plate held on with bongo ties, the cable was very thick and did pull a lot. I found a position that kept the camera level with the tension from the cable. This is def the weakest part of my setup. I will see about making a thinner, more flexible cable to power the F35.

2nd trick to getting this setup to work: boosting the power of the gimbal. Defy ships the G12 with very good settings, however they are set for lighter rigs. I bought this Defy G12 to use with a Sony FS700 and when I get that camera with follow focus and Canon 16-35mm lens on the gimbal, it needs more power also. Defy uses the standard gimbal controller software: SimpleBGC. I downloaded 32-bit version 2_42b9. This is the version setup to work with the Defy G12 board, I could not load a newer version as it requires a firmware flash and the G12 wouldn't take the standard firmware. Using the software I increased the power to all three axis on the gimbal and adjusted the other settings so it held the heavier camera.

The redrock follow focus comes with a thumb wheel which is great for a gimbal. I am powering the redrock off the F35 12v port, the 7Q on it's own Sony L battery and the F35 off the gold mount.

Of course it is heavy as a mofo, but all real movi rigs become heavy after you add follow focus, monitor, batteries, wireless video. I have an EZ rig i usually borrow when I am shooting with a gimbal. Most importantly the gimbal works the way it should, i would get pitch breaks at extreme angles because of the cable but I think that can be made thinner. The F35 with it's weight and global shutter makes for great motion on the gimbal. I am very excited by the possibilities to make car rigs, etc using this combo as well.

I will post a shot or two soon once I record something that isn't the hallway in my apartment.
 
haha yes I will move forward with permanent solution once I get it all ironed out. The game to keeping the gimbal useable is not adding any unnecessary weight, bongo ties are the lightest solution right now.
 
preliminary test of a naked F35 very unbalanced on a helix is VERY POSITIVE. meaning it worked, even though it was like mostly unbalanced (i just wanted to sort of proof of concept it.)

also wasn't all that heavy... and low mode worked perfectly

going to dig into it more tomorrow possibly and see if i can actually balance it properly and make it work.
 
Skatajkid do you have an external battery method? Something else I was thinking of, you could completely dismantle the IF box and remove the power port that connects to the XLR input, you could literally have the XLR input cable dangle from the dock. Of course it's not desirable to take apart the IF box.

Easier, I am talking to a cable manufacturer about making a thin lemo cable to power the camera. Can anyone tell me if it's a bad idea to power the F35 off a D-tap port? I want to make a super thin cable that goes F35 Power Lemo to D Tap so it can be powered off any battery plate with a D-tap.
 
Yeahhhh - i do not have a power solution actually yet! I was going to maybe try to finagle leaving the IF box on (which I didn't try today - it's not too heavy/large so maybe it will work) then I can run power through the Helix (one of the nice things about it) - it would use either a 2 pin lemon to XLR or dtap to XLR - and just have v-lock bricks power both the F35 and the gimbal.

if I can't do that - then i'm looking at your solution... something like a d-tap to F35 power lemo
 
Anyone know if the F35 will fit on a first gen Ronin? Will support cameras up to 16 pounds and costs about half of this Defy rig
 
No, it doesn't squeeze into the Ronin. The F35 just barely fits in the Defy G12. You can find a G12 used for less than 2k. It all depends on the width of the gimbal, G12 was the widest one I could find at NAB.

I don't think it is easy to widen the Ronin easily.

I will try F35 on G12 now, my G12 was back at Defy getting repaired from unrelated damage for a while.
 
I was determined to fit f35 on my ronin with arm extensions, pan extension and the dovetail with counterweights to bring COG down. It fits width wise with a few millimeters of play for fine adjust. The F35 with IF box and a 20mm Sony PL Prime weighs 19lbs. Well over Ronin's capacity but if you perform a good balance the motors should be able to take it. Add FF, MB and a filter tho you may be at 22lb + the 11lb ronin and 1lb Odyssey + arm and you're at 35lbs of sprung weight. I'd love to test this concept before I drop over $1k to find its just too overloaded. For power I was going to tuck a Vmount somewhere on my body and run an xlr into the IF box.
 
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