FS7: Does Your FS7 Grip Have Play?

Joshua Milligan

Joshua Milligan

Well-known member
Hey friends. I have only had my FS7 for about a month and a half now and one thing that kinda has bugged me is the little play that's in my FS7 handgrip. The arm locks good and solid, but the grip has a little bit of play. Now it's nothing detrimental, but I was just wanting to see if that was normal. I was thinking that perhaps it is normal and is that way because of its ability to be rotated with the push button, but then again I am not certain. Any thoughts to this?
 
Joshua,

I've taken a few of these apart to add a rosette and some do move a bit, some don't. It should not move and I'd call Sony and ask them to send you call tags for repair shipping. For a look at the inside look at the pics in this current thread http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...grip-MOD-to-ARRI-Standard-now-available/page9

I make aCinegrips that are built to last a career so naturally these seem lightly built by comparison. But the Sony is well made, well designed for what it is. One thing I've noticed is that in working on about 12 now no two are exactly alike. Lot's of production variance. I think I know what the problem might be with yours and it's something I've done myself making parts for these cameras. The grip has two protruding registration pins that insert into the arm preventing any rotation. But if the holes are just a 64th too big it can create unwanted play. Not enough to fucntionally be significant but enough to annoy the heck out of you.

I can fix it no charge, won't take but a few minutes and ship back next day. But if its under warranty send it to them, I just might be quicker!
 
Joshua Milligan said:
Hey friends. I have only had my FS7 for about a month and a half now and one thing that kinda has bugged me is the little play that's in my FS7 handgrip. The arm locks good and solid, but the grip has a little bit of play. Now it's nothing detrimental, but I was just wanting to see if that was normal. I was thinking that perhaps it is normal and is that way because of its ability to be rotated with the push button, but then again I am not certain. Any thoughts to this?
Click to expand...

Many people's have started slipping including mine which makes the arm useless. The arm is pretty bad IMO as it make the camera un-balanced and difficult to put on a tripod. I just use a simple 15mm rod and handgrip now. Much better.
 
Gene

I think the OP is saying his arm locks tightly, but the grip itself is "loose" at the end of the stick. so he can rock it fore and aft with his wrist a dite.

A dite being a smidge less than a scoshe.
Yeah?
 
plasticam said:
Gene

I think the OP is saying his arm locks tightly, but the grip itself is "loose" at the end of the stick. so he can rock it fore and aft with his wrist a dite.
Click to expand...

Pardon me if I was un-clear. Yes, my hand grip is loose (as are many others) which makes the arm useless. The hand grip locks for a bit, but when pressure is exerted on it / in the heat of a shot, it regularly slips into the next locking point. Really annoying.
 
Right Gene, Where is the slip happeing? Are the rosette teeth slipping at the camera rosette or is the grip end slipping like the release button was suddenly engaging?
 
Hi Caleb,

I believe it's the grip end is slipping, like the release button suddenly disengaged then engaged. Something like that as it's been a while since I've used the arm.
 
Thanks for straightening me out. Since taking a couple apart I am interested in how they hold up in the field. Or not ;-)
 
Lenil,

May I ask where did yours slip? My understanding is that there was a documented issue regarding the rosette teeth not meshing firmly- and the arm slipped on the teeth-
at the hub, the center, on the rosette/rosette interface.

I want to be clear becasue the OP seems to be describing a different problem - Thanks
 
Mine definitely slips as well... If I'm using the arm out front and try to support the weight of the camera with my right hand on the handgrip, it will slip positions (as if I've pressed the release button to rotate the grip).

It is very annoying!
Before purchasing mine, the few that I rented did the same thing as well.
 
Oh man. That's bad stuff. I've just used two different cams so far and have not had that happen. The rosette slipped something terrible on a loaner Sony sent me awhile back. Had to tighten the bejeesus out of it!
 
Mine doesn't slip that way yet, but is very creaky. With all the great electronics and specs, the mechanical quality of the FS7 leaves a lot to be desired in general :(

Piotr
 
Mine doesn't necessarily slip into different positions. It just has a little wiggle moving for and aft. I was hoping when I purchased the camera that it would be dead solid with zero play. Plasticam, thanks for your help on this. You mentioned that you could potentially fix something like this. Is it difficult to do? Time consuming? I'd love to send mine to you and just let you fix it if you'd work with me on it. However, I really need the arm right now for some shoots. I am leaving in two weeks to go to Alaska for a 17 day shoot and have to have it for that!
 
Joshua,

I suspect there is an easy fix for this. I'd be glad to look at it and if it's what i think it is - no charge. PLs put a return shipping label in with it and I'll turn it right around to you.
USPS in a medium box usually takes 2 days. It round trips for $24 that way. I recco a couple dollars of added insurance for peace of mind.
 
Joshua Milligan said:
Hey friends. I have only had my FS7 for about a month and a half now and one thing that kinda has bugged me is the little play that's in my FS7 handgrip. The arm locks good and solid, but the grip has a little bit of play. Now it's nothing detrimental, but I was just wanting to see if that was normal. I was thinking that perhaps it is normal and is that way because of its ability to be rotated with the push button, but then again I am not certain. Any thoughts to this?
Click to expand...

Yes. My grip had play and then it started jumping the rosset. I almost dropped the camera a couple of times. Sony fixed it for free in record time. The ysent me a replacement grip in the meantime but not sure they do that now.
 
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