FS7QO shoulder mount - battery O7Q counterweight

M

Martin.G

Well-known member
So i had this idea. Order another battery plate from Westside AV and drill it to the large plastic cover of the backup media on the FS700, right side.

It worked like a dream, and Olof lengthened the cable for me so that its long enough to go over to the O7Q over the lens.

Its not 100% counter weight. But it removes a lot of weight on the left side of the camera and store it further behind on the right side. Every cent helps towards the million.

See photos.
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I will try to get another plate so that i can switch between studio mount and shoulder mount quickly, without having a long loose cable while in studio mode. But ive got enough velcro straps to make a good cable tie solution if the cover costs too much.

And regarding used camera value: Is the FS700 ever again going to be used without the O7Q?
 
digger said:
That's smart thinking. Can you take a picture of the hole you drilled in the plastic cover?
Click to expand...

Yeah i can do that.

I basically unscrewed the metal plate from the Westside AV battery plate, and used the 3 holes in that as a guide for my drill. Picked an ok size screwer and pew pew. I also used some metal spacers so that the battery plate would clear the USB cover on the camera itself. Also the screws i got from Westside AV was obviously not made for this sort of mounting and where a little long. A few spacers on the inside as well so that the screws did not portrude too far out was in order. I need to exchange those though as the spacers i had lying here was almost as large inside as the W AV screws, thus not reliable in hardened use.

Inside the plastic cover there are also strenghtened plastic walls, and i had to cut away one of those strength-walls because my hole came near spot in the middle of it.
 
I'm sure this could be more expensive (but would be more flexible in the long run), but have you looked into the Solid Camera cage + FS700 top plate?

The cage uses the same dovetails as the top plate, which the Solid Camera Sony/7Q battery plate is made to attach to. So with the dovetails, you can quickly detach the battery plate from the 7Q and attach it to the top plate's dovetail (which is by the from XLR jack on the FS700).

Like I said, you'll spend a bit more on the cage and top plate, but it's far more flexible and a heck of a lot faster than pulling out your wrenches and removing battery plates.
 
Doubt it, because i have two battery plates. 1 on the Odyssey, and 1 on the FS700.

All i have to do is unroll the cable from the zip ties, plug it into the O7Q and push in a battery.

A cage adds weight and thats no good when you are swapping the camera fast between Glidecam / Kessler Crane equipment. I have everything on quick release for one/two man gunning on lower budget projects.
 
Good thinking. Clean looking modification. Wondering if there would be anyway to install a small powered Lemo connector (female) neatly next to the battery plate so we can attach our own lemo cable to any device we like.
 
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Photos from inside, plus more photos of the outside w/o battery and spacers visible.

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There is a little more room on the plate to attach further cables for the adventurous. But you have to plan for it as you see in the pictures.
 
I am trying to create a really lightweight and simple shoulderrig for the FS7Q0. In doing so, i moved the O7Q battery onto the camera. Now i just needed a way to put the FS7Q0 centre of gravity further back, and ive so far not succeeded without counterweights.

Since i have Glidecam, Kessler Crane sliders and such i want to be able to quickly move the camera to various objects without having to waste time screwing on and off advanced camera bases with rod systems and such. I own those as well, but for documentary / solo work things need to go fast. Thats why i have mounted a Manfrotto quickrelease onto a shoulder pad. Fast to remove the pad and put the camera onto the baseplate wich also has a manfrotto quick release, so i can go from shoulder mounted (or crane mount down to tripod follow focus mount) very fast.

Now, i have had Brian from Berkey Systems produce a little mount for me that allows the attachment of 15mm rods on the back of the Berkey Systems excellent shoulder pad.

You can take a look at the product and the production process here. The part is assembled at 4:30 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzZWWddKBtU&feature=youtu.be

Basically it gives room for mounting the counter weight back onto the shoulder pad, wich in turn makes it easy to put the camera down, while still keeping the rig to a bare minimum weight. In the video Brian mounts the battery downwards. The idea is for me to mount it upwards, behind the FS700. Then it also protects the SDI connectors and such when running and gunning in tight places.
 
Marino215 said:
Good thinking. Clean looking modification. Wondering if there would be anyway to install a small powered Lemo connector (female) neatly next to the battery plate so we can attach our own lemo cable to any device we like.
Click to expand...

Just ask Olof from Westside AV. For a little fee i guess they probably can make anything you want.
 
Martin.G said:
Now, i have had Brian from Berkey Systems produce a little mount for me that allows the attachment of 15mm rods on the back of the Berkey Systems excellent shoulder pad.
Click to expand...

Did you ever get this counterweight set up? Would love to see a picture if possible.
 
Yeah ive got it working now.

Looks very much like the final formfactor of the FS7 in the end. Basically the counter weight attaches to the back 15mm rods and kind of acts like the bricks you can add onto the FS7.

Will put up some pics next time i use it.
 
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