David_Manning
Active member
That looks really awesome...but I bought it to go in the other direction! 
Fuji X-T3 released
- Thread starter Ken1212
- Start date
Grug- nice setup I'm sure that'll produce some amazing images! As David pointed out, lots of us are going for small/light/simple though I'm sure for narrative/larger-crew work your setup will work really well.
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As for using the XT-3 as a stills replacement for Canon bodies (and using Canon lenses), I found enough reviews showing the Viltrox EF-FX2 .71x focal reducer (and FX1 (no optics)) appear to work well enough for stills. This is the only example I found for video, using a somewhat clunky 50 1.8 where it generally focuses quickly and correctly and only occasionally hunted:
I currently use the Canon 18-135 Nano USM on the 80D for travel video, so the Fuji 18-135 could work on the XT-3 for the same function. Then perhaps use the EF-FX2 focal reducer for stills with Canon FF lenses.
I downloaded an XT-3 H.265 4K 10-bit 50fps clip and did some tests in Premiere Pro 2019 on my late 2013 MBP. After scaling time to 47.96% (50fps*.4796 => 23.98fps), I was able to do basic edits, though it wasn't butter smooth. I'm sure my 4K 10-Core GTX 1080 Windows machine would have no problem, and the 2010 MacPro with GTX 980ti might also work fine. Interestingly when I rendered to 1080p or put the 4K clip into a 1080p sequence I noticed aliasing on thin vertical lines of the car grills. You can download the clip here:
Grab the Original clip to get 10-bit H.265.
Blurring before downsampling helped, however when the blur was strong enough to eliminate the aliasing the whole image was soft. Someone mentioned this issue before and stated that Resolve didn't have this issue (don't recall what camera). I noticed the XT-3 doesn't have an OLPF, so perhaps that's part of the issue.
In any case, the final image after a super quick grade (no LUTs) looked really good, and only with highlights/shadows/curves/saturation/vibrance: no need to mess with color tuning!
EDIT: FCP X on same laptop handles 4K50p H.265 10-bit (slowed down to 23.98) at View/Better Quality with sufficient smoothness for editing, including transitions and color grade.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
As for using the XT-3 as a stills replacement for Canon bodies (and using Canon lenses), I found enough reviews showing the Viltrox EF-FX2 .71x focal reducer (and FX1 (no optics)) appear to work well enough for stills. This is the only example I found for video, using a somewhat clunky 50 1.8 where it generally focuses quickly and correctly and only occasionally hunted:
I currently use the Canon 18-135 Nano USM on the 80D for travel video, so the Fuji 18-135 could work on the XT-3 for the same function. Then perhaps use the EF-FX2 focal reducer for stills with Canon FF lenses.
I downloaded an XT-3 H.265 4K 10-bit 50fps clip and did some tests in Premiere Pro 2019 on my late 2013 MBP. After scaling time to 47.96% (50fps*.4796 => 23.98fps), I was able to do basic edits, though it wasn't butter smooth. I'm sure my 4K 10-Core GTX 1080 Windows machine would have no problem, and the 2010 MacPro with GTX 980ti might also work fine. Interestingly when I rendered to 1080p or put the 4K clip into a 1080p sequence I noticed aliasing on thin vertical lines of the car grills. You can download the clip here:
Blurring before downsampling helped, however when the blur was strong enough to eliminate the aliasing the whole image was soft. Someone mentioned this issue before and stated that Resolve didn't have this issue (don't recall what camera). I noticed the XT-3 doesn't have an OLPF, so perhaps that's part of the issue.
In any case, the final image after a super quick grade (no LUTs) looked really good, and only with highlights/shadows/curves/saturation/vibrance: no need to mess with color tuning!
EDIT: FCP X on same laptop handles 4K50p H.265 10-bit (slowed down to 23.98) at View/Better Quality with sufficient smoothness for editing, including transitions and color grade.
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What do people think?
Just my .02 cents. I think your are balancing things a little too high off the tripod. Which limits it's heads capacities. I also see there are a lot of things that can be scaled down in terms of weight, etc. Not sure why you need a 2nd set of rods from the side, when you can use one longer set below. The Teradek can be placed in front of the battery. The Odyssey only needs a mini Noga arm. Not sure you need the rear handle either. The front one should be sufficient. For the cable management, you can use bongo ties or even good old aluminum twist ties.
Grug
Veteran
That looks really awesome...but I bought it to go in the other direction!
Yeah, I'm sussing out different builds for different purposes: a stripped back one to live on the Ronin-S, full studio builds like this for when I'm working with a crew, autofocus builds for shooting interviews with eye-detect AF etc. etc.
Lots of experimenting still to do!
With the grip on, you can't run the rods beneath the camera. So I'd have to add a baseplate with rod clamps below the cage, and then add the Arri baseplate below that - all of which would probably make the rig another inch taller (which I'm not keen on). It's currently as low profile as you can be with 15mm LWS, which is how I'd like it to stay.
The second set of rods would help to create a larger overall cage around the body/battery plate components - which I think might help make the camera a bit easier to grab hold of, lift up, cradle etc. whilst shooting with it. It's just a quest to try and make little fiddly parts easier to manhandle. It might help, it might not. But it's an experiment worth running I think.
The Manfrotto head for the Odyssey I'll replace with the little 15mm rod clamp that Smallrig make for the 7Q, that'll let me attach it purely with carbon fibre rods.
The Teradek needs to not be block my access to the filter trays on the mattebox, so that'll be rigged (probably off the rods) out the back end.
marvinhello
Well-known member
I would get rid of the grip and do a Dtap direct to camera. Smallrig cage or equivalent with rods below. Teradek in front of battery and behind camera. Monitor on assistant side as you mentioned. EVF as placed on operator side. Single handle in front. Actually I am not convinced you need that Arri dovetail either. If your rig is correctly balanced, a small dovetailed quick release plate for your tripod should give you enough play. For instance on a Sachtler you can buy a 16cm sliding quick release plate. Not sure what's out there for the Miller. You have got a great lens there, and it is not necessarily heavy, so the arri dovetail feels like overkill. Just sayin.
marvinhello
Well-known member
I'd "upgrade" the Odyssey to a Ninja V...
Maybe also replace the follow focus to a Tilta Nucleus Nano
marvinhello
Well-known member
You can't do Dtap direct to camera, it's USB-C on the camera body and only accepts USB-C Power Delivery from certain power banks or wall adapters.
NorBro
Major Contributor
He's talking about dummy batteries/adapters:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1449163-REG/indipro_tools_dtfxt3_d_tap_cable_to_fujifilm.html
https://woodencamera.com/products/d-tap-to-fujifilm-x-h1-x-t2
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That's a beautiful lens!
Yes, those are what I am speaking about. One power source, less weight on camera, less battery changes.
puredrifting
Major Contributor
Do you remove the battery door when using this or take it off?
NorBro
Major Contributor
You can, but it’s easier to use an offset plate to clear a base.
I like this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07312L3J3?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_pd_title
I like this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07312L3J3?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_pd_title
LoganMackay
Well-known member
There’s also a little rubber door/gasket that you can use to route the cord out and not remove the door.
fboonzaier
Well-known member
Alrighty, first 'studio' build complete!
Weight's coming in at 9.7kg/21lbs with the Zeiss 28-80mm CZ.2 up front, which feels quite nice - compared to around 14kg/30lbs for the same gack on my Sony F3, or 20kg/44lbs(!) on my Alexa.
There's perhaps a couple of hundred grams to be saved by moving to carbon fibre rods everywhere, and a more lightweight connection to hold the Odyssey7Q on there.
With the single 150W/hr v-mount powering everything, we're looking at 6hrs(!) of continuous runtime. Which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
The camera is powered through the DC port on the grip, via a Wooden Camera Canon C100 DTAP cable (which includes a 9v transformer, making it compatible with the Fuji).
The battery plates I've sourced are the Wooden Camera Pro models, which feature 3 built-in DTAP ports. That's great, because it allows me to power everything through the plate, and the single DTAP on the battery itself, without the need for any splitters.
Certainly an extra 500g could easily be saved by moving to a smaller battery. But I have a case full of these Anton Bauers for the Arri, so I don't think I'll be adding more to the fleet anytime soon.
And a lighter mattebox than the Arri MMB-2 would shave some weight too. But I'm wary of using anything less solid, since it feels like having the rod-mounted MMB-2 supporting the front of the lens, is the only thing preventing it from ripping the lens mount out of the camera!
Feeding the HDMI signal to the Odyssey allows me to run SDI to the Teradek (which is working fine) and the Gratical EVF.
I'm regretting having sold off my Odyssey7Q+ though, because the 7Q doesn't support 4k HDMI. Which means either adding a 4k HDMI-to-SDI converter to all of the other gack (if I want 4k 4:2:2 via the 7Q), or buying another recorder :/ though for the time being, having 10-bit 1080p 4:2:2 external, and 10-bit 4k 4:2:0 internal makes me feel reasonably well covered for recording.
My thoroughly mediocre cable management gives me pause. But a good AC will get that sorted out nicely I reckon.
On the whole, I'm pretty happy with the build. I have some more parts on the way to refine it a little further. And I might add rods on the assistant's side of the camera (simply to make the camera a little easier to grab).
What do people think?
I like your build out....in the environment you intended it for the access to everything seems perfect....especially operating in a darkened studio....What cage did you get for the XT3, and does it include the battery grip? Personally that's what I would change and run all power off the brick including the camera using a dummy to DTap....I did this with my GH5 and the only change for a long day is one brick and forget about the power....never considered using side rails, but it seems like a great sollution!
Grug
Veteran
It's the Smallrig cage for the X-T3 + Grip. Which I think is mostly pretty good. But I'm wary that the tiny screw that secures the top of the camera to the cage (through the righthand side strap loop) is pretty insubstantial - so I'm a little worried that it'll get stripped or become useless once the camera is pulled in and out of the cage a few times.
The side-mounted rails are handy, they keep the height of the camera as low as possible for a 15mm LWS rig. However they do block access to the grip battery tray. On the plus side though, they add a bunch of protection to the HDMI port (which I think, ultimately, is more important).
The camera is powered from the v-mount. As I mentioned in the previous post, the grip provides a 9v DC in port. So I have a DTAP cable (with a 9v stepdown transformer) feeding into there to power the camera.
marvinhello
Well-known member
I have the same cage (only 50EUR with preorder discount), the hex screw that goes through the strap loop is already stripped with about 4 removals, Smallrig sent a few spare ones though.
The biggest design flaw is the top left of the cage which makes changing the dilas between stills/video extremely cumbersome.
fboonzaier
Well-known member
That's actually a more elegant sollution than my Indipro dummy battery to Dtap (I don't like the cable) and the extra height on the grip helps with getting big lenses up high enough to get a FF in underneath the lens....I like SmallRig's stuff but opted for a LockCircle cage with my GH5 as my build out is heavy and I felt after some discussion with a forum member that a top handle on the SmallRig cage may not have been a secure package to lift off and install the camera with my VCT14 plate on the tripod. No doubt other accessory makers will come up with more cage designs for the XT3
Check out the Viltrox EF-FX2, has video AF-C and is also a decent quality .71x focal reducer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp6JS-Q9nv4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m9LnZXmqXA
http://www.viltrox.com/en/index.php?m=index&a=show&cid=145&id=227
A different Viltrox focal reducer vs. Metabones (Viltrox looks better): https://youtu.be/qKjgh-8tAQA?t=305
Ships from Shenzhen China; have seen USA suppliers on eBay.
Decent FF and AF-C with excellent 10-bit color- will still be an attractive option once the ~$3k A7S III drops.
puredrifting
Major Contributor
Did a big shoot today shooting on an upcoming documentary, big musical performance with the XT-3 and the Crane 2. Editor for the film wanted me to shoot F-Log so I did. Exposure was challenging, hopefully I exposed it right. Used the Fuji lenses though, not the Fringer with the Canon lenses, I need to devote some time to seeing if the Fringer will behave or if I will exchange it or return it. I have until the 31st to decide.