F5: Minor tip for Micron BP owners

[Nate Weaver]

I had the baseplate apart the other day and realized I could assemble it with one less tie-down acre going into the bottom of the camera, and move the baseplate and shoulder pad further underneath the cameras center of gravity for balance in handheld

Originally, there were two countersunk phillips fasteners going through the shim plate into the body, with an additional 2 going through both the rod baseplate and the shim plate into the body.

You can move the whole assembly forward towards the lens mount, but you lose one of the 4. There's still 3, there's no indication that 3 is not enough to do the job

It was already good handheld, and now it's even better, almost balancing on my shoulder with no hands with the short zoom.

I'm not sure I can imagine a better situation for handheld work, with the Solid Camera stuff up top and the Micron on the bottom. It's incredibly good.

 

[Grug]

Clean and simple, looks good Nate.

 

[Mitch Gross]

I've suggested this setup to a few clients. Once nice additional feature is that the shim plate now extends under the filter wheel. This helps you locate the wheel by feel while operating and also provides some protection against accidentally rotating it, which is very easy to do.

 

[Nate Weaver]

By the way, I just finally got all the parts needed to go full size 15mm studio, figured I'd post the pics in case anybody is curious how Micron makes the transition to studio-sized lenses.

On bottom, attaching directly to the 1030B head with NO quick release is the EL-DTA-1030-12 part, a 12" Arri dovetail.

Then, on top of that is EL-BPR-15, an Arri 15mm studio baseplate. 15 studio spacing is the flavor we use in Los Angeles. anywhere else you'd probably buy the 19mm version, EL-BPR-19. Take note, both baseplates are marked down from $900 to $270. I have no idea why, I figured it was a closeout but they just made another batch and I had to wait for it. So get one while the gettin's good. NOBODY sells Arri baseplates this cheap. Caveat, spacing is only for Red or Element Technica connections.

On top of that is a mini dovetail adapter to go to the Micron baseplate, EL-MIC-ABPR-A. That's the part with the red anodized safety catch. Above that is the Micron base, of course.

This may seem like a lot, but the upside is you can go from full studio to handheld without tools, faster than ever before. It's pretty slick.