Mounting Zacuto Gratical Eye on FX6

drboffa

drboffa

Well-known member
Those of you using a Zacuto Gratical Eye (or similar) on your FX6, how are you mounting it?

I've been mounting it via the stock LCD arm (along with the stock LCD). This arrangement is fine, if not perfect. (But maybe there is no perfect solution.)

Is anyone using the Zacuto top plate, for example?

I think my ideal setup would have the stock LCD and the Zacuto mounted independently, so I could swap the latter in/out easily as needed. But maybe that's asking a bit much...
 
I also have mine mounted to the same arm as the LCD, as seen here. https://community.sonycine.com/t5/ci...-2022/td-p/364
The extra weight causes the arm to sag a little bit, which bothers my sense of order, but it works okay and I can keep it loose enough that I can reposition anytime I want and it will still hold its place. I only use the LCD for touch-tracking so I could mount it anywhere on the camera that my left hand can easily reach. If someone has a better idea, I'm all ears.
 
I mount it with the arm that they make for the FX6. FX6 Handle Mount & Axis Micro EVF Mount. This screws into the same thing as the stock lcd. I’ve also rigged a little arm that allows the stock lcd to be mounted just beneath the gratical eye. This allows me to touch focus on the fly, but still keep my eye in the Evf. I’ve o it used that config for a red carpet event but it worked great. I’d like to figure out a more elegant way to do it though.
 
Thanks, Doug and Newsguy.

Doug Jensen Do you have a better angle of the setup? It looks similar to what I have going now but I'm not certain.

Newsguy If you have a photo I'd also be curious to see it.

I've just ordered a rod clamp to try a different arrangement than my current one—once it arrives we'll see if it works out as intended.
 
Sorry, Dave. I almost missed your post. Here are some more photos.

ZacutoEVF1A.jpg
ZacutoEVF1B.jpg ZacutoEVF1C.jpg
 

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Yeah, that looks correct. I couldn't have told you what it was because I have a bin full of old hardware to draw from, but I think you guessed right.
 
I have a lot of thoughts on this, as I've tried basically all of the various EVF (and OVF) solutions over the years, and none were quite perfect. I don't actually use the Gratical or Kameleon with my FX6 anymore (because the issues with monitoring camera data with that camera were just doing my head in), but I did develop a basic solution that I now apply to all of my EVFs (regardless of the camera) and that includes my current setup on the FX6, using the Zacuto Z-Finder in place of a dedicated EVF.

The key was always versatility of positioning. If the camera's on a tripod or you're riding on a dolly - you don't want the EVF up near the lens, that's a nightmare. You want to be able to extend the viewfinder out to the back of the camera body (and often fairly high up), so that you can operate comfortably without any unnecessary contortions.

Likewise, when you're squeezed into tight corners, or have an actor who's eye-line needs to be really tight-on to the lens, you don't necessarily want to be behind the camera, but rather to one side (or the other) so that you're out of the way or are physically in a position where you can operate comfortably.

And again, sometimes the camera is up really high, and you don't want to be way up on a step ladder or standing on a chair just to see the EVF, so having the range to hang down quite low below the camera is important as well.

So now we have a pretty big list of orientations we need to cover:

- conventional shoulder-mounted position (close to the lens)
- tripod operating position (out the back of the camera body)
- up high
- down low
- sideways orientation (to both the operator and assistant's sides)

The classic Arri-style approach to EVF mounting (and sadly, most manufacturers have followed them), is to have an EVF bracket that defaults to the shoulder-mounted position, and then you add in an extension bracket when you need more variety. I've always hated this, because I'm changing the EVFs orientation on almost every shot, and it means you're constantly attaching/detaching/attaching/detaching the extension bracket.

But there's actually a tidy solution for this. I’ve solved the problem by mounting the primary bracket at the REAR of the camera. This allows you to keep the extension bracket on almost permanently, and you can just push it forwards (to achieve your conventional shoulder-mount positioning) and then simply pull it back (for an upright or rear-angled position). This gives you so much more flexibility, that it’s a real joy.

But that doesn’t cover everything, we have vertical rotation and adjustable length extension covered, but now we need to add lateral rotation too (so that we can use the EVF when positioned perpendicular (or any other angle) to the camera body.

The solution for this? We need a way to rotate the the base mounting bracket for the EVF. Now I’ve tried (and depending on the situation, sometimes swap between) various ways of handling this.

Because the Arri MVF-1 (the base mounting bracket, and the foundation of the EVF rigging system I use) uses a 19mm rod to attach to the camera, you can either (simply) add a pair of 19mm rod clamps to the back of the camera (one to hold the EVF facing forwards), and the other perpendicular (for when you need to run it sideways).

That’s the simplest arrangement, and works fine for most things, but it doesn’t give you the ability to fine tune the angle at all.

You could possibly figure something out with rosettes (and a series of adapting parts to attach them all), but I could never find a tidy-enough solution for that.

Instead, I use a vertically mounted 15mm spud, and then a 90 degree 15mm-to-19mm rod-clamp to attach to the Arri MVF-1’s 19mm rod. The end result is a little bulkier than I’d like, but it does give you the most versatile EVF mounting solution I’ve ever come across - it allows you to put the EVF virtually anywhere (cable lengths permitting).


Here’s the 15mm spud based rotating setup

oDcHNJ8.jpg





A nice tall position, for operating while standing
bEKhq0y.jpg





Here’s a sideways mounting
bjYEekF.jpg


A “normal” position

9DjZQK4.jpg



Another angle of the rotating bracketry

gIqKGnA.jpg



6qCq2EN.jpg


The EVF angled 45 degrees off-centre for ease of operating

r5oX0By.jpg
 
Love the tennis balls on the various feet, so smart, and the one in the air likely blocking anyone from injury.

Is that a common thing in pro production or a local crew idea?
 
I don't know how common the tennis balls are, but we use them too on delicate surfaces. One side benefit is that it makes the legs of the stands more visible in the dark. I am the always the first person to trip over a stand. Even when I am the one who just put it there 10 seconds ago!
 
tennis balls are standard (uk)

And if its a fancy location the producer might say 'everything needs tennis balls'

relying on a tennis ball at eye height on the extending bit of an arm (5/8rod) I would not consider to be good practice

Normally any arm overrun can be organised to be above head height

S
 
Thanks for the detailed write up and photos, Grug ! I love the outside-the-box thinking on your setup.

I'm testing out a slightly different setup to the one I was previously using—this time with the Gratical Eye moved to the rear. I don't do a lot of shoulder shooting, and when I do I generally need to build up the camera anyway with the rig, v-mount, etc., so having to also adjust the EVF in that scenario isn't too much of an issue.

My big issue with this setup (rod clamp to rail) is that I can only rotate the Gratical—no height adjustment.

IMG_2961 Large.jpeg
IMG_2962 Large.jpeg
 
morgan_moore said:
tennis balls are standard (uk)

And if its a fancy location the producer might say 'everything needs tennis balls'

relying on a tennis ball at eye height on the extending bit of an arm (5/8rod) I would not consider to be good practice

Normally any arm overrun can be organised to be above head height

S
Click to expand...

That makes sense, but they couldn't in that picture as the umbrella was already touching the ceiling.
 
drboffa said:
I'm testing out a slightly different setup to the one I was previously using—this time with the Gratical Eye moved to the rear.
Click to expand...

The main reason viewfinders are mounted towards the front of most cameras has more to do with getting your left hand on the lens, rather than just being ready for shoulder-mount.

Having the EVF at the rear makes it very awkward to do your own focusing.
 
Doug Jensen said:
The main reason viewfinders are mounted towards the front of most cameras has more to do with getting your left hand on the lens, rather than just being ready for shoulder-mount.

Having the EVF at the rear makes it very awkward to do your own focusing.
Click to expand...

That may be the case, although I haven't tested this enough to see if I can make it work with my shooting.

Incidentally, one of the main reasons I went with the Gratical was to take better advantage of the touch-tracking AF—having to flip up the FX9 loupe to touch for focus and then flip it down to follow a subject in sunlight was causing missed shots and just slowing things down generally. The ability to get better manual focus (the screen is *really* that much better, as you know) is just an added bonus.
 
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