FS7: My FS7 rig as of Summer 2016

Ben Scott

Ben Scott

Veteran
I had a quite a long running thread when the camera was launched about rigs and preferences and add-ons and mods and whatnot and through a lot of trial and error I've stumbled across a setup that works really well for me, offers the fastest and most versatile options for different sorts of jobs, and packs down quickly and compactly and only has what you need on the camera at any time. I thought I would share.

Stupid Sony rod with huge mic mount gone and replace with a compact rod with a thread on it in case I need it. Hot shoe for a shotgun mic mount if/when needed.

Along with a top handle on a small slide-off NATO rail means it is very quick to break it down until it fits in a Peli 1510 for flying if needed. I decided I didn't really need the MI shoe so I have 3 cold shoe points to put kit or wire mic receivers or monitor ballheads or similar, not including the one at the front for a shotgun.

Just about everything on the top of the camera is from Smallrig from the top plat to the rods and handle and nato rail.

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Little QR plate screwed for use with a magic arm for monitor or similar
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Still the same Wooden Camera baseplate with Carbon rods. I still have the same Shoulder Pad and handles I have used for ages as shown here in the old configuration

Sony FS7 - Lightweight 'run and gun' setup by Ben Scott, on Flickr
 
Is that speedbooster between or just an adapter? If speedbooster I'm wondering how much of that legendary Otus 55 quality is lost because of it.
 
alohype said:
Is that speedbooster between or just an adapter? If speedbooster I'm wondering how much of that legendary Otus 55 quality is lost because of it.
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Nope not a speedbooster.

In a perfect world I'd like as little as possible between a lens and the sensor.

I have a dumb mount Camdiox one for my old Zeiss zooms.
 
Clermond said:
What's that shoulder pad? Looks very nice and versatile!
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Zacuto QR Shoulder Pad with 15mm rails attachment. You cant see from the pic but it's great for sliding forward and back along rails to help with weight distribution. I usually have it more forward than that pic. Goes on and off in like 2secs so v fast to go from tripod to handheld. Has worked flawlessly for over a year and is comfortable and relatively cheap.
 
I started with the VCT-14 and the chrosziel light weight support.

As it turned out that I do more and more shots from the Ronin I put down the VCT-14 and the chrosziel and
went for the CineMilled Dovetail Pro and the Quick Plate Universal Mount on the Sachtler side load plate.
With the smallrig top plate it takes 3mins to go from sticks to Ronin and back: remove the top handle,
screw the 502 on the Ronin handle bar. Add/remove rods with follow focus, matte box etc. done.

As I am 6'4 tall I never shoot from shoulder but I think I will get a sholder pad just in case
but the smallrig will do the trick for sure. Next step will be another 3 mins to the shoulder with
the pad and the shape extension

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Nice Clermond. I'm 6ft 4" as well but sometimes it can't be avoided!

I see we're not a million miles apart in where have ended up although for this camera I've always though the VCT14 was huge overkill. Weighs more than the camera!
 
Had the camera for a year and havent built a rig for it yet. Havent needed it so far i guess. The camera goes great on the shoulders for those few times one needs it. Im 183 in non-retarded cm units myself and even at that height i prefer not going shoulder.

I will be shooting a 10 day documentary in the next three weeks and im going for Easyrig handheld with a simple Shape handle directly to the side of the camera. The other hand will be on the focusring. The camera is pretty much original, and thats what i love about the FS7. It doesnt really need a rig. But you can if you want to :-)

My subjects are short girls 24-29 who works at a mountain farm for weeks at a time each summer. They cook food, and milk cows, and take summer baths. And i will live among them to document the whole thing.
 
I was thinking about the EasyRig too but after friend recommended the Ready Rig I went for a demo and I bought it immediately. The big advantage is the small footprint. It does not build bigger than the operator (I am 6'8/2m) and you can walk easily through doors or even get into cars. I used it for a whole afternoon in the field. For static shots as tripod replacement, for walking & running and on the co-driver seat of a field cart.

Service from Alessandro Di Leo was great including a skype training session. (I am no affiliate or not involved, I just like the product)

Unfortunately I can't show the footage as it's a product which launches in 2017

FS7 with 16-70z, Ronin with thumb controller, SHD502

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Chrosziel VCT shoulder plate

Wooden Camera VF bracket

SmallRig top plate

Kino Grip wooden grip / sphere

lens is a Red 50-150mm

My sound guy would fuss at me if he saw my shotgun all cattywampuss like that.

Riding on top is a Sennheiser G-whatever series wireless that I use when clients are too cheap to hire a Sound Op.
 
Martin that sounds like a great gig. Looking forward to seeing it.

Yes the camera is light but I have found without some extra support it is horrible to have on the shoulder for any length of time.

Clermond, will check out that ready rig.

JP, how do you get on with the Kino Grips? Isn't it annoying having your arms so elevated the whole time? Also which PL mount have you gone for?
 
Clermond, how does that work with barebones FS7 hanging from it? Do you get dampened Easyrig handheld feel?

Price looks good, might get that in addition to my Easyrig Mini Strong.
 
Martin.G said:
Clermond, how does that work with barebones FS7 hanging from it? Do you get dampened Easyrig handheld feel?

Price looks good, might get that in addition to my Easyrig Mini Strong.
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I always used it with the Ronin up to now - so no personal experience.
Best will be to ask Alessandro Di Leo from Ready Rig. CineMilled came up recently
with a handheld mount for the ReadyRig GS but I have no experience with it either.
 
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hand jobs

hand jobs

Ben Scott said:
Martin that sounds like a great gig. Looking forward to seeing it.

Yes the camera is light but I have found without some extra support it is horrible to have on the shoulder for any length of time.

Clermond, will check out that ready rig.

JP, how do you get on with the Kino Grips? Isn't it annoying having your arms so elevated the whole time? Also which PL mount have you gone for?
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The PL mount in the photo is the HotRod Camera PL mount. But I found that my copy wiggles. It doesn't fit tightly and the design of the Fs7 precludes the use of Hot Rod's own PL support. I switched to the Metabones PL adapter which fits tightly. No PL mount support needed to keep the Metabones fitting snugly. ( an instance where the super-expensive product was inferior to the far less expensive product. ) Better for me not to use PL support as it slows down swaps between non-PL and PL glass.

I very much like the grips. I came up on ENG beta cams, so having my arms elevated is natural to me. My left hand is on the lens- fingers on zoom / iris, kino sphere as a base...my right hand on the kino grip. The Kino grip is about where the servo would be for a broadcast zoom. So my hand positioning is the same as it was on ENG cameras. Many feature film cam ops grip the sides of the matte box when shooting handheld. Their arms are "elevated".

Seems awkward to me to have one hand higher than the other. Isn't that the position grips force you into? Unless you have an AC riding focus for you, your left hand is at lens height in order to ride focus, is it not? Moving from left hand grip to focus ring upsets the shot, it would seem. Something about both of my hands at the same height as the lens that I like. Everything- two hands and lens - is on the same horizontal plane.

Absence of grips extending from the bottom of the camera makes it more nimble for me. The shoulder plate is the lowest point of the rig. Nothing extending below that point to preclude any shot / necessitate re-positioning. I prefer being able to pull the camera out of the case and never have to re-position anything except for the viewing angle / tilt of the VF. In Run & Gun / docu shooting, re-positioning=missed shots. Hand(s) elevated is unavoidable if one uses a servo lens such as the Cabrio, Canon Cine, or Zeiss CZ servo since that is where the servo grip is located by design. Arms elevated is, I would argue, the more common and more traditional position. To each their own, but I note that elevated arm position is what Santa uses:

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Haha Oh yep I getcha and they are a throwback to the Aaton design if I recall correctly so yes have a long proud history.

But ever since I got a Scarlet and was asked to do a week of non stop handheld shooting for a documentary it has seemed easier to have arms so I could control a lower centre of gravity with either one, although if I'm using a follow focus I do tend to have the right arm a bit higher to give me more support.

I've been intrigued by the Kino grips for a while. Must give them a go at some point.
 
I'm impressed with anyone who can keep their hands up in such an elevated position! My biceps cramp out in just 30-40 minutes in that sort of position. I've had to go and spend a small fortune on a Wooden Camera shoulder rig in order to put my arms in a sustainable position just below my chest.
 
Grug said:
I'm impressed with anyone who can keep their hands up in such an elevated position! My biceps cramp out in just 30-40 minutes in that sort of position. I've had to go and spend a small fortune on a Wooden Camera shoulder rig in order to put my arms in a sustainable position just below my chest.
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How are you riding focus with your arms positioned below your chest and, I assume, your left hand on some sort of grip instead of on the lens?

What happens when, in shot, you switch your left hand from a grip to the lens? Seems it would cause your right hand / arm to have to torque to the right in order to prevent the camera from tilting to the left and losing horizontal plane.

Regarding camera ergonomics, check out the C3-Franken-hundred that I had to operate for a reality show:

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It was such a joy to be back on my Fs7 after that shoot. Every time I operate a C300 it is obvious to me that the camera was designed by a company with a heritage in still cameras, not video cameras. My Sound Op jokes of the C300 "Only a stills guy would design a camera where the sound inputs are a on a module that can be lost or accidentally left in the shop". And yes, I've been on a shoot where a C300 owner has done just that.
 
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