New SGBlade rig
- Thread starter hoarp001
- Start date
astigmatic
Well-known member
cool, so how are you liking the Zeiss versus the FD lenses? how did the FD's perfrom in comparison to..from what you remember?
hoarp001
Veteran
Oh one other thing, this was a very tight corridor, and no space for me to stand at the side and focus. I did the focus remotly using the HF, and that guy is so sharp because the HF is nice and accurate ;-) (shameless plug there)
I pulled focus from the landing, lying on the floor with a pillow watching the action from above.
I pulled focus from the landing, lying on the floor with a pillow watching the action from above.
looks really nice.
this wasn't CC right?
Will I be able to upgrade my non-flip tube, too? I received it two weeks ago and am very happy with it - well engineered and works great with my HMC150, much better than I expected - and now you're telling me this terrific adapter can be even better... Did you come up with this new achromat to address the EX-related issues? Will my HMC-based combo benefit from it too?
By the way - please make the screws (and holes) on your tripod clamp longer! I broke the threads on first attempt to lock it on my rods - and I didn't put too much force on the thumbscrews... I was so surprised that I got my slide calliper to check my rods were 15mm in diameter (yes, they are...)
scenedirector
Well-known member
So customers that order the SGBlade from now on, will receive the new achromat standard, with no price increase?
Wayne Kinney
DVXUser Sponsor
The upgrade is for the FLIPmodule only, the Non Flip Tube does not have the as much CA as the current FLIP module.
Yes, that is correct.
scenedirector
Well-known member
You the man, Wayne!
good to know, the video sure did look great.
I always didn't like the look from the EX1 but for some reason I like this one a lot:love4:
I don't think it's because of the new optics or the zeiss lens but something sure did looks different. (any guesses?)
I'm just guessing the cloudy days in the UK just created that soft light, which makes it look pleasing:happy:
Wayne Kinney
DVXUser Sponsor
We are looking at releasing the upgrade by the end of May
hoarp001
Veteran
As with any 35mm adapter, its very front heavy. The best thing you can do is try and get some weight at the back, dont use a heavy mattebox, and stick some gym weights or somethign heavy at the back so the weight isnt on your arms. Some good hand grips, like the zacuto ones will help a lot, but failing that, if you have a redrock mattebox, the swing away support arm turned upside down is a very quick and easy way to make a very easy support (you just grab onto the swing away arm).
You can make a pad thing to go under the camera, which will help aswell.
Thanks a lot,
Pete.
You can make a pad thing to go under the camera, which will help aswell.
Thanks a lot,
Pete.
sure why not. did you already have planned on doing this or is it a per request kind of thing. i would be interested depending on the price, because i could never understand why these people charge so much for the rods and stuff. its just metal, aluminum, carbon fiber, or whatever its made out of piping. and i dont really care what they say about how this can withstand this amount of weight and that one cant and is higher grade steel, i have never seen something that has the equal weight of our camera's with all add ons bend or break steel pipes.
hoarp001
Veteran
The reason custom machined stuff can be expensive is all about the time and effort it takes the machine shop to make it.
Take a zacuto Z riser or similar for example. Thats a complicated part, chamfers and fillets all over it. Requires four or five axis machining. Not many of those about, so there is a premium on that to begin with. Someone had to design the part, so they have to pay them. At the machine shop, someone has to program that into the machine. They cant just take the 3D file and press GO and cut one out, they have to go through and program the part in, tell the machine what to cut first, all the tool paths and tool changes. This could take afew days for a Z riser or similar complicated part.
Next, they have to make the bits. Often, they will have to go through the machines tool turrets and change the tools out for the ones that are needed for that part that is being cut. If the machine usualy cuts steel or titanium etc, then they could have to change all the cutters for ones mroe suited to whatever material is being cut.
Then they have to clamp the material down, which sounds simple but can take a while depending on what the machine was doing before. They then have to cut one side of the part, and then (this is the difficult bit) flip it over and machine the other side, alligning it so the machine cuts line up. This can literaly take hours to probe on one part. In higher runs, they might make a jig to hold the part, which is a complicated and large machine, and reprisents a significant up front investment.
Some parts with very tight radius's or very small channels might have to be EDM sparked or wire cut, which is an extremly slow pricess. Cutting out something the size of a Z riser can literaly take hours, and thats just to cut one part. Spark eroding requires custom electrods that wear away and expire after a certain number of cycles.
After all that, they have to cut it out of the main material, bead blast it, anodize it, open the threads up, assemble it, package it etc.
They are making low runs of these things, probably 50 at a time, and your a more or less paying someone to sit there and flip your parts over 50 times.
You look at it and see it as a bit of aluminium, but if you go through the process that it took to make it, you would see how complicated it really is, and how many people and how many hours have to be paid for in the process, and this is why seemingly simple parts can cost so much to produce, and why zacuto prices are so high. In actuality, if you reverse engineered a zacuto product, and took it to a local machine shop, the price they would quote you would probably have you in a body bag. I would estimate a machine shop would charge about £1200 to produce one Z riser as a one off.
Really, the zacuto stuff is NOT overpriced.
Take a zacuto Z riser or similar for example. Thats a complicated part, chamfers and fillets all over it. Requires four or five axis machining. Not many of those about, so there is a premium on that to begin with. Someone had to design the part, so they have to pay them. At the machine shop, someone has to program that into the machine. They cant just take the 3D file and press GO and cut one out, they have to go through and program the part in, tell the machine what to cut first, all the tool paths and tool changes. This could take afew days for a Z riser or similar complicated part.
Next, they have to make the bits. Often, they will have to go through the machines tool turrets and change the tools out for the ones that are needed for that part that is being cut. If the machine usualy cuts steel or titanium etc, then they could have to change all the cutters for ones mroe suited to whatever material is being cut.
Then they have to clamp the material down, which sounds simple but can take a while depending on what the machine was doing before. They then have to cut one side of the part, and then (this is the difficult bit) flip it over and machine the other side, alligning it so the machine cuts line up. This can literaly take hours to probe on one part. In higher runs, they might make a jig to hold the part, which is a complicated and large machine, and reprisents a significant up front investment.
Some parts with very tight radius's or very small channels might have to be EDM sparked or wire cut, which is an extremly slow pricess. Cutting out something the size of a Z riser can literaly take hours, and thats just to cut one part. Spark eroding requires custom electrods that wear away and expire after a certain number of cycles.
After all that, they have to cut it out of the main material, bead blast it, anodize it, open the threads up, assemble it, package it etc.
They are making low runs of these things, probably 50 at a time, and your a more or less paying someone to sit there and flip your parts over 50 times.
You look at it and see it as a bit of aluminium, but if you go through the process that it took to make it, you would see how complicated it really is, and how many people and how many hours have to be paid for in the process, and this is why seemingly simple parts can cost so much to produce, and why zacuto prices are so high. In actuality, if you reverse engineered a zacuto product, and took it to a local machine shop, the price they would quote you would probably have you in a body bag. I would estimate a machine shop would charge about £1200 to produce one Z riser as a one off.
Really, the zacuto stuff is NOT overpriced.