Rigging the O7Q

Ericjurg said:
I like it. It's shaped to fit the shoulder with a very comfortable gel pad. Camera position is quite adjustable forward/back. The rubber tips at the ends of the shoulder pad are nice for setting your camera down. The grip/extender acts as a third leg, keeping the camera upright, but leaning to the side; actually a nice angle for viewing playbacks.
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Sounds good, the only cons from what i seen is the size of it compare to my tilta shoulder pad which no need to remove and straight put into the beg. But guess this one will much more comfortable for longer shooting. Thanks
 
It has a quick release plate and a side lever that has two positions: half released allows camera to slide on plate without slipping off. Full release allows shoulder mount to be removed for quick disassembly.
 
Ericjurg said:
It has a quick release plate and a side lever that has two positions: half released allows camera to slide on plate without slipping off. Full release allows shoulder mount to be removed for quick disassembly.
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Yea knew that, just dont really have space in my beg for putting the pad into it
 
Mitch Gross said:
Seriously guys, take a look at the Vocas. It adds maybe an inch to the bottom of the camera and is quite comfortable.
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Looks nice, but...

For me it's pretty much the same as the movcam rig i already have (which seems the best of that bunch). Same position for the shoulder pad (not ideal, if you have a monitor out front) and that's not adjustable front and back either (it looks fixed on the vocas?). I've rods front and back too but i'm running a vlock off the back (i don't want to add battery weight to the O7Q up front).

When you mentioned you could have the O7Q upfront and you had the camera on your shoulder your eyesight must be a lot better than mine because i can't focus that close! So the O7Q is on an arm out front realistically. One day i'd like a very cool OLED viewfinder from convergent design...

I used to use a tilta system with the VCT plates but found that cumbersome and not very adjustable, the beauty of the dovetail is when moving stuff around on sliders, dollys, jibs - the ability to balance very quickly is great and you can adjust both the dovetail on the head and the camera on the dovetail to get the balance right whereas the VCT plates can only be adjusted on the head and that led to some positions i felt were quite insecure.

Also i've not found a shoulder pad that i felt was comfortable for any length of time, usually end up gaffering foam and whatnot.

My search continues but i think the biggest problem with most rigs is that we're monitoring off a big screen rather than a good EVF, i keep looking for EVFs but not really seen anything perfect. Now i'm used to all the info that the O7Q offers and can't do without that. I'm under the impression that running SDI into the O7Q and then HDMI out to an EVF adds quite a bit of latency to make monitoring more awkward. I'd seen some conversations about that but not tested it myself, so i can't say for sure

cheers
Paul
 
Pgale said:
Is anyone a fan of wooden grips? I've never seen the attraction - they just look wrong and out of place to me! ;)
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Wooden handle grips are classic. Film cameras used them for years and still do. Wood is a fantastic material, comfortable to handle unlike plastic or foam even, it can easily be customized to your hand and will age beautifully with just a light oil finish.

I have made hundred of wooden handles and I may start making them again. I am working on new designs for any camera, very adjustable aimed at the A7, G4 size cams, but also usable for larger cameras. I will use wood where it makes sense.

I get a lot of requests for custom wooden handles and I make them as orders come in. Wood is a wonderful organic material, the perfect carbon fibre really.
 
Interesting. I've not tried one.

How do you mould to a particular hand? Do you use a modelling clay / plasticine etc to get the size of the grip or is it more generic than that?

I have seen some handles being sold for very large sums.
 
Quick question, can the O7Q operate with the FS700 screen down? I've seen several photos with them both up and running at the same time. If I were to use a shoulder rig for the FS700, I'd prefer to have the smaller screen down* for a more sleek, compact look.

Thanks for helping out!
 
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St3viE B! said:
Quick question, can the O7Q operate with the FS700 screen down? I've seen several photos with them both up and running at the same time. If I were to use a shoulder rig for the FS700, I'd prefer to have the smaller screen for a more sleek, compact look.

Thanks for helping out!
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yes, the 700 screen position makes no difference at all to the SDI output / input to the O7Q.
 
Pgale said:
Interesting. I've not tried one.

How do you mould to a particular hand? Do you use a modelling clay / plasticine etc to get the size of the grip or is it more generic than that?

I have seen some handles being sold for very large sums.
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Here is a photo of my AF100 handles, they were my production handles, I still have some in stock and sell one once in a while.

af100 wooden handles-10.jpg

The switch is specific to the Pany, so it does not work with other cams.

I basically made small, med and large versions, each is hand carved. These are $325.00 with the rosettes and body mount. But I encourage users to sand carve or whatever method you like to customize to your hand. Most users just use them as they come. I made a few custom fitted right here in my shop for visiting shooters.

The AF100 is not a very popular cam any more, you may know why, I won't go into it here. I used mine for over a year and got great footage from it. These days there are better solutions so I have moved on.

I make parts for the cameras I use, and a few others I know are good, or by special request. The 700 handle is really pretty good and has a lot of functions, so I never made a replacement for it myself and I only had a couple requests, so I saw no market for the wooden handles for the 700.

Now the new crop of small cams will definitely need handles, so I will be making them again.
 
I like the Ergocine and there are a number of wooden grips on the market. I've not tried Olof's but they look nice.

Wood grips are great. I used to shoot with my Aaton for endless hours in great comfort. They absorb the sweat from one's hand and wear ever more comfortably over time.
 
Camtree, Scamtree, ProAim, ProLame, Came, Cinecity, SinCity, (insert your shell company name here) etc, they all appear to be the same company based in the exact same location in India. I bought one of their matte boxes based upon their ad which they confirmed was compatible with my camera at the time.

When their junk arrived, the product was horrible. To hide all the blemishes on the 15mm aluminum rods, they heavily sandblast them to the point it is quite frosted. This makes it harder to slide and for mounts to slide on it. Plus the rail blocks were not coaxial, so when you try to slide a mount, as it travels, it ends up binding.

The swing away system relies upon a hard steel pin indexing down into a soft aluminum receiver hole. Yeah, like that will last. Not only was the hole too large, the tolerances were sloppier than a pig in a mudpen, allowing huge amounts of play. Most of the anodized aluminum parts had cosmetic dings which means sloppy parts handling during manufacture. The documentation was almost non-existent with photcopier prints.

Best of all, when one tried to slide the matte box on the rails to the fixed camera lens, one had to flex down on the rails to get the stages under the mic. When one rotates the stages, it gouges the fixed mic. So in other words, what they advertise as compatible with a specific camera, it doesn't work at all.

I emailed them and they asked for photos, which tells me they must not have even bothered to rig test it before they engaged in fraudulent advertising and misrepresentation as an inducement to sell their junk as compatible. So I had to have the matte box shipped back from a foreign country to take pics. One they saw the pics, they said once i show proof of return shipment, they will refund half via Paypal, and upon receipt, pay back the balance plus shipping.

I sent them the return shipment receipt, then they started to ignore me. Finally they said they had no money in their Paypal account! I have the email to prove it. What kind of company claims such things?!After more excuses than the IRS over losing emails, they sent back only half, no shipping reimbursement and said that was all they were willing to do. Scammed me out of over $500 USD.

I ended up getting a Chrosziel. Night and day difference on quality, and if I bend a tiny obscure threaded rod or weird mounting plate, each specific part I have been able to get instantly from Century Optics, their North American distributor who is always at NAB and accountable with great service, documentation and support.

ProAim and (insert your India based shell company names here) companies are fraudulent, they are dishonest scammers who copy others designs, and their products are total junk.

You've been warned.

Other than that, I don't have much of an opinion about them or their products either way, lol.
 
Hey Mitch, how about those Dodgers? lol

Hands down the best complete system for mounting the 7Q is the Solid Camera cage and double clutch arm. I think it's around $1500 for the cage, double horizontal dovetail bars, dovetail clamp, and 15mm rail clamp with a battery plate. The fit, finish and engineering is superb.

Tilta makes a nice looking EVF arm system also with double articulating joints that is in the $300 range. The question is, the slotted base plate projecting perpendicular from the final joint, can it be removed and replaced with a 15mm rod.

Nebtek makes a decent system that is really inexpensive, and MovCam should have their new 7Q mounting system out about now which is priced similar to the Titla.

I am currently using a Kamerar short arm attached to the side of the 7Q and it works fairly well if you crank it tight. The arms are really beefy with stainless steel ball ends that permit really tight cranking. One advantage to such a system is if your 7Q is creamed into, the arm will probably pivot rather than breaking an expensive purpose built clutch/arm combination.

Below is a video of the Titla system. At 3:28, a right angle bracket magically appears similar to the video thumbnail image. If only that was long enough to put an allen screw through it into the side of the 7Q.

 
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Hi Dave,

I've been looking at the Tilta arm in some detail for a couple of weeks - this is the basic dimensions I got:

IMG_0099.jpg

Looks like it would work, fitted to the side mounting of the O7Q by using that removable upright piece. The main base plate would sit behind the O7Q but would probably interfere with the battery plate - so I'm thinking of either going with one of the battery plates that can be mounted to one side (Westside AV) or maybe going for a v-lock system and power dist - make more use of my IDX batteries anyway. So, not perfect but I think could work.

I had a look at the Nebtek and don't like it - it still has a single mounting thread and thumb screw which in my experience just doesn't cut it - too easy for the monitor to unscrew and flop around, just like it does when I use my Noga arm.

I've not seen anything on a Movcam arm - have you seen any info or pics anywhere?

I love the look of the Solid camera kit but it's just WAY too expensive for me - nearing the cost of the O7Q!

Cheers,

Paul.
 
I am doing a lot of sorting here. This is a complicated set of interlocked problems. One factor that hasn't been mentioned much is knockdown and storage. Say I am doing street photography. A key factor is "How fast can I pull equipment out of a bag and assemble it? And how fast can it go back in the bag?" And a related problem is "How much room does it take in the bag?" A lot of the solutions I've seen (and tested) don't look like they store very small. There are all kinds of rods and connectors that don't fold well. I'm curious if anyone has come up with good solutions along these lines.
 
Dave Allen said:
Camtree, Scamtree, ProAim, ProLame, Came, Cinecity, SinCity, (insert your shell company name here) etc, they all appear to be the same company based in the exact same location in India. I bought one of their matte boxes based upon their ad which they confirmed was compatible with my camera at the time.

When their junk arrived, the product was horrible. To hide all the blemishes on the 15mm aluminum rods, they heavily sandblast them to the point it is quite frosted. This makes it harder to slide and for mounts to slide on it. Plus the rail blocks were not coaxial, so when you try to slide a mount, as it travels, it ends up binding.

The swing away system relies upon a hard steel pin indexing down into a soft aluminum receiver hole. Yeah, like that will last. Not only was the hole too large, the tolerances were sloppier than a pig in a mudpen, allowing huge amounts of play. Most of the anodized aluminum parts had cosmetic dings which means sloppy parts handling during manufacture. The documentation was almost non-existent with photcopier prints.

Best of all, when one tried to slide the matte box on the rails to the fixed camera lens, one had to flex down on the rails to get the stages under the mic. When one rotates the stages, it gouges the fixed mic. So in other words, what they advertise as compatible with a specific camera, it doesn't work at all.

I emailed them and they asked for photos, which tells me they must not have even bothered to rig test it before they engaged in fraudulent advertising and misrepresentation as an inducement to sell their junk as compatible. So I had to have the matte box shipped back from a foreign country to take pics. One they saw the pics, they said once i show proof of return shipment, they will refund half via Paypal, and upon receipt, pay back the balance plus shipping.

I sent them the return shipment receipt, then they started to ignore me. Finally they said they had no money in their Paypal account! I have the email to prove it. What kind of company claims such things?!After more excuses than the IRS over losing emails, they sent back only half, no shipping reimbursement and said that was all they were willing to do. Scammed me out of over $500 USD.

I ended up getting a Chrosziel. Night and day difference on quality, and if I bend a tiny obscure threaded rod or weird mounting plate, each specific part I have been able to get instantly from Century Optics, their North American distributor who is always at NAB and accountable with great service, documentation and support.

ProAim and (insert your India based shell company names here) companies are fraudulent, they are dishonest scammers who copy others designs, and their products are total junk.

You've been warned.

Other than that, I don't have much of an opinion about them or their products either way, lol.
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2nd that. I got a Camtree Rig and it was total trash. It's tempting due to the price, but you can buy parts to make a solid, lightweight rig for even cheaper.
 
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