RR Matte box and 18" rods--what to do?

jdorsey

jdorsey

Active member
You can see from the pic, I have 18" rods and the RR matte box but no RR flip... so the matte box won't go back far enough to reach the lens.

Image012.jpg


I'm trying to decide whether to:

1. buy the flip (ouch! $$$)
2. cut my 18" rods into 10" and 4" inch so I can use it with the lens adapter (10") or without (4")
3. some other option I haven't thought of

Thanks for any advice.
 
Your rods don't slide back behind the camera? My Zacuto set up works that way. In fact I have more gear hanging off back there.
Jim
 
No, since I've shimmed the camera (instead of the adapter--since RR discourages it), the rods won't go back. I forgot that as a fourth option, to shim the adapter....just not sure why it's discouraged.
 
I'd just shim the adapter as well as the camera, That's what I did before I got my flip. I think the only reason they discourage it is because in order to shim the adapter you need to take out the internal parts to put in the longer bolts, and if you're not careful you could risk damaging the GG. Here's a picture of mine shimmed without the MicroX, and it worked just fine:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2531716&l=aa0e014cc4&id=500475009

Let me know if you can't see the picture, sometimes linking to facebook doesn't seem to work on here
 
That helps a lot, Patrick. Guess I'll see how complicated it is once I start taking apart the adapter (*shudder*). I noticed a flip for sale in the marketplace for $300--just don't know how worth it is for me. I don't move around a lot with my camera...and since I shoot a lot of golf/landscapes I like to take the adapter on and off a lot. Thanks for the info and pics.
 
is that the hvx200 or a hpx170 ? using the in camera lcd flip? mine with not work on my hpx170 it is in the menu under lcd rev ,but nothing happens?
 
It's real easy to take it apart, you just take out the 4 screws in the back of the adapter, and all the internal parts come out with the back plate. The inside is just an empty box other than that.

A word of advice though; when you've got the allen key inside the box to adjust the bolts, be careful not to scratch the glass on the front of the adapter, it's not hard to avoid or anything, you'll just want to be careful because you don't want any scratches on it.

Other than that, it's just a matter of holding the proper amount of shims in place and replacing the short bolts that were holding the rail mount on, with longer bolts to go through the shims you've put on. Should only take a few minutes to do.

Another thing that's not necessary, but you may want to do since it makes focusing easier, is set up the flange distance since you've already got the adapter apart.

To do this is also fairly simple, but takes a bit of patience. Set your camera on a tripod a set distance away from something to focus on (A focus chart, or anything that will allow you to get fairly exact focus). Pick a focus distance as marked on your lens (eg. 10 feet or whatever you want), and set the focus ring to this. Next, measure the distance between your focus chart and adapter by hooking a tape measure onto the little handle on top of your M2. Now move your camera back until you get to the same distance you set your focus to (eg. 10 feet).

I found the easiest way to do the next few steps was to just set the internals of the adapter back in and just put in 2 screws (just enough to hold it in place so you don't have to go through all the effort of putting it all the way back together each time you adjust it).

Also, I didn't tighten it onto the rails or anything at this point, so it would be able to slide freely and save me some time while I'm adjusting things.

If you still don't have perfect focus at the distance you've measured and set your lens to, you need to adjust the position of your ground glass. It's fairly simple, but may take a few tries to get it to the exact spot you need. It involves using the small allen key supplied with the M2 and loosening the screws holding the GG in place, You then slightly move it forwards or backwards (VERY slightly) depending on which way your focus was out. You repeat this process until your focus distance is set.

Sounds pretty complicated, but it really isn't that bad. I had mine set in 2 or 3 tries (Probably 20 minutes or so)

Again, the flange distance isn't necessary, but you may need to do it to be able to set focus to infinity, and it just makes things easier since you know that the distance your focus ring is set to is going to be the actual distance you're focus to.

Hope this helps, good luck!

PS: There's instructional video's on the redrock forum that show you how to do all of this as well, if you have a hard time following my instructions.
 
I got the M2 shimmed now. Seems to be working. Took these pics this morning.

camera2.jpg


camera_sm.jpg


Now to show how really dumb I am... Once I got the matte box on I found it really awkward to focus the 50mm lens with the doughnut around it. What am I missing??
 
I'd suggest getting a follow focus... that's next on my list as well. Kind of hard to see if you have it setup properly or not from the angle of the pictures though. But I gotta say, looks good!
 
Thanks.

This is the Nikon 50mm 1.4 lens I'm using (and like using the most):

nikaf5014d.jpg


You can see it has very little room in front of the focus for the doughnut.

But I'll probably end up using the photos of my camera with the matte box more than I will the actual matte box... at least until I can afford the follow focus, flip, etc. etc. (the never-ending wish list!)
 
How do you like using the auto focus lens? I was looking at an AF 85mm because the price was right, but wasn't sure what the focus throws were like on the Nikon AF lenses.. Is there any difference between using that or a MF lens?
 
I wouldn't use the AF if I could afford to replace all my lenses, but I use them for photography too. The AF seems a bit sticky to me. I've gotten use to it though because the autofocus on my Nikon camera (D2X) seems to be off a bit, so I've been using them manually for the past 18 months. In other words, I can live with it, but I'd rather not have to.
 
The problem I have is getting enough light into the camera with the M2...even at 1.4 with the 50mm it is really hard to get enough light except in the brightest sun. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if it's just the nature of the M2.

Also wondering, while I'm at it, how sharp I should expect a long landscape (infinity) shot to be with the M2 and a good lens? Looks terrible for me. Would adjusting the flange help this? (I didn't do it when I put the screws in yesterday).
 
It definitely sounds like you have something set up wrong... The M2 can be a bit of a light hog, but not anywhere near as bad as you're describing. This sounds like it may have something to do with your in-camera settings. make sure that you have all your camera settings to manual, and try opening the iris of your camera. It's possible that you have the aperture too high on your camera. As for the soft landscape... the does sound like you need to adjust your flange distance. Sometimes if the distance is not set properly, you'll be unable to reach infinity focus.
 
I definitetly think there's a problem. I have all my settings to manual, open iris, and even open the shudder 350° and what I would consider a fairly well lit room is still dark. Also here are my scene file settings:

SCENE NAME :SATURA
00005000: 8 ; DETAIL LEVEL: 0
00005001: 8 ; V DETAIL LEVEL: 0
00005002: 8 ; DETAIL CORING : 0
00005003: 13 ; CHROMA LEVEL: 5
00005004: 8 ; CHROMA PHASE: 0
00005005: 8 ; COLOR TEMP: 0
00005006: 9 ; MASTER PED: -7
00005007: 5 ; A.IRIS LEVEL: -3
00005008: 1 ; NEWS GAMMA: OFF
00005009: 5 ; GAMMA : CINELIKE D
0000500A: 0 ; KNEE: AUTO
0000500B: 3 ; MATRIX: CINE-LIKE
0000500C: 1 ; SKIN TONE DTL : OFF
0000500D: 2 ; V DETAIL FREQ : THICK
0000500E: 1 ; OPERATION TYPE: FILM CAM
0000500F: 14 ; FRAME RATE: 24 FRAME
00005010: BE026801 ; SYNCRO SCAN :
 
It's pretty hard for me to know what you consider a fairly well lit room.. If you were to take the camera outside on a nice day, what F-stop would you be set at to get a decent image? If you need to open your iris right up while outside there's something wrong, but as for inside, it's hard to say. If I try to film something in say, a bedroom with a single light on the ceiling, there simply isn't enough available light, and I'd need to bring in additional lighting. But In my basement, I've got a bunch of dome lights in the ceiling, and I can see fine in there. You have to remember, it's going to need quite a bit more light than with just the stock camera. Another option would be to upgrade to the M2 Encore if it isn't just a settings issue or something
 
Okay...maybe I'm expecting too much. I tend to work with available light, so I guess that's out the window (no pun intended) with the M2.
 
Sadly, if you're shooting indoors, chances are available light won't cut it. Outdoors is fine obviously, but you'll notice a pretty big difference from your stock camera when shooting anything indoors. I found a scene file that claims to give you an extra stop of light (got it from the Panasonic website) It actually does help a lot when shooting indoors. I haven't actually used it to shoot anything yet, but I tested it out the other day and seemed to work suprisingly well. PM me if you'd like me to send you the settings.

Other than that, there isn't much you can do other than upgrade to the new M2, or invest in some lights (which I would suggest doing anyway). Personally, both of those are on my list lol. Although, I've got some pretty good plans I'm working on to build my own lights (8x 4ft 55watt flo bulbs in each unit)
 
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