SB Blade on Zacuto baseplate: assistance needed

[Bobonli]

Hello. I'm setting up my new Blade onto my Zacuto baseplate and rods and, for the life of me, cannot get the Blade bracket into a suitable position to mount onto the rods.

Whether I configure snorkel up or snorkel down, the Blade mounting bracket is always about a 1/2 rod's diameter shy of reaching the rods, regardless of how I adjust the Zacuto baseplate vertically. Pictures show the problem. I've tried using the Zacuto z-riser to support the adapter but it interferes with the speed control knob.

The first two photos show the Zacuto baseplate flat (no vertical extension) and the Blade bracket at full extension and it juuuuust doesn't reach. Note the nut is just a keeper to prevent thumbscrew that attaches bracket to adapter from falling out.

Anyone have their Blade on Zacuto rods and can offer advice? Pix would be good too!

 

[Wayne Kinney]

Hi,

The Blade Bracket is designed to hold the Blades lens mount @ 85mm from rods centre to lens centre, both Snorkel up or down.

Snorkel Up will always require a z-raiser type solution, but it looks like it should work Snorkel down?

 

[Bobonli]

Snorkel down is the reverse problem: I cannot get the camera up high enough to line up the rods with the bracket. I'm taking an hour break from this...been fiddling with it for more than 2 hours. Need a fresh look a little later.

 

[Wayne Kinney]

It looks as though the Zacuto baseplate does not have enough vertical adjustment to cater for a flip modules offset.

Zacuto do a lot of packages for the Letus Extreme & Ultimate so they must have a solution.

 

[Danwreid]

You're going to need a Z riser snorkeled down, like shown

*This isn't my rig BTW, its my friends Alex Boyle's, however mine is almsot identical

 

[Bobonli]

Thanks Dan. I tried using my Z Riser but it lands up sitting right where the speed control knob is.

I need to fiddle with it some more this morning and call Zacuto and see if I'm misunderstanding something about the vertical adjustments

 

[Wayne Kinney]

Hi,

I can not understand why the z-raiser would get in the way of the speed control knob, could you upload a picture?

 

[Bobonli]

I think I figured it out, so I'll share in case anyone else has the issue. First of all, a close look at Dan's photo above shows that the configuration requires an extra set of rods and Z-riser to make the attachment. In my (perhaps wrong-headed) mind, I thought having extra rails etc would be for attaching matte box accessories; not having to mount the adapter. I may land up doing that, but something about that configuration bugs me.

After fiddling a bit, I realized that snorkel down was just as bad as up; in this case the space is too crowded to get the adapter into place (pic 1), with the baseplate extended "up" as far as it will go. After staring at it for a long time, it tried reversing the Blade adapter upside down and spinning the sliding foot upside down. Voila! it fits onto the rails and snugs right into the space between the adapter and rails. Only downside is there's no room to put the up-down adjustment knob in the threads using this configuration.

I may end up with Dan's configuration, but thought I'd share my discovery. Also in my previous post I said using the Z-riser directly as a bracket (using it in place of the Blade bracket) interfered with the speed knob. My bad on two accounts 1) using the z riser aa a bracket and 2) it was the battery compartment screw not the speed knob.

Thanks everyone

 

[mvansomeren]

I think you'll have difficulty getting a Follow-Focus to fit with the configuration in the pictures.

Wayne, what is this Battery Compartment Screw? Is this something new on the blade? My blade dosn't have one.

Thanks,

 

[Wayne Kinney]

Hi,

I suggest that you contact Zacuto regarding their recommended setup for the Letus range that they sell on their website, this will work equally well with the Blade.

Marcel, we have recently changed the SGblade to take 2x AAA batteries via a battery compartment on the side. This replaces the design with 2 internal rechargeable cells. You will notice that there is no charger jack on the pictures above.

We will have an inexpensive upgrade path on the website soon.

 

[mvansomeren]

I see.

I actually like the fact that I can charge the batteries in the blade and then plug in a battery pack if necessary. I suppose at some point they would have to be replaced. Is that something an end user can do or would I have to send the blade back in for that? I'm pretty good with a soldering iron

Thanks for the info, Wayne.

 

[Wayne Kinney]

Hi Marcel,

It will be a few good years before you would need to replace, but yes, it is a matter of soldering 2 tags

 

[Bobonli]

Here it is snorkel up, using the configuration suggested by Dan on the first page of the thread. Zacuto Z-riser uesd to bring rails up within reach of the Blade bracket. More elegant than my previous attempt.

For anyone contemplating mounting their Blade using Zacuto baseplate and rails, it seems that you'll need to use a Z-riser as pictured. I can't see any other way to get the Blade bracket onto the rails straight off the baseplate. For those unfamiliar with the hardware: the Blade bracket is the forward-most part and the Z-riser is what is forming the step-off below the flip module.

 

[Tim Naylor]

Try this:
http://www.letus35.com/cart/Letus-Rods-V2-L-Riser.html

I use this with my Zacuto baseplate / SG Blade set up. See if you can get 8" or 10" rods instead. The rods they send, like Zacuto's Riser, are too short for using a FF and an MB. Much easier to set up and more versatile than Zacuto's riser and almost half the price. Truly awesome riser.

Even better is their whole set up. If I had to start all over again this is what I'd get:
http://www.letus35.com/cart/Letus35-Support-Rods-Version-2-V2.html

Because of the separate tripod mount, this is far easier to balance than anything out there.