Shoulder Mount

The real reason that attracted me to this thread was the shoulder brace you designed. Seems like an improvement over the Spiderbrace.

I did buy this shoulder mount from eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Camera-shoulder...5QQihZ012QQcategoryZ23780QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

But I also bought this matte-box:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Matte-box-with-...36QQihZ002QQcategoryZ3319QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

So I am thinking of getting longer rods, build an extra support for the camera base, and use that extra length on the back as shoulder mount and support for extra things.

You seem to have done something similar with PVC tubing.

One silly question: how did you bend the pvc tubes? Just using heat?
 
Hi Carlos,
I'm curious to what part number your converter from panasonic batteries to 12 volts is??? I tried purchasing one from nebtek, and must have gotten the wrong one.

I'm not using a converter. I'm adding the two batteries together. (2) 6v batteries equals (1) 12v battery.

I don't have a problem with the battery connectors. the chargers for the batteries I took apart have a little red button that locks the battery in place. if you look at the back of the LCD photo you can see the red buttons. I also installed an M connector so I can power the lcd from an outlet. you can see that connector on the left hand side. (also on the back of the LCD)

those are ni-Cd batteries that i'm using. the 1500mhA are NimH which I think are better right? so I really should buy those.

I guess a little more weight on the back is not bad. But I really have the camera back so its pretty balanced. not alot of weight on my arms. most is on my shoulders already.
 
Also Carlos,
those aren't PVC. That's aluminum baby with a nice black coating on it. :)
the rods are aluminum and there are 1/4"x2" aluminum connecting them. the brass rods are just that. they help keep the two large aluminum rods even. (there is a tight fit where those brass rods go through) The back is holding the FS 100 maily with rubberbands. which do a fantastic job and prevent the harddrive spinning from transfering to the whole unit. there are plenty of rubberbands so Even if one fails its pretty safe.
that shoulder mount you bought is kind of short. if you have the M2 then you definetly need something way larger. if you look at the first picture on this thread you can see my first rods were even longer than these. I might bend the first ones so they wrap around my back. they were just sticking back too much.

Jenning,
I don't have a FF now. I plan to get one soon, but for now, I just spin the lens. its doable, just not as easy as with a ff. (no focus pulller. thats for sure) and there is a limit of how much you can spin the lense in one swift move.
 
Hi,

siniarch said:
I'm curious to what part number your converter from panasonic batteries to 12 volts is??? I tried purchasing one from nebtek, and must have gotten the wrong one.
Click to expand...

Mine is not for Panasonic but for Sony batteries. But it can take Panasonic VW-VBD1 and Hitachi too.

I'm not using a converter. I'm adding the two batteries together. (2) 6v batteries equals (1) 12v battery.
Click to expand...

That may explain why they go down faster. Can the LCD take 14.4v?

I don't have a problem with the battery connectors.
Click to expand...

I meant the connector on the LCD. That is not locking type. The other is.

the chargers for the batteries I took apart have a little red button that locks the battery in place. if you look at the back of the LCD photo you can see the red buttons.
Click to expand...

So that's what those red buttons were for!

I also installed an M connector so I can power the lcd from an outlet. you can see that connector on the left hand side. (also on the back of the LCD)
Click to expand...

What's an M connector?

those are ni-Cd batteries that i'm using. the 1500mhA are NimH which I think are better right? so I really should buy those.
Click to expand...

Nicads are hell to work with. After some time they start to get memory effect. To prevent that you have to discharge completely periodically and charge them fully again. Even so they last less.

I guess a little more weight on the back is not bad. But I really have the camera back so its pretty balanced. not alot of weight on my arms. most is on my shoulders already.
Click to expand...

Looks nice.

How did you bend the pvc tubes?
 
siniarch said:
Also Carlos,
those aren't PVC. That's aluminum baby with a nice black coating on it. :)
Click to expand...

Sorry, I was writing my comments when your answer came by. Same question though: how did you bend them. Don't say carefully because I'll laugh... :)

the rods are aluminum and there are 1/4"x2" aluminum connecting them. the brass rods are just that. they help keep the two large aluminum rods even. (there is a tight fit where those brass rods go through)
Click to expand...

What brass rods?

The back is holding the FS 100 maily with rubberbands. which do a fantastic job and prevent the harddrive spinning from transfering to the whole unit. there are plenty of rubberbands so Even if one fails its pretty safe.
Click to expand...

Some cushion would be fine too, or some kind of suspension. A cage like that sold by 16 x 9 would be great.

that shoulder mount you bought is kind of short. if you have the M2 then you definetly need something way larger. if you look at the first picture on this thread you can see my first rods were even longer than these. I might bend the first ones so they wrap around my back. they were just sticking back too much.
Click to expand...

My camera is the Sony Z1, which is longer than the HVX200 you use. I plan on buying some 35 lens adapter though.

My shoulder mount is to be used when I want a simple thing, light.

It might be great to make one like yours all in one piece. An "A" shaped support, with the peak turned down to fit your back. You know what I mean.

I don't have a FF now. I plan to get one soon, but for now, I just spin the lens. its doable, just not as easy as with a ff. (no focus pulller. thats for sure) and there is a limit of how much you can spin the lense in one swift move.
Click to expand...

I discussed this question on the DVInfo Z1 forum, and I also would like to have a FF to use, particularly one where I could change gears to do fast and slow focus.
 
Last edited:
siniarch said:
The back is holding the FS 100 maily with rubberbands. which do a fantastic job and prevent the harddrive spinning from transfering to the whole unit. there are plenty of rubberbands so Even if one fails its pretty safe.
Click to expand...


There's a site called SilentPC Review where a guy did a wood cage just slightly larger than the HDD, using 1cm x 1cm wood strips. Like a hollow box. Then he run rubber bands up and down, length and wide. The HDD floats inside there. Just an idea.
 
Carlos_E._Martinez said:
The real reason that attracted me to this thread was the shoulder brace you designed. Seems like an improvement over the Spiderbrace.

I did buy this shoulder mount from eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Camera-shoulder...5QQihZ012QQcategoryZ23780QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

But I also bought this matte-box:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Matte-box-with-...36QQihZ002QQcategoryZ3319QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

So I am thinking of getting longer rods, build an extra support for the camera base, and use that extra length on the back as shoulder mount and support for extra things.

You seem to have done something similar with PVC tubing.

One silly question: how did you bend the pvc tubes? Just using heat?
Click to expand...
Thats a great shoulder mount when I am shooting with one of my stand alones.

But I wouldn't dare use it with my M2 adapter rig. I like that matt by the way.

How is it working out for you?
 
ifownlee41nite@mac.com said:
Thats a great shoulder mount when I am shooting with one of my stand alones. But I wouldn't dare use it with my M2 adapter rig.
Click to expand...

That's what I think it should be for. Even better without the matte-box, not to speak of an M2 rig.

I like that matt by the way. How is it working out for you?
Click to expand...

I opened some threads here and on DVInfo over it.

The reason I took a risk on it was because I had only that kind of money ($300) to spend now, having invested a lot on the Z1, wide angle and filters. And the MB had to have rods.

When you get to conform it to your camera (the instructions suck!), it's a nice piece. I would say it's worth the price, and it asks some extra effort to make it work. For the Z1 I had to drill one extra hole on one side and glue the fixing pin.

But after that things went smoothly. If you buy it I can guide you on those minor mods. It's sold in Canada too:

http://www.camera-shop.ca/camshop/m....html?osCsid=0c263f2b3529529e8cc15f022f6f441d

Maybe those things are fixed by now. What camera do you have?
 
Siniarch, just make it, all of it...
Do you have ball-park prices on the rails and the monitor? when will you? will you?
 
Hey Carlos,
I bent them very carefully. hahahhah
actually they are part of a wheelchair or some kind of medical walking device. I had 2 sets. the first one that i like because the handles are longer, better grip and the bars are longer. but like I said before they stick out behind me too long. I'm planning to bend them with a conduit bender. (electrical department at home depot)
The bars I'm using are nice because they have holes every so often. if you look at the pictures of the shoulder mount, you see 1/4" x 6" rods going through these holes. the holes are drilled very precise and when I put those rods through it lines up the two aluminum bars. and they are used to attach the shoulder pad as well.
As far as the fs100 its aready being suspended by the rubber bands. I like how it sits there. so for now I'll keep it as is.
And I think I got the same power adapter but I thought I was getting something that would transfer power from the HVX batteries to 12 volts. that's what I want to find.
 
Oh, Latin, I wasn't thinking about selling the rails per say, but maybe I can. :)
the monitor is another thing though. I was trying to come in under 1k, but it would have the resolution of the 8.4" panny, same brightness, BNC or just RGB component input, VGA input, HDMi input. Battery power. (still not sure which one), picture in picture, zoom (possibly pixel for pixel)
for if it all works maybe for 1/3 or 1/4 of the price you can get the features of the panny. Might have a prototype within the month.
 
DUDE!!!!! DUUUUUUUUDE! (I like)

I like the rails too... though it would all be about the price (and if you repace the knee pad, lol)
 
Ok guys. have some good news and some bad news.
Good news.
I bought (2) Tekkeon MP3400 battery. (man I really like it. small light polished looking and easy to use. It powered my LCD screen for about
6hrs.
I bought two. one to power the LCD and the second one to power my FS-100. unfortunately my FS-100 is being repaired so I used it to power my Component to VGA adapter.(which uses very little power)
Here come the bad news.
Bad News
I decided to plug in the old RC batteries to power the Component to VGA adapter and use the 2nd MP3400 on the lcd and see how much longer I could get it to run with the battery that powerd the adapter for 6hrs already. Unfortunately when I switched the voltage from 5v (which is what the adapter required) to 12v (what the lcd requires) i didn't unplug it from the adapter.
So I burned the adapter. (DAMN!!!!!) I had to order another one. Damn. an $80 mistake. grrrrrr.
 
Ouch. Electricity: it's...well, it's electric. How's that monitor working for focus? 'Nuff resolution that you can easily tell?

And how's the 2k working out?
 
hey Happy,
I know the damn thing was smoking. I thought I might be able to just unplug it and go back to the 5v but not. some component inside (one of those black chips just cracked) fried and the metal inside it is turning red hot if I put some electricity.
The 2k is pretty nice. it Tungsten balanced. and I was using it in the middle of the day to simulate early morning sun through a window. the camera was balanced for sunlight so the tungsten seemed pretty nice and red without any gels.
I just saw that they had the (4) 2k lights on ebay for $300. did you end up buying any?
 
Oh, burn. No pun.

Not yet, I wanted to buy a package from him that included some smaller lights 'cause otherwise I'd be blowing breakers all the time. I can use a couple 2ks, but I need smaller lights to supplement. Anyway he didn't have any used lights in a smaller wattage rating when I called, I'm thinking about complementing those 2ks with some Cool Lights if my producer buddy will just lock our summer projects...though I'd rather work with an all-tungsten lighting package initially, you do what you can on the budget you've got.
 
Hey Siniarch, this is pretty late for a response, but for a shoulder pad, you might want to look into closed-cell foam rubber. I use it to outfit my whitewater kayak- it's light, just soft enough, yet sandable with a piece of dragonskin (kinda like a cheese grater, only smaller) or carvable with a knife. You could carve a custom shoulder pad to fit your shoulder.

-Tom
 
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