Suggestions for DSLR Rig on Rails for ENG Work with Pre-Amp and Zoom?

[Stephanie Joan]

Sorry, I mistyped. That was meant for Joseph.

Joseph, do you have any links to photos of your rig?

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Stephanie
https://www.theculinarylife.com

[Joseph W. bourke]

I don’t, but if you do a Google search for Fotga DP500, with the Images tab turned on you’ll see tons of shots of the setup. The only thing I’ve added to is a couple of handles from Cool LCD, attached by a couple of their rail clamps with multiple 1/4 20 holes – one handle on the front right rail, and one coming out from the left rail at a right angle, just under the follow focus, so that I can use my left hand to support and focus. I’ll try and get a shot of the setup – it’s a bit similar to the Captain Stubling rig from Redrock Micro:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/816552-REG/Redrock_Micro_Captain_Stubling_DSLR_Bundle.html

…but at a quarter of the price.

Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com

[Jason Jenkins]

[Steve Crow] “Cool – how did the quick release plate attatch to the rails?”

I’m using this: https://www.cinevate.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=68

Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!

Check out my Mormon.org profile.

[Seth Blaustein]

Steve,
I’m really interested in the rig you built. I don’t see any reference to having a shoulder mount with counterweights in your setup. I want to build a rig for a Black Magic Cinema Camera, but I’d really like to be able to have a counterweight shoulder pad for lengthy shoots. Do you have any suggestions for parts that can be pieced together to add this? Would I just need to get longer rails and some weights? Thanks for your help, this thread has been very helpful to me.

[Steve Crow]

Seth – yeah for a shoulder rig I probably wouldn’t incorporate the Bracket 1 although I suppose it might be possible – not sure how that would work. I too am looking at a rails based rig at some point in the future but I haven’t seen any rail based rigs that conveniently support two wireless lav receivers. There are the cages but I just don’t like the configuration of those.

I have done some adjustments to make the rig a bit more ENG friendly for recording video at live events. Basically I moved the Zoom H4N off the top bracket and attached it to the lower bar using a cold shoe style adapter. Where the Zoom was positioned I put a shotgun mic instead and then I purchased a Sescom splitter cable that allows me to feed the captured audio to both the Zoom and directly into my Canon T2i – it also has a headphone connection so that I can still monitor my sound. I’ve only tried it once but it seemed to work pretty well (by the way I attached the whole rig to a Manfrotto Monopod instead of a traditional tripod for that assignment)

Luckily for you there are lots of people coming up with rail systems for the BMCC – it’s going to be a matter of finding one that gets you close enough to where you want to go and then making adjustments to customize it to perfectly fit your desires.

Steve Crow
Crow Digital Media
http://www.CrowDigitalMedia.com

[Steve Crow]

I just saw this today and it’s the first system that I’ve found that could replace the Bracket 1 based rig I have now with a real “rails” based one. I’ve not considered cage type systems up until now because they looked like they would block access (particularly on the important right side) to the control buttons on my Canon HD DSLR.

But now Arri has a new baseplate system that has the option of a HALF cage on the left side only OR you can buy both a right and left hand side to make a traditional cage:

https://www.arri.com/camera/pro_camera_accessories/support_systems/mini_baseplate_mbp_3.html

Now it’s a rather pricey alternative although Arri says that if you purchase through their dealer system you can get a better price.

Steve Crow
Crow Digital Media
http://www.CrowDigitalMedia.com