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Suggestions for shoulder mount for XH A1 with adapter
I have a Canon XH A1, and I recently bought an SG Blade 35mm adapter with a Flip Module and 15mm rod supports. I love the footage it shoots, but the adapter has added a lot of weight and bulk to my cam, and I do the majority of my shooting handheld.
I’m looking to buy a shoulder mount so it will be easier for me to use. I’m also looking into follow-focus systems, but i’m not quite sure if I would need one.
I’m just starting out as an independent filmmaker, and i’m just getting ready to graduate high school, so i’d love to keep my budget under $1000, or as low as possible.
If anyone has any suggestions or tips, it would be greatly appreciated! -
3 Replies
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I won’t suggest a shoulder mount… but I will the FollowFocus…
[Michael Klepacki] “looking into follow-focus systems, but i’m not quite sure if I would need one.”
Easy answer… YES. You’ll definitely want a good follow-focus unit, it’s really a must with 35mm-format shooting.
Do NOT buy one of those ultra-cheap FF units that are all over eBay (most are made in India, in the $300-400 range). They look ok, but they all have waaaaaay too much “slop” in their gearboxes for them to be useful at all.
The FFs from Arri and Chroisel are really great and the “industry standards,” but they are expensive (in the $3K neighborhood). But, on a budget, I can heartily recommend the FF unit from Redrock Micro.
https://store.redrockmicro.com/Catalog/microFollowFocusBundles15mm
It’s really well made and really tight. After bad experiences with cheap units I would have never even considered the Redrock one… until they sent me a demo model a couple a years ago when I was writing a magazine article. It’s absolutely great. And less than a third or fourth of the cost of, say, an Arri.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Thanks for replying, I appreciate the help. I will definitely look into the Redrock unit. They seem to be a great company, but honestly I don’t know very much about follow-focus…
May I ask why you wouldn’t recommend a shoulder mount? Is it just not necessary?
And also, do you anything about indiSYSTEM FFs? They seem to offer some reasonably priced products, but I don’t know about the quality, I’ve heard mixed things…
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[Michael Klepacki] “May I ask why you wouldn’t recommend a shoulder mount?”
Oh, I didn’t say I’m not recommending them in general…. I’m just not recommending any specific one. The one we have we fabricated ourselves… I haven’t used any of the commercially-available ones so I can’t give a good or bad review to any of them. That’s all.
[Michael Klepacki] “And also, do you anything about indiSYSTEM FFs?”
I’ve never used it, but it’s dirt cheap (almost throwaway cheap) and follow-focus units tend to fall in the “you get what you pay for” category. With a better unit, just the gearbox alone costs more as an individual part than Indi is charging for the whole thing. The gearboxes are key… they can have absolutely no “backlash” or the unit is not useful at all. I’ve never seen one of these bargain units that had a gearbox that was tight enough to be considered good enough for professional work. But then again, as I said I have not used it or seen this particular one so I’m just speculating. It could be great… but I’ve never seen another unit in that price range that was, though. You said “I’ve heard mixed things” and that’s usually not a good sign.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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