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Follow Focus: Top Mounted Or Bottom Mounted?

Discussion in 'MōVI M10' started by Carey Lee Coffey, Oct 12, 2013.

  1. Carey Lee Coffey

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    I'm trying to figure out which rod clamp to go with for my wireless follow focus.

    I've seen some people mounting them on the bottom of the camera, and others on the top.

    Which is better for the MōVI?
     
  2. Austin Glass

    Austin Glass Active Member

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    Hi Carey,

    You are talking about the FF motor mounting, yes?

    I think it might have to do with camera height. We've got a Redrock Gimbal Rail Clamp mounted on the top, but it does add some height. When we tried it for the first time last night, I noticed some tight clearances between that and the top of the gimbal during some odd angles.
     
  3. Carey Lee Coffey

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    Yes, sorry Austin, the motor. I was concerned about clearance on the top. Anyone else?
     
  4. Jonathan Stevenson

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    Carey, I top-mount my 15mm rods for the follow focus. Only reason being is that I don't have a bottom plate that takes 15mm rods that wouldn't add significant height or weight to my rig. So I'd rather mount to the top and save weight. I am using the Redrock micro and have had a few clearance issues, mostly with the basestation. But that just means I have to move the basestation to a different point on the camera and press on.

    I'd love to see what others are doing for their follow focus mounting. I want to figure out a way to mount the base station to the actual Movi cage under the camera somehow.
     
    Carey Lee Coffey likes this.
  5. Austin Glass

    Austin Glass Active Member

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    We are mounting the base station to the handles and saving that issue altogether. I know some people can't do that because they are powering the base station from the camera battery, but if you power it with a handles-mounted lipo you're good.
     
  6. Jonathan Stevenson

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    But isn't the motor cable too stiff to do that? Or have you not had any problems with it?
     
  7. Austin Glass

    Austin Glass Active Member

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    The motor cable is just as stiff as the power cable, and it is not ideal.

    We do have a solution to that, though.…

    :-,
     
  8. Ben Huddleston

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    I'm running a 5dMk3 with Duclos modded Zeiss ZFs on mine, and I have the RRmicro FF motor mounted on the bottom. I too started trying to go on top, but the height was an issue with balancing. My setup is like this:

    Switronix V-mount plate on the back of camera, with 15mm CF rods (7")
    P-tap splitter to power both the 5d (through a voltage regulator and dummy battery) and the RR wireless FF base station
    ---Two cables run from the camera to the top of the Movi: the superthin HDMI cable and a thin power cable I made feeding both the HDMI to SDI converter and the Teradek Bolt Tx.

    Onboard monitor is the Zacuto EVF with the HDMI looped through to the Teradek.

    So far this setup seems great.
     
  9. Eric Yealland

    Eric Yealland New Member

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    Ben, can you post close-up pictures of your rig?
     
  10. Carey Lee Coffey

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  11. Eric Yealland

    Eric Yealland New Member

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    Carey, for EPIC I totally agree. I'm still looking for 5D options for my rig. I saw the WC stuff at Adorama and it's quite light. I've emailed them to get exact weights of these items, and if I get them I will share here. I'm still really curious about others' 5D solutions for Wireless-FF.
     
  12. Carey Lee Coffey

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    After much thought, I've decided to invest in the bottom mounted version. It seems like it will be less messy for cabling, and better for clearance.
     
  13. Eric Yealland

    Eric Yealland New Member

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    Going bottom mounted does seem to lower the height by at least 20mm.
     
  14. Carey Lee Coffey

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    Done.
     
  15. Eric Yealland

    Eric Yealland New Member

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    I ended up ordering the Wooden Camera recco for the 5D. I can remove most of the cage when using the M10 and hopefully get it down to 250g or so.

    Here is their email and weights:

    The lightest weight and most compact top rod holder for the Epic would be the Rod Clamp (15mm LW). This would bolt upside down directly to the brain and be able to hold a rod for wireless FF.
    weight .2 lbs
    http://woodencamera.com/RED/Rail-Components-RED/Rod-Clamp-15mm-LW.html
    If you are looking to mount only a wireless FF to a 5D3 you could use our Quick Cage (DSLR, Medium) and DSLR 15mm Base which would hold the rods at the correct height.
    total weight 1.4 lbs
    http://woodencamera.com/DSLR/Camera-Support-DSLR/Quick-Cage-DSLR-Medium.html
    http://woodencamera.com/DSLR/Camera-Support-DSLR/DSLR-15mm-Base.html
     

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