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Mounting an Epic

Discussion in 'MōVI M10' started by Rob Seiffert, Sep 26, 2013.

  1. Rob Seiffert

    Rob Seiffert New Member

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    Hi all,

    We just received our M10 yesterday. So pumped. Beautiful piece of gear.

    So here's my question...and this seems so basic. How are others mounting their Epic to the little Movi dovetail? Obviously one screw fits into the smaller of the three holes on the bottom of the Epic, but are others just mounting with one screw? That feels so unstable to me. I'd love to get a second screw thru that dovetail, but the larger screws don't fit thru the Movi dovetail holes. Are others just drilling out the holes to make them larger? That seems kinda silly to me but who knows.

    Thanks for any help.

    Rob
     
  2. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Rob you can buy threaded inserts that go into a 3/8 hole reducing it to 1/4-20. Then you can add another screw.

    For the guys in the past running the Freefly 3 axis gimbal likely all of them were using a single screw.
     
  3. Carey Lee Coffey

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  4. Lee Dashiell

    Lee Dashiell New Member

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    The plate on the Movi will not align with the Epic allowing the use of 2 screws.
     
  5. Christopher Barrett

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    Hmm, mine does. I don't have the reducer, so I'm running one screw at the moment, but another hole lines up perfectly with a thread in the base of my epic. You try different orientations/positions?
     
  6. Lee Dashiell

    Lee Dashiell New Member

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    I'll take another look. I'm running the Viewfactor baseplate which may be the issue. I don't want to strip this to the bone every time I need to move to the Movi. I'm sure there's a solution, I definitely want to run two screws. I think ordering a second plate may be a good idea.
     
  7. Tabb Firchau

    Tabb Firchau Administrator
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    You can use 2 screws, one with a reducer or just use one screw. I fly all my helicopters with one screw and have yet to have an EPIC fall off ;)
     
  8. Lee Dashiell

    Lee Dashiell New Member

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    lol….I don't want to be around when one falls off….they are pretty heavy, and it would hurt.
     
  9. Christopher Barrett

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    That's it... The VF bottom plate has a different patter than the bottom of the Epic. I pull mine off... The rig gets heavy quick, anyway. I've kept the top plate on to mount a rod bracket and the FF base station to.
     
  10. Eric Yealland

    Eric Yealland New Member

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    For me it's not a pattern issue but rather that the 3/8-16 hole in the dovetail doesn't actually fit that diameter screw. Only 1/4-20. It's just a couple mm too small. We need a better dovetail solution that doesn't use tapered heads, not meeting cinema industry standard at all. Should be flathead slot with flat-heads.
     
  11. Justin Marx

    Justin Marx Active Member

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    Best thing would be a dovetail that attaches to a stedicam type screw balance plate. (Screw one way: camera moves forward, other way....) image.jpg
     
  12. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Justin it's all about the weight. Do you want the weight of that type of plate or use that weight for batteries and other accessories? I like the analogy of the NASA missions, literally every items weight against function was discussed.

    Lots of folks have been flying the RED with one 1/4x20 screw attaching it to a multirotor. I've never heard of anyone loosing their camera due to the screw. Mechanically really no need even for a 3/8x20. Ad as previously posted if you want 2 screws use a 3/8 to 1/4 insert.
     
  13. Justin Marx

    Justin Marx Active Member

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    I'm with you on the weight.. It would just be nice to eventually have something where you can balance more precisely then the current method of unlock, move, test, repeat.
     
  14. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Hi Justin:
    I think you will find that you can fairly quickly develop the technique of "half clamping" the clamp and just sliding the camera back and forth with one hand, moving your fingers and thumb away for a moment and sensing which way the camera wants to move -- you can feel the differential pressure on tilt and roll and adjusting the position accordingly.

    I spent yesterday evening just experimenting with balancing different cameras/lenses as part of my research for a training guide on the MōVI -- I really wanted to understand how to balance a camera quickly. It was during this that I noticed that I was "half clamping" the camera either using the center (tilt) clamp, or the two outer (roll) clamps, and holding the camera with my other hand and just seeing whether there was more pressure on my thumb, or more on my fingers. Then nudging the camera a millimeter or so and trying again.

    Apologies for my perhaps inadequate verbal description -- it really needs to be seen and experienced.....which I suppose is why I'm working on the video guide! :)

    Andy.
     
  15. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    After you do it a few times you may wonder why you ever thought you needed anything else.
     
  16. Justin Marx

    Justin Marx Active Member

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    I've find myself doing this as well. Your right.. I guess it's a "want" more then a need.. Sometimes in the rush on set it's better to have something that is a bit more exact. I do agree with this method, it works really well.
     
  17. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    I agree it would be nice to make this process more mechanically repeatable with calibrated sliders etc., but I suspect experience will show us that our fingertips and senses are probably a better way to go -- all too often it seems (albeit in other contexts), I've carefully calibrated something, only to discover that when I return to those exact same settings, they're no longer quite right. Something, somewhere has drifted/changed. I just figured it was the Universe flipping the bird at me... :)

    Andy.
     
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  18. Justin Marx

    Justin Marx Active Member

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    Hahaha, true.
     

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