Rods support dimensions??
 

What are the standard/common dimensions for 15mm rods supports? I thought 60mm from center to center. But I also heard of 85mm and 100mm.

For mid sized rigs and smaller they usually use the 15mm rods and its 60mm apart (usually).

Some systems have 100mm spacing though.

There are 19mm rods at 100mm spacing. This is for the big rigs. 35mm cameras and bigger digital systems. Where talking, dalsa, f23 etc.

I think I recall reading somewhere that the Panavision does it differently, the rods are arranged vertically to the right of lens axis not horizontally beneath.

So, how common is a 100mm/15mm rods support? Are there some kind of adapters to use 60mm equipment on 100mm rods spacing?

I'm asking because 60mm is a bit too small for a design I'm making, but I want to make it compatible for most existing equipment.

I have a diagram of the various rods and relationship to the optical center of the lens somewhere, if I can dig it up I will post it.

The three standard Arri rod setups are the 15mm minirods (same as used by 2/3" video camera rod setups), 15mm full-size spacing (as used on dovetail baseplates) and 19mm version of the baseplate. Panavision uses a side-mounted 5/8" rod system.

There are 3 common setups:

1. 15mm diameter rods at 60mm on center, 85mm to optical axis. This is used pretty much by all 35mm adapter setups, although the 85mm optical axis is often ignored. Make sure your rails setup has a wide range of adjustment if you're planning on using a non-height adjustable mattebox out front. We have always used height adjustable matteboxes so that your rig configurations are more flexible. Some cameras like the Panasonic HPX170, and Canon XL1/2 have off-center tripod mounts so your rails should allow side to side adjustment of the camera plate!

2. 15mm diameter rods at 100mm on center, 118mm to optical axis, center mount 17.5mm offset to the right.

3. 19mm rods at 104mm on center, 120mm to optical axis.

Cheers,
Dennis Wood
www.cinevate.com