Pics of the F3 on a handheld rig

[Nate Weaver]

One more thing, a tip to the best handgrips made, hands down at any price:

Little company called Camera Accessory Solutions, in the San Fernando valley makes these adjustable grip thingys called Spidergrips. They are super strong, mega adjustable, and pack down very small in your kit.

I have managed to make these work perfectly on every Red/DSLR/video camera I've used since I bought them 2 years ago. At the time they were $650. Now they've been raised to $850, because all his competitors were at that price too.

For a long time they've been this word-of-mouth thing in Los Angeles, maybe I can change that. The guy who makes them deserves it, that's for sure.

[Leonard Levy]

For what its worth to others , I tried the F3 on my little monopod rig this afternoon and it worked great. No problem with the placement of the flip out with a hoodman added to it and it was much much lighter with a Zeiss ZF than the with a Sony 35mm which was very front heavy. Of course I didn't use a mattebox and a followfocus with rails would add to the weight - So maybe it would be rougher with all that.

One nice thing about handheld with the sony lens or a cooke though would be the footage readout in the viewfinder. Too bad it won't work with Nikon readouts on the ZF.2s but I doubt Sony will offer that.

[Thierry Humeau]

Hi Leonard,

Do you find the Hoodman to work well with the F3 LCD? Also, could you attach a pic so we can see how it looks/fits?

Thanks.

Thierry.

[Leonard Levy]

Truth is I forgot to bring my hoodman with me and the camera is gone from my dealer tomorrow. But it seemed like it would work perfectly for me. If I can get a look I'll try it tomorrow, but it looked the same to me as the EX-1 screen and that works great with a hoodman. I had no problem with its position, but I wasn't using one of those shoulder braces. Rear Eyepiece didn't look as good as I hoped though.

Check with Alister & the other guys as to whether its the same as the EX.

[Chuck Fishbein]

I've been using the Hoodman on my F3 for critical focusing and it has worked pretty well, although I wouldn't recommend it for full time use. Personally, I don't trust the hinge on the LCD door and I have already heard one story of a door snapping off. So, I use it for critical focus making sure to not apply a lot of pressure on it and use an external monitor for everything else

[Andrew Stone]

Originally Posted by Chuck Fishbein

I don't trust the hinge on the LCD door and I have already heard one story of a door snapping off.

When I first put my hands on an F3, the one negative that I came away with was how fragile the LCD hinge was. I knew at that point, an external monitor or some yet to be invented EVF was going to be required for the long term. I don't view it as a viewfinder but rather a menu screen. I'm serious. It is way to delicate in it's construction.

[Sebastien Thomas]

Hi,

On your pictures, you plugged the HD-SDI B plug to the cinedeck... Can you tell why ?
What format are you recording ?

Regards,

[Valeriu Campan]

Originally Posted by Nate Weaver

Yes, keep in mind guys who operate 35 have been dealing with this stuff for years. The 'rigs' I see on retailers and manufacturers web pages often go from questionable to ridiculous in actual usability, based on my experience. Please remember those guys are there to sell you little aluminum doo-dads, not solve your problem in the cheapest/most efficient way possible. I'd recommend googling pictures of 35 handheld rigs, because chances are those are the guys that have to do it for 12 hour days and you can reverse engineer from the pics what works.

Well said! Couldn't agree more!

[Aaron Newsome]

Originally Posted by Sebastien Thomas

Hi,

On your pictures, you plugged the HD-SDI B plug to the cinedeck... Can you tell why ?
What format are you recording ?

Regards,

When I record all normal formats, only the SDI A is used on the Cinedeck. That's what you see in the pictures. When I record dual link, both A and B are used on the camera and the Cinedeck. When not recording dual link, I just leave the B cable there and plugged in. When recording single link, the B input is ignored on the Cinedeck. Just less plugging to do when going from single to dual link, so the B is always plugged in even if it's ignored.

[Alister Chapman]

And here's a picture of my rig using Genus parts.

[Sebastien Thomas]

Originally Posted by Aaron Newsome

When I record all normal formats, only the SDI A is used on the Cinedeck. That's what you see in the pictures. When I record dual link, both A and B are used on the camera and the Cinedeck. When not recording dual link, I just leave the B cable there and plugged in. When recording single link, the B input is ignored on the Cinedeck. Just less plugging to do when going from single to dual link, so the B is always plugged in even if it's ignored.

Hi,

Maybe you can confirm something for me, something I wasn't able to find in the manual pages :
Can you record 10 bits HD-SDI 4:2:2 with a single link cable plugged on the A plug ?
In this case, what is the need to record dual link ?

BTW, your rig is really compact and clean. Is the Genus Mattebox working with all of the lenses you are using ?

Regards,
Seb

[Thierry Humeau]

And here are pics of my F3 with Vocas rig and mate box, Sony PL lens, Marshall 5" HDMI monitor and Cavision follow focus.

Thierry.

[Andrew Stone]

Thanks Nate, Alister and Thierry for posting photos of your rigs. Really helpful. A couple of things jump out that are interesting. I noticed right away Thierry's RAM mount holding his monitor. I have a couple of those on my sportbike. Those things are ROCK solid once you cinch them down and they are somewhat cheaper than most NAGA style arms.

I can see some redeeming qualities in all 3 of the handgrip mechanisms. I would be hard pressed to make an immediate choice until I weighed through the different kinds of shooting I would be doing over the course of the year. Some of the qualities that stand out for me are...

On Nate's, the ability to extend the grips out forward and the ratchet mechanisms are good for quick and decisive placement, although the others appear relatively good in this regard.

On Alister's, the ability to move the handle mechanism from side to side, particularly to the left so your arms are more in line with the shooter. Also, if you were to have a zoom lens on your rig with motors (you might go there in a year or so), you could have a zoom rocker easily fitted on Alister's & Thierry's handles but really one could make it work on Nate's. Where there is a will there is a way.

On Thierry's, the arms are by far the most ergonomically placed. Don't believe me. Thrust your your arms with your hands slightly curled but in a relaxed position. See how your hands are canted? The only problem with Theirry's is length and I have this problem with mine, the Zacuto Z-grips (which I wouldn't recommends in light of these ones). WIth longer ones, you are at an advantage when the rig is on your shoulder but when you go to put it down between takes, unless you have a box or a table to put it on with the end hanging over the end, you have the rig resting on the handles and the heel of the rig. The torque on certain parts of the rig is going to make you wince.

Shoulder pads. It is hard to see what some of you have going on. I have the Zacuto pad with the Z-riser. It's passable but absurdly expensive for what it is. I still laugh 2 years later when I look at the Zacuto shoulder pad knowing what I paid for it. I picked up a GENUS shoulder pad on seeing Andy Shipsides demo it with an AF-100 rig but didn't know the pad would come without the rails attachment piece. The Genus shoulder pad is simple but amazing. I am sure Alister will attest to it. Not sure though if the Genus rig has the ability to get the pad under the camera, if need be.

[Aaron Newsome]

Originally Posted by Sebastien Thomas

Hi,

Maybe you can confirm something for me, something I wasn't able to find in the manual pages :
Can you record 10 bits HD-SDI 4:2:2 with a single link cable plugged on the A plug ?
In this case, what is the need to record dual link ?

BTW, your rig is really compact and clean. Is the Genus Mattebox working with all of the lenses you are using ?

Regards,
Seb

There is no signal on the A plug for 4:2:2 recording in single link mode. I do believe that requires the firmware upgrade. I see some more options for the SDI outputs in the menus but they are greyed out. This makes me think the firmware will enable them.

The reason I use dual link is because it's the only way to get 1080p/60 from the camera.

[Sebastien Thomas]

Originally Posted by Aaron Newsome

There is no signal on the A plug for 4:2:2 recording in single link mode. I do believe that requires the firmware upgrade. I see some more options for the SDI outputs in the menus but they are greyed out. This makes me think the firmware will enable them.

The reason I use dual link is because it's the only way to get 1080p/60 from the camera.

But for this you need something that can record dual link, like the $10k Cinedeck (so, the nanoflash is not an option, what about the AJA Ki-Pro ?)

Many thanks for the answer.
Regards,