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Brook Willard
REDuser Sponsor
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- Dec 28, 2006
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Hey folks,
As many of you have been reading/hearing, I've started my own foray into designing accessories for the Epic. I wanted to tell you all a bit about it…
Those of you that know me or the posts I've made over the years here can probably already imagine why I decided to give it a go. I've always stressed the importance of accessories to create a functional camera system. I've made countless threads on accessory standards, recommended setups and perhaps a thread or two that might have criticized RED's own accessory approach for the RED One.
I've also been in the unique position of taking the RED One into battle on some pretty demanding sets. Think of a show like Southland - an entirely handheld show that demands extreme balance, portability and teeny size out of the RED One. From the pilot through the first few seasons, the camera assistants and I were able to create the lightest and most streamlined handheld RED packages you've ever [not] seen. With the amazing support of Keslow Camera we were able to create whatever we needed to fit the RED into one of the most challenging cinema environments you can imagine. Those shows led to the development of accessories like Keslow's Magic Box - something that I can barely imagine surviving the past few years without. I've always taken pride in those builds.
With the Epic, I've had perhaps the most exciting opportunity to date. My first real hands-on day with the Epic was actually back in July of last year while testing for a movie. With literally 10 months of real-world experience with the camera so far [including almost 6 months of production on a certain major feature film…], I've already been to production hell and back with this camera a dozen times over. I've worked with the Epic in the hands of some of the most experienced cinematographers, camera operators and camera assistants in the industry. It's been absolutely amazing and delightfully eye-opening.
In that time I've been building little accessories here and there to fill in the needs of our little production. What started with having the special effects department mill us spacers, accessory blocks and accessory brackets on the SFX truck eventually grew into SolidWorks models and CNC machined parts. Over the past months on this film we've been able to test, modify and update these [and other] accessories time and time again to form them into what they are today.
The parts below [and the parts that are right around the corner] are not prototypes - they are completed products that have been field-tested in the best possible circumstances by the best possible people. I have drawers full of different generations of parts that have led to what I'm showing below… and a lot more where that came from. Everything below is either shipping or will be shipping by NAB.
RED's new accessories for the DSMC lineup are super badass and have already proven their strength in the field. As such, all of my accessories are designed to work in conjunction with RED's own accessories without modification or compromise.
My goal from the ground up was to meet the needs of the high-end cinema crowd while ensuring compatibility across the line and pricing as reasonably as possible. And besides, if I'm the one coming up with the accessories… I can't complain to anybody about them. These are pieces that have been lifesavers for me… I hope they work the same for you.
Now I'm no machinist. From day one of this endeavor [back when it was just making one-off parts for the movie], Curt of ViewFactor Studios has been an enormous help. He's an extremely talented engineer and a good friend. In his minuscule amount of spare time, Curt opened his doors to me to sit down and help me turn thoughts into reality. It was tight to fit it in - I'm talking about meetings after dinner on Sundays and machine time in the middle of the night. The accessories will ship as ViewFactor products… with functional design by yours truly.
Anyhoo, enough with the foreplay - on to the first round of new toys.
Here's the FMJ-Top.
The FMJ-Top was designed to be an invisible accessory for the camera - once you install it, it becomes part of the camera.
The plate replaces the Epic's existing plastic exhaust grill, strengthening the top of the camera, protecting its innards and increasing the overall exhaust surface area by more than 60%. It has increased surface area for both passive [top] and active [rear] cooling while also adding a little bit of front venting and side venting as well.
One of the challenges with a cheese plate on the Epic is to design it in such a way that it doesn't block the cooling vents or the wireless antennas. The large cutout in the middle of the plate is there specifically to maintain wireless reception with the plate attached. The front of the antenna hole also happens to line up with the camera's focal plane.
The 1/4-20 holes on the top of the cheese plate are spaced identically to RED"s components, letting you mount any RED accessory on the plate just as though you were mounting it to the camera. There are also two 3/8-16s on the center line [one in the front and one in the back] for rigging. I've even used it as a Steadicam low-mode bracket in a pinch.
The plate lets you mount the top handle simultaneously with your LCD… or your ET EVF bracket and top handle without needing a top mount… or a zillion NOGA arms… you name it. One of my favorite configurations has been to mount NATO rails on the sides of the plate. With that you can mount any of RED's new handles, rosettes or iris rod channels without adding anything else. It's really awesome… you'll love it.
The plate is designed to secure to the 1/4-20 screws on the Epic body as well as the four M3 holes used by the original fan grill for extra security and alignment. All of the screws are captured. I wanted the plate to be as lightweight and streamlined as possible. What's the point of having an amazing, lightweight camera when you're going to bolt heavy accessories to it? As such, I decided to make this top plate attach only to the body instead of requiring the RED Module Adapter. You end up with a lightweight plate that lets you use any of RED's upcoming modules or the REDmote freely. You can add and remove any parts without interference from the plate.
We've also modeled up an FMJ-Top extension which hooks into the nice opening on the back of the plate and extends out over the module adapter and IO module. It helps to increase the rigidity of the camera when built with multiple modules and maintains the same low-profile and lightweight logic. As soon as the Epic Modules start shipping, there will be a FMJ-Top Extension ready to rock. The FMJ-Top itself only weighs 180g, barely more than a single top mount for the RED One.
In the interest of making it an accessory that you'll never have to remove, I made a little pass-through for the camera's backfocus adjustment. Just stick your T-10 Torx in there and you're good to go - it's protected the rest of the time.
I'm pretty excited about it, various versions of the plate have been on my camera from day one. It fits right into RED's new ecosystem of accessories.
The plate is $465 plus $15 for a custom laser-etched logo. Here is a link to the store. I have a very small batch of the original plates without captured screws for $450 - contact me directly if you'd like one, they're going fast!
This is the tip of the iceberg. There's a lot coming as early as next week [I've posted some early prototype renders around here somewhere…] so stay tuned. I'll post some renderings tomorrow and will have the additional parts ready to rock next week. Lightweight iris rod support, sliding baseplate spacers, a "cage" of sorts, cheese plates for the Epic body, battery plates, power breakout boxes… it's gonna be a pretty awesome few weeks.
Hope you guys like it! I've been loving mine.
As many of you have been reading/hearing, I've started my own foray into designing accessories for the Epic. I wanted to tell you all a bit about it…
Those of you that know me or the posts I've made over the years here can probably already imagine why I decided to give it a go. I've always stressed the importance of accessories to create a functional camera system. I've made countless threads on accessory standards, recommended setups and perhaps a thread or two that might have criticized RED's own accessory approach for the RED One.
I've also been in the unique position of taking the RED One into battle on some pretty demanding sets. Think of a show like Southland - an entirely handheld show that demands extreme balance, portability and teeny size out of the RED One. From the pilot through the first few seasons, the camera assistants and I were able to create the lightest and most streamlined handheld RED packages you've ever [not] seen. With the amazing support of Keslow Camera we were able to create whatever we needed to fit the RED into one of the most challenging cinema environments you can imagine. Those shows led to the development of accessories like Keslow's Magic Box - something that I can barely imagine surviving the past few years without. I've always taken pride in those builds.
With the Epic, I've had perhaps the most exciting opportunity to date. My first real hands-on day with the Epic was actually back in July of last year while testing for a movie. With literally 10 months of real-world experience with the camera so far [including almost 6 months of production on a certain major feature film…], I've already been to production hell and back with this camera a dozen times over. I've worked with the Epic in the hands of some of the most experienced cinematographers, camera operators and camera assistants in the industry. It's been absolutely amazing and delightfully eye-opening.
In that time I've been building little accessories here and there to fill in the needs of our little production. What started with having the special effects department mill us spacers, accessory blocks and accessory brackets on the SFX truck eventually grew into SolidWorks models and CNC machined parts. Over the past months on this film we've been able to test, modify and update these [and other] accessories time and time again to form them into what they are today.
The parts below [and the parts that are right around the corner] are not prototypes - they are completed products that have been field-tested in the best possible circumstances by the best possible people. I have drawers full of different generations of parts that have led to what I'm showing below… and a lot more where that came from. Everything below is either shipping or will be shipping by NAB.
RED's new accessories for the DSMC lineup are super badass and have already proven their strength in the field. As such, all of my accessories are designed to work in conjunction with RED's own accessories without modification or compromise.
My goal from the ground up was to meet the needs of the high-end cinema crowd while ensuring compatibility across the line and pricing as reasonably as possible. And besides, if I'm the one coming up with the accessories… I can't complain to anybody about them. These are pieces that have been lifesavers for me… I hope they work the same for you.
Now I'm no machinist. From day one of this endeavor [back when it was just making one-off parts for the movie], Curt of ViewFactor Studios has been an enormous help. He's an extremely talented engineer and a good friend. In his minuscule amount of spare time, Curt opened his doors to me to sit down and help me turn thoughts into reality. It was tight to fit it in - I'm talking about meetings after dinner on Sundays and machine time in the middle of the night. The accessories will ship as ViewFactor products… with functional design by yours truly.
Anyhoo, enough with the foreplay - on to the first round of new toys.
Here's the FMJ-Top.
The FMJ-Top was designed to be an invisible accessory for the camera - once you install it, it becomes part of the camera.
The plate replaces the Epic's existing plastic exhaust grill, strengthening the top of the camera, protecting its innards and increasing the overall exhaust surface area by more than 60%. It has increased surface area for both passive [top] and active [rear] cooling while also adding a little bit of front venting and side venting as well.
One of the challenges with a cheese plate on the Epic is to design it in such a way that it doesn't block the cooling vents or the wireless antennas. The large cutout in the middle of the plate is there specifically to maintain wireless reception with the plate attached. The front of the antenna hole also happens to line up with the camera's focal plane.
The 1/4-20 holes on the top of the cheese plate are spaced identically to RED"s components, letting you mount any RED accessory on the plate just as though you were mounting it to the camera. There are also two 3/8-16s on the center line [one in the front and one in the back] for rigging. I've even used it as a Steadicam low-mode bracket in a pinch.
The plate lets you mount the top handle simultaneously with your LCD… or your ET EVF bracket and top handle without needing a top mount… or a zillion NOGA arms… you name it. One of my favorite configurations has been to mount NATO rails on the sides of the plate. With that you can mount any of RED's new handles, rosettes or iris rod channels without adding anything else. It's really awesome… you'll love it.
The plate is designed to secure to the 1/4-20 screws on the Epic body as well as the four M3 holes used by the original fan grill for extra security and alignment. All of the screws are captured. I wanted the plate to be as lightweight and streamlined as possible. What's the point of having an amazing, lightweight camera when you're going to bolt heavy accessories to it? As such, I decided to make this top plate attach only to the body instead of requiring the RED Module Adapter. You end up with a lightweight plate that lets you use any of RED's upcoming modules or the REDmote freely. You can add and remove any parts without interference from the plate.
We've also modeled up an FMJ-Top extension which hooks into the nice opening on the back of the plate and extends out over the module adapter and IO module. It helps to increase the rigidity of the camera when built with multiple modules and maintains the same low-profile and lightweight logic. As soon as the Epic Modules start shipping, there will be a FMJ-Top Extension ready to rock. The FMJ-Top itself only weighs 180g, barely more than a single top mount for the RED One.
In the interest of making it an accessory that you'll never have to remove, I made a little pass-through for the camera's backfocus adjustment. Just stick your T-10 Torx in there and you're good to go - it's protected the rest of the time.
I'm pretty excited about it, various versions of the plate have been on my camera from day one. It fits right into RED's new ecosystem of accessories.
The plate is $465 plus $15 for a custom laser-etched logo. Here is a link to the store. I have a very small batch of the original plates without captured screws for $450 - contact me directly if you'd like one, they're going fast!
This is the tip of the iceberg. There's a lot coming as early as next week [I've posted some early prototype renders around here somewhere…] so stay tuned. I'll post some renderings tomorrow and will have the additional parts ready to rock next week. Lightweight iris rod support, sliding baseplate spacers, a "cage" of sorts, cheese plates for the Epic body, battery plates, power breakout boxes… it's gonna be a pretty awesome few weeks.
Hope you guys like it! I've been loving mine.
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