Question re RED's Arris dovetail plates

[Elizabeth Lowrey]

I'm trying to finalize my hardware/accessories package for Epic and wondered if anyone could answer the following questions. I couldn't find the info anywhere in the RED store.

What are the length and weight of the Arri Dovetail Mounting Plate (long)?

What are the length and weight of the Arri Dovetail Mounting Plate (short)?

If measuring each isn't handy, I'd appreciate just an opinion from those who've used both whether the short plate gives a reasonable amount of fore/aft travel to establish balance while maintaining complete contact with the dovetail receiver in the Wooden Camera Bridgeplate or similar baseplate. I plan to buy 3 dovetails, leaving one each on tripod head, crane head, and something like the Sumo 1 handheld rig from Shape. Besides the great price at B&H ($403.92), the Shape system has attracted me because it offers what looks to be a well padded, well-rounded shoulder pad with a back pad for mounting battery plate and/or additional accessories to really help with balance AND it has handles onboard (which impressively can be adjusted with one hand via a pushbutton on the side, although I'd much prefer if they had extensions.) So my idea is to have a lean, compact setup when the camera is anywhere but on the shoulder, mounting the V-Mount battery plate to the back of the camera via Wooden Camera's Quick back system, and then be able to simply slide the camera quickly of the tripod or other mount, slide it onto the Shape system, quick release the Quick Back/battery plate/battery from the camera and mount it to the back pad of the Shape. For the latter, the back pad would have permanently attached to it something like http://the View Factor Shuttle Mount. This setup would consolidate handles, shoulder pad, and displaced battery mount on one rig so that no weight is added for all other scenarios where those items won't be needed or used.

My instincts tell me that the longer dovetail plate would work best on the shoulder rig to afford greatest play for balancing, but I'm not sure whether I should use the long plate for all applications, including tripod, and I don't know what my weight tradeoff will be. The longest/heaviest lens I plan to use with any regularity is a Canon 70-200, sometimes with a doubler, and a clip-on 2-stage 4x6 Petroff mattebox on the front of that. I offer that if it helps in gauging whether the long or short plate would work best for me.

Much thanks in advance to all who reply. ETA: The title of this thread should have included "Arri" instead of "Arris".:-0

 

[Jeff Garton]

Both the long and short dovetails are very, very light. They are narrower and half the thickness of a traditional Arri Dovetail, and then have a lot of the remaining material drilled out for all the tapped holes. I'm not at my shop, so can't give you an exact weight, but crazy light. The short one is very short and does not provide much for/aft play for balancing. Even on a tripod that has a top sliding stage you could easily run out of balance quickly and have to relocate with screws. The longer one is so light, I would just go with those. The only time my short one ever gets used is for Steadicam. And frankly even then the longer dovetail is preferred and the weight difference negligible.

Never used any Shape stuff, but looks cool. Your challenge there will, I think, be getting your viewfinder or LCD where it is comfortable while still balancing the rig. There are lots of options out there, looking forward to seeing your set-up.

 

[Elizabeth Lowrey]

Hi Jeff. Thanks for such a thorough and informative reply:wink5: I'll definitely go with the longer plates.

I can't believe I'm actually taking the plunge and buying the EPIC when I thought all along Scarlet would be my camera and one I could marginally justify price wise in terms of what I'll be using it for. But intuition has emboldened me these last two weeks to make a HUGE leap of faith (and this is leap year, afterall!) and go with the camera that offers framerates high enough for some of the stuff I want to shoot (while maintaining resolution). I only wish I'd had this much courage two months ago and I could have saved $7,000. Boy that hurt when I went back in the price increase thread and saw what the Epic USED to sell for. I didn't even know it by heart because I had only and always been considering Scarlet until literally the last few weeks. Oh well. I'll consider it the price to pay for not listening more closely to what my heart was probably telling me all along.

 

[Jeff Garton]

One thing to keep in mind with the RED dovetails is that they have no safety stop. If I need extra confidence that the Epic won't slide off by accident (on a jib for example), I thread bolts into the tapped holes in front of and behind the camera. Not the most elegant solution, but works. I have a few with knurled knobs to make it all quicker.

Wooden camera makes an item that serves the same purpose but has stops:
http://www.innocinema.com/product_info.php?products_id=254&osCsid=0ecc4f4177da9c8e4873f70096acb079
Its longer (and more expensive). Element Technica may have one as well.

Enjoy your new camera, you wont be sorry you got an Epic, it rocks.

 

[Elizabeth Lowrey]

Good point about the stops. I figured that's the way you'd have to do it. I don't want to pay the premium (in dollars or perhaps even weight) for the Element and similar dovetails with spring stops. I'll probably investigate some kind of spring loaded pin that I can thread into one of the holes for a long term solution, but in the interim, a single, plain screw on each end will do the trick.

And I'm sure you're right: I will not regret EPIC.