Prototype ET shoulder brace pics & info

[jbeale]

I think the round element that attach the handles to the socket/body will or could be the weak point. Why not use a square or non round tube to avoid the handles move when pressure is on this part?

I don't know all the factors involved in the design, but generally a circular cross-section will have the greatest torsional stiffness, for a given weight. You could lock the handle in place eg. with a pin through the diameter of the bar, if that was needed.

 

[Steve Gibby]

Steve,

could you elaborate on the Mic In solution you are using for the onboard mic? I thought red didn't play well with Mic In...

thanks!

I'm running Build 16, 3.2.5 and simply testing out a battery-powered shotgun mic to get some ambient sound. I'm very aware of the nuances and idiosyncrasies of the RED audio system. For real mobile work like that I don't want to be tethered to a line-level mixer. This new version of B16 has some mic controls programmable by the controls on the side of the EVF. In the past 11 months since I've received my first RED camera (#8), I've made a point of continually testing out the new features and capability of each successive camera build. Its an ongoing process, but I enjoy it.

In my opinion the onboard audio capabilities of RED One have been slowly getting better and better with these later builds.

 

[Florian Stadler]

So you're saying that build 16 is capable of dealing with Mic in? That's good news, wonder why no one else has mentioned it. If you'd wanted Phantom power on an onboard mic all you'd need would be that cable that utilizes phantom power from channel 4 and merges at the XLR and turn off recording of channel 4?

Thanks for the sharing.

 

[Steve Gibby]

Hello,

Nice rig. I was waiting to see the ET proposal.

For me, the adjustable arms are to far from the body (or too big)... I'm not as tall as you and you allready use them at their minimum length.

I think the round element that attach the handles to the socket/body will or could be the weak point. Why not use a square or non round tube to avoid the handles move when pressure is on this part?

On the ET evf mount "our" T element (wich is a small 20mm rod I think) that links the RED body to the ET mount, is the weak point and flips over when I push too hard on the mont...

Thanks for these pictures!

Patrick

The black part of the round tubing on the side arms is only 7" long, so basically the side arms will telescope from 7" out to almost 14" in length. To me, that's a good length range.

The twist levers on the round elements seem to lock down well. The joints at the handles and top of the round elements are rosettes, which also lock down real well, something I expected from a rosette.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, with so many rosettes and twist tighteners, when someone uses a brace like this they need to pay attention to making sure all the rosettes and tighteners are tightened down well. By habit I've been doing that in my testing of the brace and I've had no problem with anything rotating or shifting position. I have the load on the brace well balanced, so when I want to adjust the length or rotation angle of any part of the arms or handles, i can simply leave the brace on my shoulder, hold onto the opposite handle, and adjust what I want to with my free hand - without having to take the rig off my shoulder.

I'm happy to post the pics and impressions of this prototype brace. I know a lot of RED User members are interested in having a good shoulder brace, and this one seems like a good option to consider.

 

[Steve Gibby]

So you're saying that build 16 is capable of dealing with Mic in? That's good news, wonder why no one else has mentioned it.

The battery powered shotgun I'm running on that setup seems to be registering audio - we'll see. Build 16 Ops Guide, bottom of Page 39 says "This submenu allows microphone input levels to be adjusted" and that "Each microphone input is provided with a pre-amplifier...". Via menu you select between mic and line as the input for each channel.

If you'd wanted Phantom power on an onboard mic all you'd need would be that cable that utilizes phantom power from channel 4 and merges at the XLR and turn off recording of channel 4?

I don't have that cable yet. In December I had four regular XLR to mini-XLR cables custom made at Coffey Sound - thus the use of the battery powered shotgun for now.

Thanks for the sharing.

No worries...if I didn't have access to test out new accessories, and someone else here did, I'd like to think they'd share the same way. RED User is a family of people who share a common interest. If all people here would spend less time nitpicking and protecting their turf, give respect to the diversity of everyone's backgrounds, and share their knowledge freely, this would be an even better board. Happy to help...

 

[SF Geek]

How do you have that battery mounted Gibby? Is that also the ET rod clamp system?

 

[Jason Diamond]

Thanks for the pics.
Im super stoked! Element Technica is sending me the RedDrive ShockMount and Vmount speedy clamp to use on a feature we're starting next week.
so thankful because that mount is gonna save our ass with all the dropped frames we had on the camera test.
the4 ET people are super helpfuul and eager to help. very nice to see in a company.
will report findings after we've beaten it up for a few.

also getting the Quickplate aluminum changeout they will be selling soon.

 

[Steve Gibby]

How do you have that battery mounted Gibby? Is that also the ET rod clamp system?

With the prototype (soon to be available) ET aluminum back for the RED power plate. It has a V bracket on it, and it snaps right onto the V receptacle on an ET Quick Clamp. I have multiple Quick Clamps in 15mm and 19mm because I use both size rods at times. The RED Drive is sideways mounted on the prototype ET Shock Mount, which has a V bracket on the back and is snapped into another 15mm Quick Clamp. I have proto Shock Mounts on both of the RED Drives in my kits and when I shoot longform content, when a drive is full, I just unplug it from the camera, release the Quick Clamp lever, quickly snap in the next drive, plug it in, and I'm off shooting again.

These new accessories are seriously streamlining my field workflow...

 

[Steve Gibby]

Thanks for the pics.
Im super stoked! Element Technica is sending me the RedDrive ShockMount and Vmount speedy clamp to use on a feature we're starting next week.
so thankful because that mount is gonna save our ass with all the dropped frames we had on the camera test.
the4 ET people are super helpfuul and eager to help. very nice to see in a company.
will report findings after we've beaten it up for a few.

also getting the Quickplate aluminum changeout they will be selling soon.

I've been proto testing the ET Shock Mounts for several weeks now. I think you're really going to dig the Shock Mount. In testing it I've been going out of my way to get the drive to drop frames by tackling the bumpiest shooting situations I can find - boats, cars, skateboards, running, etc. - and no dropped frames yet. I'm stoked with the Shock Mount - its is working really well.

As you can see from my last post, I'm already testing the aluminum Quickplate. I like it - it saves some weight on the rig and mounts/de-mounts quickly.

ET has done their homework on all their accessories I've proto tested - something I've been doing for them for a long time now.

Again, I think you'll be really stoked with the Shock Mount, Quick Clamp, V mount, and aluminum quickplate. I've thrashed the protos of those products and all the other ET stuff (EVF mount, etc.) and they've taken it all really well so far.

 

[Stacey Spears]

Gibby, thank you for all of the photos and details.

Can you tell me what you are using for the battery from Red? What would one need from Red to interface the ET stuff to the Red for the battery? Cable, etc...

Thank you in advance...

 

[Steve Gibby]

Gibby, thank you for all of the photos and details.

Can you tell me what you are using for the battery from Red? What would one need from Red to interface the ET stuff to the Red for the battery? Cable, etc...

Thank you in advance...

Glad to help...

I'm using two different battery mounting setups, horizontal on top of the top rods behind the camera handle, and vertical on the right (smart) side of the camera clamped onto either a top rod or bottom rod.

Needed for both battery mounting options described below:
Red battery plate
http://www.red.com/store

Needed to mount battery horizontal on top of rods behind camera top handle:
ET Top Rod Mount + ET aluminum battery plate back + RED battery plate
http://www.elementtechnica.com/products/

Needed to mount battery on side of camera:
Top or bottom rod of some sort, either 19mm or 15mm + RED battery plate + ET Quick Clamp + ET aluminum battery plate back + V plate for back of aluminum battery back plate
http://www.elementtechnica.com/products/


Note: the ET aluminum battery plate back replaces the steel battery plate back that comes stock with the RED battery plate. It is much lighter. The ET aluminum battery plate back, the ET Quick Clamp, and the ET V bracket for the back of the aluminum plate are not yet available to buy on the ET web site – they are in prototype testing, but I would guess they should be available sometime soon.

The side mounted battery option explained above is the only setup in my pics on this thread. For shoulder held I try to keep all weight on the rig as low as possible – thus the battery mounted on the bottom rod. When I shoot on a tripod, I usually use the top/back battery mounting option described above.

If you look closely at my photos on this thread, you can easily see all the parts I mentioned above for mounting the battery on the side of the camera.

Hope this info helps you…

 

[Yean Loon]

eta on the handheld mount??

yean

 

[Poi Boy]

would love to have it soon ! any word ?
Aloha
-A

 

[Steve Gibby]

The prototype ET shoulder braces are still in field testing by myself and a few other cinematographers. The proto I'm testing has been doing well - even though I've tortured the heck out of it - and I've sent my feedback on it to ET.

I can't speak for ET, but an educated guess would be that after a few minor and cosmetic refinements they may be ready to send it into production. In my experience proto testing for ET over the years they pay attention to detail before releasing a product for sale.

Bottom line: relatively soon I'd expect this shoulder brace to be available. How long? Don't know...

 

[Jason Diamond]

so as i said before we've also been testing the ET shock mount and its been amazing! we did a little "follow car" type handheld thing in Prospect Park yesterday in Brooklyn on a feature and it was beautiful, no dropped frames for any reason.

we also have the ET V mount battery plate and both drive and battery have the speedy clamp for attaching to any Rod anywhere.

they will be added to the must have accessories list when they're released for sure.

 

[Elizabeth Lowrey]

I’ve been able to take the brace apart easily, and also collapses quickly with the twist of a few levers for easy transport.

Gibby, thanks for the thorough details about the ET shoulder mount.

I'm trying to figure out case options for my camera rig (though I probably won't take delivery for another 3 months or so.) Accordingly, I'm curious as to how compact the unit can be for transport and specifically what shape it takes when fully collapsed. If you happen to have a pic showing that or can further describe it, I'd be very grateful.

 

[Sam Roberts]

Looks good. Shooting with the cards and the battery on a belt clip, plus Nikon lenses with screw in filters and you've got an even lighter rig.

So what do you need to do to get it back on a tripod?

 

[Steve Gibby]

Gibby, thanks for the thorough details about the ET shoulder mount.

I'm trying to figure out case options for my camera rig (though I probably won't take delivery for another 3 months or so.) Accordingly, I'm curious as to how compact the unit can be for transport and specifically what shape it takes when fully collapsed. If you happen to have a pic showing that or can further describe it, I'd be very grateful.

With so many rosettes and twist knobs throughout the rig, collapsing it down to fit in a Pelican case is very easy - without disassembling any part of the rig. Check out the first set of photos I posted and you'll see the round aluminum tube that the mount assembly connects to via a bracket around the tube and a twist knob. By loosening that knob you can fold the entire rig in half. The handles have rosettes, so they're easy to loosen, and turn inward along the arm pieces. When you do what I described above the rig forms a rectangle that will easily fit into a small Pelican or Storm case. That's what I've been doing with it for transport/storage - collapsing it as described, then removing the top pluck foam piece from a Pelican 1550 case, placing the collapsed rig in the case, and simply putting the top pluck foam piece over the top of it.

Hope this helps you visualize a good way to stow and transport the rig...

 

[Elizabeth Lowrey]

So what do you need to do to get it back on a tripod?

I'm 99.99% certain that you simply unlock the the ET baseplate and slide it and the camera off the compatible dovetail plate that's incorporated into the shoulder mount and then slide it onto the ET/Arri compatible dovetail plate that you keep with your tripod.

What seems to be unique about the ET approach to handheld is that the handles and arms are not part of (and do not mount to) a rod system but are integral with the shoulder pad system so that the camera isn't weighed down or cluttered with unnecessary hardware when on a tripod. There's pros and cons to both approaches, I suppose, but it's nice to have a choice.

 

[Steve Gibby]

So what do you need to do to get it back on a tripod?

In my photos you can see I'm using an ET ARRI bridge plate on the bottom of my camera. In this case it is a 15mm version. RED markets those ET-made bridge plates on the RED web site. I also have the 19mm version. It's hard top see in my photos, but right under the the integrated aluminum V plate on the rig, where the bridge plate slides on, on the left side, there is a sliding lever to lock/unlock the sliding action of the bridge on the wedge plate. To mount the camera on the rig, you simply line the bridge plate up with the build-in wedge plate on the rig, and slide it onto the plate. When you have it balanced correctly, you just slide the locking lever below the wedge plate forward until it locks the action. To de-mount the camera, you just slide the lever backward, slide the camera down the wedge plate and off, and then if mounting it back on your tripod, you just slide it on an ET ARRI butterfly plate that stays mounted on top of the tripod head.

Hope this helps...

Edit: after posting this I just saw that Eclaire already described correctly the process of de-mounting and re-mounting on a tripod.