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Epic Accessories Advice (New soon to be owner)

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Berkeley Fondren

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Hello RedUser! This is my first post and I am glad to be a part of such a great forum and such a great community!

I ordered my Epic today! I come from a DSLR background and I am extremely excited to upgrade. Now I am gearing up my accessories collection to prepare for the Epic! And I need some advice.

First, the tripod. I need something light enough to travel with but something that can hold around 25 pounds or so. I have been leaning towards the Cartoni F127 FocusHD system. I don't want to spend too much on the tripod as I need some more glass, and I am willing to spend at most $2000.

I also need a shoulder rig. I went to the RED store in LA to check out the Clutch and I loved it. But I don't love the price. My second choice is now the Rhino-Rig (which is on kickstarter) with a counterweight to keep the weight off of my hands. Which should I choose, should I bite the bullet for the Clutch, or get the much cheaper Rhino Rig.

Microphones. For now I need a good shotgun mic (as my old rhode mic broke) and I will pair it with the WoodenCamera XLR box. I was thinking a nice sennheiser mic but I need to really know the exact mic. And some good wired lav mics. But I will also need a 2 channel wireless mic setup in about 6 months.

Lastly, I will need a lighting setup. I have never needed a serious one as my DSLR did well enough with some can lights. I love bi-color LED panels but recently I have found the Fiilex 301 LED light kit that has more throw, and is a little cheaper. Has anyone used these lights? I saw that they were at NAB earlier this year, but I was wondering if anyone recommends them or anything else.

As of now, I am waiting for the Movi type gimbals to become more abundant and drop in prices.

I really appreciate any responses and any advice I get.

Thanks!
 
The clutch is to heavy, too much play in the rosettes, for run-n-gun handheld with a stripped down epic, if you want an over built 40-50 lb shoulder rig than its perfect, but I'd stick with a lighter 15mm system of some kind if you are going with the canon mount. I'd also suggest an O'Conner 1030 head and at least medium duty sticks of some kind, the Cartoni are fine too. The Azden shotgun mics work, as well as on board sound is going to work. Otherwise I'd run a senhieser to a zoom or tascam and then run a line to camera.
 
Thanks for the helpful info! I appreciate the quick response. And I agree with the clutch as its just overkill. So you can run a zoom to the camera so that the audio is matched to the video? Is the audio then attached to the raw file in the Redmag? Sorry I haven't had experience with the zoom and the Epic at the same time.
 
My thought, you don't need a lot to get started.

No need for Matte boxes, rods, follow focus or shoulder rigs. They are great tools but if you're on a budget, they are still frills. Extra Batteries are important (unless you plan to stay indoors mostly). Get 2 Reg Mag cards (so you can offload while using the other). I recommend paying more and getting two 256gb (even if you have to get one at a time). No one wants to be constantly dumping footage just like no one wants to continually change and charge batteries.

The Epic is heavy but still very compact and has that perk over the Alexa. Getting into tight spots and having less gear means you can move faster in many ways. It's not quite a DSLR but depending on the shots, you might be fine handholding it.

So to recap, my suggestions on order of essentials AFTER you get the Epic with a monitor (and things like a lens, and power):
1. Second Media card
2. Additional batteries (enough to last you all day or your shoot needs)
3. More lenses (unless your getting PL cinema lenses in which case it might be cheaper to rent till you make back some money).

Non Essentials:
4. DSMC Side Handle is nice for holding and scrolling through menus. It may be part of your essentials if you decide using red volts. If you plan lots of handheld stuff. Get this. Don't get this if you know you won't use it (like if you'll never use the buttons or red volts).
5. Motion Mount - Suggest this over a matte box personally otherwise a Matte box for ND filtering is nice to have.
6. Rod system - 19mm or 15mm
7. Shoulder Mount (I haven't seen any that I really like - that's not custom made).
8. Wireless follow focus (get this over a manual one since prices are dropping considerably). Plenty of cheap manual ones if you must (to make do till your affordability).


Overall, these are just my thoughts. I like having a small rig versus the full cinematic production setups. Less is More to me. I think keeping it small is a huge feature that many would pay a premium for. Obviously you'll discover how you like your new camera to be setup based on your comfort. You can always sell gear as you upgrade too.
 
If you're not using external master sound and want to record clean audio to the camera, you'll want to run the mic as far away from the camera as possible, either top or side mounted, and whether you record with the zoom/tascam as an addition backup or not, it gives you much better sound to camera and is easier to control/adjust/monitor your audio. Though running a TC sync and external sound is usually preferable for most projects.
 
@Shiblon Wixom

I will actually rarely have the shotgun mic directly on the camera (I am not sure why I said this!) and I will always have it on a boom pole. I will go without the Zoom for a while to see how it works and if I can get by without it, and if I cannot, I will buy it!

Thanks for the help! I appreciate all these responses!
 
@Will Wong

I have used an Epic and Scarlet before and I used the hell out of the DSMC side handle because I was going handheld and I didn't want to fiddle with a touch screen and take my hand off of the handle. So its a must!

And I ordered 2 256gbs already! I agree that managing more than 2 cards is difficult. I almost thought about a 528gb Redmag. I am also planning on buying 2 Red volts and 2 Red Bricks. And I already have plenty of lenses that cover the entire spectrum.

And I will definitely take your advice about buying my collection as I continue instead of all at once. I will see how stuff works and if I need to buy something I will. I'll see how working without the shoulder rig feels (I am getting a top handle, and a x outrigger handle to mount the monitor on, and the DSMC side handle) and if I don't like going completely handheld I will be back!

Thanks for your helpful and in-depth response!
 
Hey Berkeley

Welcome, Here is my little info.

I bought this tripod which is cheap and around 40lbs capacity, it works also some other reduser already shared his experience that it works fine.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/120658197190?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

And you might want to take look at MG1Concepts Pro package which contains 2x 160w V mount battery, charger, battery plate + dtap its a good deal.

Also you might want to take a look at this Vmount battery; somebody shared his experience that it works just fine.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/POWER-U-BP-...139?pt=Batteries_Chargers&hash=item3383f0bbeb
 
Best possible rig for shoulder is the TITAN-Spartan .
you have the lightest and most flexible rig at a reasonable price.
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showth...ne-Titan-Lite-Review-(and-comparison-testing)

Don't fall for front mount front heavy rigs, they don't work for cameras with capacity of the Epic and accessories, and supporting all the weight with your hands will let you operate a few minutes at the time. Its not like DSLR style. You need a center balanced camera over your shoulder with best possible ergonomics.

regards
 
My advice don't buy a whole lot of DMSC accessories until you need it. Because you end up paying big $$$$ for stuff you will never use. Just journey through the 4 sale sections for prove of theory.

P.S. make sure you get the longer lemo touch screen cable & IMO. not the useless 7 inch.
 
Are they going to come out with one for the Epic or larger sized cameras? The Defy 5 can only hold 3 lbs. :/
I haven't seen anything about it but maybe you know.
 
Berkeley Fondren said:
Are they going to come out with one for the Epic or larger sized cameras? The Defy 5 can only hold 3 lbs. :/
I haven't seen anything about it but maybe you know.
Click to expand...

Many new rigs are coming until the end of this year on this section. I suggest you get your Epic gear and choose first the necessary stuff you need to make your camera work well.
Then be wise and get what really works ergonomically , and not just something that you can limit your shots , and have no options.

regards
 
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