Komodo+chinstrap+emotion: could it be worse?

[Michael Tiemann]

The minimalist design of the Komodo is driving me nuts. Who has a good solution for putting a Komodo on an emotion head using a focus motor and a KipperTie chinstar (to keep some nice PpL glass from ripping the face off the Komodo)?

Problem #1: the emotimo's L bracket strangely aligns perpendicular to the lens, not down the barrel, which means that the Komodo's inbuilt pair of receivers cannot be used to keep the camera from twisting away from the applied torque of the focus motor. And it doesn't help that the central receiver on the bottom of the chinstrap greatly lengthens the longitudinal stability of the camera to better prevent twist.

If the chinstrap had 1/4-20 receivers drilled on the bottom of the chinstrap to either side of the 3/8-16 central receiver, that would be grand and solve the problem.

What sort of gack are you putting on the bottoms of your Komodos so that they can interface to a world not fully turned upside-down, but rotated far enough to to right that nothing that should be easy really works anymore.

And yes: I am cranky about this!

 

[Thomas B.]

Yeah, their L-bracket looked like a nice piece of useless metal, that's why I ordered my ST4 without it and ordered some arca compatible rails from B+H. I also made a custom V-Mount adapter long before emotimo came out with the updated version. Besides that, it's a great accessory. So, to get back to my ordering list:

Vertical axis (clamped on ST4's arca clamp)

Horizontal axis (clamped onto the rail above)

AND an Arca Swiss compatible rail of your choice to clamp on that rail above (for balancing Komodo). That's it. 3 pieces to stick together. No guarantee this setup will be centered! Just a suggestion, choose according your needs, but the arca clamps provide some amount of room for positioning so that the sensor could be centered...
Could not test it with Komodo because I'm still waiting for mine to be delivered..........

EDIT: Maybe I mixed up the axes, but I guess everybody understands how the setup is meant to be used. If you want to mount the chinstrap to the arca rail, too, choose an arca rail with 3/8" thread or use a 3/8" to 1/4" thread adapter for the chinstrap.

 

[Michael Tiemann]

Thanks! You made me a little less cranky.

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

is there a reason a small pancake RF lens can't be used? Why make it harder than it needs to be?

 

[Thomas B.]

I thought the main problem was that the original L-bracket didn't prevent the camera from twisting when using a focus motor (due to the lack of mounting points). And if you're a proud owner of a KipperTie Revolva, you want to use it on every possible setup. ; )

 

[Michael Tiemann]

is there a reason a small pancake RF lens can't be used? Why make it harder than it needs to be?

What small pancake RF lenses work with focus motors? How can I control focus as the camera moves along the track a keyframe at a time?

 

[Michael Tiemann]

I thought the main problem was that the original L-bracket didn't prevent the camera from twisting when using a focus motor (due to the lack of mounting points). And if you're a proud owner of a KipperTie Revolva, you want to use it on every possible setup. ; )

Correct--the original L-bracket is useless if only a single screw is used to attach the camera--either under the camera/lens balance point that the chinstrap provides, or the too-far-back-to-be-balanced(*) receiver built into the Komodo.

(*) That really is unfair. The receiver is perfectly placed for a Komodo that has no lens attached whatsoever. I'm getting cranky again...

 

[Michael Tiemann]

Yeah, their L-bracket looked like a nice piece of useless metal, that's why I ordered my ST4 without it and ordered some arca compatible rails from B+H. I also made a custom V-Mount adapter long before emotimo came out with the updated version. Besides that, it's a great accessory. So, to get back to my ordering list:

Vertical axis (clamped on ST4's arca clamp)

Horizontal axis (clamped onto the rail above)

AND an Arca Swiss compatible rail of your choice to clamp on that rail above (for balancing Komodo). That's it. 3 pieces to stick together. No guarantee this setup will be centered! Just a suggestion, choose according your needs, but the arca clamps provide some amount of room for positioning so that the sensor could be centered...
Could not test it with Komodo because I'm still waiting for mine to be delivered..........

EDIT: Maybe I mixed up the axes, but I guess everybody understands how the setup is meant to be used. If you want to mount the chinstrap to the arca rail, too, choose an arca rail with 3/8" thread or use a 3/8" to 1/4" thread adapter for the chinstrap.

Harumph. I put the pieces together in various ways, and it's both over-kill and under-kill. It's overkill because the 220mm vertical axis is way, way longer than anything the ST4 can clear or balance. I.e., if the downstream arca clamp is at the top of the setup, the motors will fall over whenever a camera+ lens is attached, and if at the bottom of the setup, more than half of the rail's length is above the ST4's clamp. So that's not elegant. It's overkill x2 because the horizontal member forces the mounting of the camera at least an inch to the right of the axial line stenciled onto the ST4. Not that that line really means anything: the ST4 motor will always have a torque applied because it is not balanced in any case. But putting a heavy unit past the centerline tells me that I'm likely putting to rotor out of its 15lb sepc, whereas on the line I'd remain on the line.

And its underkill because there's no obvious place to put the 15mm rod to which the FIZ motor must be attached.

The design of the ST4 makes the right hand side of the camera most accessible. The design of the Komoto puts the media bay door and all audio connections on the left side. So a nice, tight positioning of the Komodo makes it very difficult to actually use in the ST4. And flipping everything to the other side puts the ST4 screen on the lens side making it impossible to see menus when working from the camera side of the ST4. Now I'm crany again.

 

[Björn Benckert]

Get a drill, and a thread tap and make two extra 1/4 -20 UNC holes in the bottom of the chinstrap.

 

[Michael Tiemann]

Get a drill, and a thread tap and make two extra 1/4 -20 UNC holes in the bottom of the chinstrap.

I think you are correct. I don't own a drill, alas. But I'll find someone who does.

 

[Thomas B.]

This is why I wrote "this is just a suggestion; choose according to your needs & that I could not test this setup with komodo yet, since I'm still waiting for mine to be shipped to my address". But honestly, there's no reason for being upset, Michael.
The rails are too long? Cut'em down to your desired length.
I don't know what rod mount accessories you have, but I would mount a nato rail onto one chinstrap-side
and then mount a nato-rail-to-15mm-rod-clamp-clamp :crazy: onto it (since I already own these parts).
The design issue: Admittedly, it's a shame that RED didn't pay attention to ST4's design... heheh..kidding. Bad luck. Nothing's perfect. But it's easier to unmount the camera (for a cfast swap) via the arca clamp than to unscrew it from the L-bracket, right?
If you make markings onto the arca rails, you could put the camera back to its previous or optimal position again...
....I see, you don't like tinkering very much, huh? :idea:
I hope you find a solution...

 

[Michael Tiemann]

....I see, you don't like tinkering very much, huh? :idea:
I hope you find a solution...

Don't assume:

 

[Michael Tiemann]

Aha! I found my problem. I purchased the ST4 when it first came out, as part of a REDUSER group buy. I think I was not the only one to recognize what a screw it was (pun intended) to not have the correct plate configuration for the RED camera. Nowadays this is standard equipment with the ST4:

Forward / back adjustment plate & clamp

*That* is the necessary shopping list.

 

[Thomas B.]

Don't assume:

Nice!

Aha! I found my problem. I purchased the ST4 when it first came out, as part of a REDUSER group buy. I think I was not the only one to recognize what a screw it was (pun intended) to not have the correct plate configuration for the RED camera. Nowadays this is standard equipment with the ST4:

Forward / back adjustment plate & clamp

*That* is the necessary shopping list.

What's the difference to my setup other than the accessories add height to the rig and the tightening knob may be difficult to tighten when "sandwiched" between the camera and the L-bracket? I give up... :leaving: