Perfect SCARLET-X rig - buying advice

[Sebastian Wöber]

I posted this on our website too, but I figured I'd get more replies here.
We'll be getting a Scarlet-X soon and I'm looking for the perfect configuration to present on the cinema5D blog. Perfect in terms of usability, compability for filmmakers coming from DSLR, versatility, lightweight and "affordable" (all this stuff is so f....ing expensive, DSLR is so much cheaper).
Second priority is suitability for rental targeted at low budget productions.

Here's what I have gathered so far:

RED

- It's the Scarlet-X Al EF package

- 2 more redvolts (sufficient for minimum config? Please advise)

- 1 more charger

- 1 more SSD (sufficient for minimum config? Please advise)




Railsupport

I talked to Ryan from Wooden Camera. He said he has a baseplate in the works and sent me this image. The baseplate will be available in 2 weeks. It has dovetail support (they will also offer dovetail plate) and it looks great. Available with 15mm and 19mm clamps. Costs:
Core unit is $399, clamps are $120 each. info

- There's the RED quickrelease system which is $1350 together with the mounting plate. Includes dovetail plate.

- There's the Denz version that does not incorporate a quickrelease (only dovetail mount). With a dovetail plate it would be about $920 (685€) + shipping.

- The Pro Rail Support $605 (450€) by Vocas is lightweight and more affordable BUT, it does the 15mm rod system with 60mm spacing and as far as I know the height to the lens is not right with the Scarlet-X. That's why we need the LW 15mm bracket mentioned before. No dovetail support.

- The same goes for the wonderful Cine Base by 16x9 Inc. It's 15mm 60mm spacing. $1045

- I heard Zacuto will also have something in December

- other bridgeplates I found are the Genus Pro Plate, the Letus Camera Base and the Arri BP 8 (too expensive)

Handheld

Letus announced a full Scarlet-X rig solution. It's $2795 without FF and MB. Get their rigs here. See the related article here.

Another option is the Vocas rig, they're still the best I've had experience with and they're affordable in the high quality segment.

- Vocas Handgrip Kit. $726

- Vocas shoulder support. $510

- Battery Adaptor Plate $94

- Vocas dovetail to shoulder pad adapter $200

- some 19mm or 15mm rods depending on the bridgeplate.

- Luxury would be the Wooden Handgrip with an extender.

Recording for non cinema applications

- Atomos Samurai harddisk recorder. $1595

1 or 2 cases

- Storm iM2720

I guess I'll need the wooden camera riser to use different railsupports.

Please add to this list, I will update it accordingly with the options I finally choose. Your collaboration is much appreciated.
Cheers from Vienna

 

[Lliam Worthington]

Great thread. Hope it gets the support it warrants. Thanks for your efforts Sebastian.

 

[Ruben and Sheri O.]

This might help as well http://www.reduser.net/forum/showth...ese-rigs-for-Scarlet-now-as-well-very-excited!

 

[Sebastian Wöber]

This might help as well http://www.reduser.net/forum/showth...ese-rigs-for-Scarlet-now-as-well-very-excited!

Thanks. I haven't seen anything Scarlet compatible there. It's all very custom to DSLR so I don't see how anything Scarlet would fit, even the rods and spacing at 15mm won't go underneath if my understanding is right. Maybe just a rumor?

 

[AJ Aguirre]

Thanks. I haven't seen anything Scarlet compatible there. It's all very custom to DSLR so I don't see how anything Scarlet would fit, even the rods and spacing at 15mm won't go underneath if my understanding is right. Maybe just a rumor?

http://www.letusdirect.com/cart/master-cinema-series/

When you go into it and choose your options, it has the option for scarlet

 

[Ruben and Sheri O.]

Very true they make these rigs for Scarlet, Fs100, Dlsrs and RED Epics, just do what AJ Aguirre said in his post above. make sure it's the Master cinema Series section and choose ur package and well just go to this link and in the area that says "camera cage" it has options there for many different cams that will work withe the rigs http://www.letusdirect.com/cart/mcs-complete.html

http://www.letusdirect.com/cart/master-cinema-series/

When you go into it and choose your options, it has the option for scarlet

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Welcome to REDUSER Sebastian, you are up to a good start...


I'll add to this post as soon as I have soon time...

 

[William Graydon]

Would a wooden camera A-Box with a Sound Devices MixPre-D be an essential part of this rig?

 

[Phil Holland]

This is where I'm scratching my head a whole ton. I'm giving myself two weeks once I actually have the Scarlet X to feel out exactly what will suit my usage needs best. My focus is on flexibility and portability for my own personal gear. Meaning quick to land on tripod, quick to go up on shoulder or hand held.

I'll be focused on using 15mm rods. My issue is that I'll be using lenses with large and smaller focus rings. Many of the "base plate" solutions out there don't allow for the rods to get closer to the lens past the level of plate mount. Red, ActionProducts, Wooden Camera, and Zacuto all have solutions to that problem. Zacuto is also making a Epic/Scarlet X-centric baseplate that should be out by December.

The shoulder rig that I'm after should be able to quickly go from shoulder to tripod and deconstructed quickly if necessary. Redrock Micro and Letus have nice solutions. I've been looking hard at Red's Clutch as it's likely the best shoulder rig I've ever felt. I already have a rig constructed from miscellaneous Redrock Micro, Zacuto, Easom components as well as a few custom built bits.

This could also potentially effect my matte box and I may have to purchase a new one to fit the new system more comfortably.

To add to that rig I'll add some sort of top handle and perhaps a left side handle that will always live on the camera/rig to have more ways to grab hold of the camera and quickly have a less stable handheld feel. Red and Wooden Camera seem to have the best solutions on this front. I like the rosette concept from Red for certain accessories and I know from my experience with them they are very sturdy.

Currently I'll be driving the camera mostly from the LCD, so I'll have to use a magic arm or bracket to offset it's position. In a couple months I may decided on the Bomb EVF, but I'm going to see how the 5.0" Touch LCD works for my style of shooting.

I know also in a few months I'll want to add the Dual or Quad Volt module and likely the basic I/O module if I don't come up with a more clever audio solution in the interim.

Currently, I have enough support to handle on and off cam audio via external device, but I am currently exploring other audio solutions with timecode to make my life easier or perhaps just a mixer dumping straight to camera for my own use.

All of this is what has actually been keeping me up night and day since the Scarlet X announcement.

 

[Doug Beatty]

The Ikan ELE-SLTH-ENG rig looks like a very promising alternative for The Clutch.

 

[Kyle Gentz]

This is where I'm scratching my head a whole ton. I'm giving myself two weeks once I actually have the Scarlet X to feel out exactly what will suit my usage needs best. My focus is on flexibility and portability for my own personal gear. Meaning quick to land on tripod, quick to go up on shoulder or hand held.

I'll be focused on using 15mm rods. My issue is that I'll be using lenses with large and smaller focus rings. Many of the "base plate" solutions out there don't allow for the rods to get closer to the lens past the level of plate mount. Red, ActionProducts, Wooden Camera, and Zacuto all have solutions to that problem. Zacuto is also making a Epic/Scarlet X-centric baseplate that should be out by December.

The shoulder rig that I'm after should be able to quickly go from shoulder to tripod and deconstructed quickly if necessary. Redrock Micro and Letus have nice solutions. I've been looking hard at Red's Clutch as it's likely the best shoulder rig I've ever felt. I already have a rig constructed from miscellaneous Redrock Micro, Zacuto, Easom components as well as a few custom built bits.

This could also potentially effect my matte box and I may have to purchase a new one to fit the new system more comfortably.

To add to that rig I'll add some sort of top handle and perhaps a left side handle that will always live on the camera/rig to have more ways to grab hold of the camera and quickly have a less stable handheld feel. Red and Wooden Camera seem to have the best solutions on this front. I like the rosette concept from Red for certain accessories and I know from my experience with them they are very sturdy.

Currently I'll be driving the camera mostly from the LCD, so I'll have to use a magic arm or bracket to offset it's position. In a couple months I may decided on the Bomb EVF, but I'm going to see how the 5.0" Touch LCD works for my style of shooting.

I know also in a few months I'll want to add the Dual or Quad Volt module and likely the basic I/O module if I don't come up with a more clever audio solution in the interim.

Currently, I have enough support to handle on and off cam audio via external device, but I am currently exploring other audio solutions with timecode to make my life easier or perhaps just a mixer dumping straight to camera for my own use.

All of this is what has actually been keeping me up night and day since the Scarlet X announcement.

Phil, Seems to me you and I are in very similar situations. Ive been racking my brain around 15mm Rods, Matte Boxes and Quick from Sticks to Shoulder and Audio. Id love to see what you come up with.

 

[Demetri Zuev]

Zacuto is also making a Epic/Scarlet X-centric baseplate that should be out by December.

Phil, where did you get that info?

On topic: in terms of Redvolts I think that 4 is not enough. One Redvolt lasts 20-25 minutes and charges for 2 hours (from what I've read in other topics), so 4 batteries will give you approx 1 hour 20 minutes of running time and that's it. By the time they all used only one will be fully recharged. Of course this may change when the Quad Charger arrives, but only in terms of charging times. I'd say that 8 Redvolts is a minimum.

 

[Steven Hammer]

I'd say that 8 Redvolts is a minimum.

Yikes!

 

[Joe Minuni]

Phil, where did you get that info?

I also heard this (regarding Zacuto's plate). I called Zacuto last week asking about rigging an Epic and they said they will have special mini-baseplate models out the 2nd or 3rd week of december. I have so many Zacuto parts I'm likely going to try to build a scarlet-x rig with as much as I can. Also like the long handles zacuto has, I think it's better for long days

 

[R Todd Eastman]

What about the inDiSystem Bulldog for shoulder rig?

 

[Jon Jones]

Here is what I am going with... a few more items (including SCARLET) and it will be a complete rig. These just arrived today btw.

 

[Jack Shanahan]

Clutch

Clutch

Jon,
That red clutch looks sick. Any ideas for monitoring? Are you gonna use EVF or 5'' touch?

Thanks,
Jack

 

[Phil Holland]

Phil, Seems to me you and I are in very similar situations. Ive been racking my brain around 15mm Rods, Matte Boxes and Quick from Sticks to Shoulder and Audio. Id love to see what you come up with.

I think many others are going to find themselves in this position too. I'll post pictures of whatever I come up with. It's really a toss up right now between modding my own rig for Scarlet X or building a new rig around Clutch.

Here's a picture of one of the configurations of my shoulder rig. I've had a Red One wedged in there and it worked, but I think I'd prefer to bolt the top handle to Scarlet X. This is what my production HDSLR rig last looked like this year. Shot all my Coachella stuff with this setup and some feature work without the audio components.

- bigger

Phil, where did you get that info?

Here and other places. I may call Zacuto near the end of the week to get an idea of what they're up to.


@Jon Jones: Congratulations. I'm a little jealous and you are making me consider it more and more Clutch is seriously gorgeous and rugged. Clearly designed for production use.

 

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

Phil you put a R1 in there? Those rigs where you hold the camera a foot in front of you sort of work for DSLRs, but I'd think once you double/triple the camera weight with a Scarlet/R1 it'd get very tiring to hold all that camera all with your arms, no? R1 gets pretty tiring even on the shoulder with proper balance so your back is taking most of the weight in my experience.

 

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

Here is what I am going with... a few more items (including SCARLET) and it will be a complete rig. These just arrived today btw.

Clutch looks nice, have you used it at all yet? I used one briefly on a rental and had issues with the grips not locking in place no matter how hard I tightened them. It looks badass but I'm concerned about the useability for the price. How are you liking it? Are the front and back braces worth the trouble? I didnt have time to figure out all the pieces when I was using it and it seemed needlessly complicated, but maybe that was because I was on a job and in a rush. Seems like a cool idea if you are going to be handheld all day, but it didn't seem like it'd be quick to take it on and off sticks a lot.