Reviews of Ronford or SIM Eyepiece Holders?

[Tim Naylor]

I'm in the market for a new EVF holder.

I just finished doing a feature with the ET EVF holder and as much as I like it, I had a few misgivings. It's good not perfect.

Does anyone have an objective review and price on the the Ronford Baker and SIM video eyepiece holders. Both have interesting designs but I've yet to hear from anyone who's used them.

And please, save the "Ronford Baker is a ripoff of ET" sentiment for someone else's thread.

In short, I'd like to hear from actual users, not speculators.

 

[Jay A. Kelley]

Perhaps if you could share what you do not like about the ET holder, we can be of more assistance.

Jay

 

[Tim Naylor]

I wish the eyepiece could move further forward for handheld. The RED is a very front heavy camera, making it less than ideal for handheld. Film cameras have the mag to balance it out and ENG cameras do the same with the tape mechanism. RED is perhaps one of the worst balanced cameras for HH.

To remedy that, I try to balance it upon my shoulder as far forward as the eyepiece will let me. If the ET could go another 1/2" to an 1" further forward, that would be great.

Otherwise, it's a fine piece of kit. The other improvement would be a longer travel fore and aft. Looks like the RBaker has a bit more travel.

 

[sander kamp]

Tim, I still have one custom made EVF mount available. It swings quite far to the front and from what I heard it also gets closer to the body then the ET. It's beautifully made of hard-coated aluminum and stainless steel and has been working perfectly for me for a year now.

Since it is just lying around I'd be happy to sell it to you for 1/3 of the ET price.

 

[paul engstrom]

I have the SIM setup and it certainly gives lots of forward and backward adjustability. I've been able to get an excellent position for the EVF with it so that I can attain a natural, comfortable position with the camera.

With the SIM setup the limiting factor actually becomes the EVF cable--it can be so far forward that you have to make sure it stays out of the way on short wide lenses (like the wide superspeeds, for example). I wish RED had a set the LEMO connector in the EVF to allow the right angle to go up rather into the lens.

Hope that helps you Tim. Feel free to ask any more detailed questions--shoot me a pm as I might not notice postings in this part of the forum.

p

 

[Conrad Hunziker]

With the SIM setup the limiting factor actually becomes the EVF cable--it can be so far forward that you have to make sure it stays out of the way on short wide lenses (like the wide superspeeds, for example). I wish RED had a set the LEMO connector in the EVF to allow the right angle to go up rather into the lens.

It may void your warranty, but you can change the orientation of the lemo connector on the EVF. Just undo the 4 screws and rotate. Ive seen a couple of cameras with it that way for this reason. Again, it may void the warranty and you should use proper electrical precautions, etc....

 

[Dave Blackham]

We use the Ronford mount. It will still be here in many years to come and will outlast the EVF its very solidly built.

It works well and can be configured in several ways to give best fit for the set up in hand. When its set its solid and wont move when your eye is against it. We fit ours to the front of the top rail avoiding the tape hook. The EVF can go a long way forward and also a long way back and up or down depending on how the mini dovetail arm is preset, it has allen screws to ajust its effective length, Id guess Ronford could extend this if needed if you wanted it along side the battery/cradle.

If there is a critisim of it, the triangular knob that is used for the rotate function does protrude a bit further than we would like so its more dificult to get the EVF tight against the body with out the knob coming in to contact with the camera or lens depending on where its set. All else if very good though.

The other set up to consider is using a 5 inch and 7 inch nogga arm front and back of the EVF. Its inexpensive and very flexable for positioning. One nogga arm isnt solid.

 

[Curran Giddens]

To remedy that, I try to balance it upon my shoulder as far forward as the eyepiece will let me. If the ET could go another 1/2" to an 1" further forward, that would be great.

Have you tried the ET EVF Mount Extension piece?

It may void your warranty, but you can change the orientation of the lemo connector on the EVF. Just undo the 4 screws and rotate. Ive seen a couple of cameras with it that way for this reason. Again, it may void the warranty and you should use proper electrical precautions, etc....

Or, just use an LCD cable. When I was having similar issues with my EVF cable I replaced it with one of my backup LCD cables.
The LCD cables has one right-angle connector and one straight connector. Just use the straight one on the EVF and the right-angle on the camera.

 

[Jeff Barklage]

I may be interested in this eyepiece holder...please tell me more.

 

[paul engstrom]

Have you tried the ET EVF Mount Extension piece?



Or, just use an LCD cable. When I was having similar issues with my EVF cable I replaced it with one of my backup LCD cables.
The LCD cables has one right-angle connector and one straight connector. Just use the straight one on the EVF and the right-angle on the camera.

Thanks for the suggestion Curran, problem there is that the cable then sticks way, way out there--and wants to get in the wide angle too

I'm way past warranty on the EVF, I'll probably just rotate the connector; I hadn't thought of that one. Thanks Conrad. I should add: your software program is excellent--I'd say an on set essential. Thanks for it.

This forum rocks.

Back to main question--with SIM you can get EVF far forward, extremely far backward, quite far away from camera and in closer than you would want it to be. Range is certainly one of its strengths.