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Seeking assistance with rods/rail systems for Scarlet

E

Eric Simmons

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Hi, everyone. I ordered my Scarlet on November 3rd and I've had it since February 14th (the name Cupid was taken). This is by far the most professional piece of gear I've ever owned. I'm doing my best to step up to the plate, but throughout this entire process, there's been one thing I've been unable to wrap my head around - rods and the components that make up a rail system.

I've spent months researching, looking for online resources, and even lurking this board, but nothing's helping me. When I visit websites that sell rods and rail systems, I see bits & pieces but never blueprints for piecing things together. Things that are really baffling me are: 1. 15mm vs 19mm, 2. how long should the rods really be?, 3. what exactly do I need (baseplates, risers, top mounts, bridgeplates, brackets, etc) and how do they fit together and mount on a fluid head?

Essentially, I'm only looking to support lenses, use a mattebox and mount a few things while my camera's on a tripod. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like once you choose a direction (example: you go 19mm), you're locked into that standard. I'm sure there are pros & cons to whatever you choose. I see a lot of things listed as "universal," but it doesn't seem like there's anything universal going on.

I'd appreciate any advice from more experienced users - especially if you feel like listing your gear and your opinion of how it's working for you. Or if there's anything you recommend. Many thanks.
 
Congratulations on receiving your Scarlet! Just out of curiosity, what do you mean by "the name Cupid was taken?"

By the way, you've probably already read this, but here's an excellent thread on the differences between 15mm and 19mm rods: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?7913-RED-ONE-Rod-FAQ

I'll let someone more knowledgeable than I explain assembling building a rail system. :-)
 
Eric, over the last year I have gone though much off what you are describing. There is no single and immediate answer but you are right to start asking questions. I also spent a lot of time reading product descriptions on various supplier web sites. As a start, I'd watch the RED video about their Quick Release system. It may not be the product for you but it does give some context as to why you might want certain pieces. Look here:

http://www.red.com/learn/product_demos/quick-release-system
 
My two cents... and sorry, this is going to be long...

I've owned several cameras with rod based systems from film to digital. I've owned a full 16mm system, HVX back in the day, 7D handheld rig, 5D handheld rig (many many versions), FS100 handheld rig, and all of that rigging has taught me what I like and what I don't like.

15mm vs. 19mm - Unless you're doing mostly work where a production company is renting gear for you, or your pockets are deep don't do 19mm for your actual iris rods, and don't do studio spacing. 19mm studio spacing AKS are primarily used with film cameras in a studio configuration or on rigs where you're using seriously large heavy glass.

If you plan to own your own follow focus and matte box some day, or you already do the price difference on the whole between aks designed to work on a 15mm Light Weight Spacing (lws) system are significant. There are many adapters to get a 15mm lws follow focus up to 19mm studio spacing, but they typically raise the height of the follow focus significantly (some manufacturers don't really design their adapters to raise the follow focus to standard height) but when it comes to matte boxes you're often times left with certain choices that exist in the 19mm world and certain choices designed for the 15mm lws world and never the twain shall meet.

Actual gear suggestions: These opinions are all my own, but this is where I went with things:

Wooden Camera Easy Riser with 15mm lws clamp - This set of rods will take your follow focus, any lens support and your matte box.

Berkey Systems (berkeysystems.com) 15mm Rods - They are very, very well made. And they are extremely reasonably priced for their quality level. Seriously. The difference between a really well made, really well anodized AL rod and a cheap one is serious. My iris rods are of the internally threaded variety, meaning you can buy adapters that thread into your rods to extend their length in case you want to use a longer lens, etc. But my base iris rods are about 8". This allows me to get a Zeiss ZF prime on there with a follow focus and I could easily rod mount my matte box, but it is currently clamped on. For a zoom, you might want 12", but if you've got a wide angle zoom or prime in your kit that's relatively short, having shorter rods you can thread in and out of to make them longer is nice. Or, you could just buy slightly shorter and slightly longer rods. Whatever your budget is.

If you are really on a tight budget you can call Modern Studio Equipment. Google em. Their rods are made of steel (heavy but also strong) but they use a non standard threading, so you can only thread Modern rods with Modern rods. Berkey's rods can be threaded together with Element rods, Zacuto rods, etc.

Next - I bought a Zacuto Recoil Lite. It's very useful. I have the baseplate attached underneath my Easy Riser and my tripod plate attaches to that. 'Why do that?' you might be asking. Because the Recoil lite comes with a set of rods attached to it as well. I have my Redrock hand grips attached to those rods all the time. This means if I want to go to handheld mode, my handgrips are already attached to the rig, and they're on a separate set of rods that will not interfere with my actual iris rods. I know you can accomplish the same thing if you've got one of the Red/O'Connor/Arri rosette style rigs, but the difference in price is hundreds of dollars. Like over a thousand bucks different.

And, included in that over a thousand dollar savings is the Recoil's quick release shoulder pad which is killer, works great, comes on and off quick and means I bring my quick release along with the shoulder pad, not along with the camera. It's a trade off of functionality, but it works absolutely a treat for me.

Lastly I chose to take the rod clamp off of my old Redrock DSLR 'tripod adapter plate' (a cheeseplate with a 15mm lws rod clamp on it) and attach it to the top of my camera. I found a Redrock alan screw from somewhere that was long enough and bolted it onto my Wooden Camera top plate at the very front center of the camera. I had to throw a couple of little (Redrock brand) shims under the rod clamp, but once I bolted it on, I could throw a couple more 6" rods on top of the camera so I have a spot to slip a wireless follow focus on. I like to mount wireless FF to the top rods to that if you for some aesthetic (or technical) reason you want to switch back to a traditional FF you don't need to pull the wireless motor off, you can just swing it out of the way.

This setup leaves me plenty of room for my Wooden Camera cheese top handle and two Ultralight arm mounting points.

Parting Shot - My Redrock FF does not work with short primes with the Wooden Camera 15mm lws clamp. I don't blame Wooden Camera, I blame my short a$$ Zeiss primes in combination with a non flippable/reversable follow focus. I have since bought the Zacuto flippable and it works terribly well. As does the Arri MFF-1

p.s. - If you have a Redrock follow focus and you're stuck in the same position (short lenses + deep rod clamp = pain) you can mount your Redrock FF upside down on the top rod rig I described above and it works... and if you're using Nikon lenses, they pull the right way. How about that?

I hope this helps. If you have any questions, PM me or find my contact info at www.jtalleydp.com
 
Cheat Sheet to the Vendors I listed -

Top Plate/Bottom Plate/15mm Rod Clamp/Top Handle/Battery Back - WoodenCamera.com

Rods - BerkeySystems.com or modernstudio.com

Recoil System/Shoulder Mount w/Rods - Zacuto.com (I purchased from BHPhotoVideo.com)

Hand Grips - RedRockMicro.com (Again, BHPhotoVideo.com or Amazon.com)

Monitor Mounts - UltraLight Arms (filmtools.com)

Top Rod Clamp - RedrockMicro.com or WoodenCamera.com or BerkeySystems.com
 
Justin Talley said:
My two cents... and sorry, this is going to be long...

I've owned several cameras with rod based systems from film to digital. I've owned a full 16mm system, HVX back in the day, 7D handheld rig, 5D handheld rig (many many versions), FS100 handheld rig, and all of that rigging has taught me what I like and what I don't like.

15mm vs. 19mm - Unless you're doing mostly work where a production company is renting gear for you, or your pockets are deep don't do 19mm for your actual iris rods, and don't do studio spacing. 19mm studio spacing AKS are primarily used with film cameras in a studio configuration or on rigs where you're using seriously large heavy glass.

If you plan to own your own follow focus and matte box some day, or you already do the price difference on the whole between aks designed to work on a 15mm Light Weight Spacing (lws) system are significant. There are many adapters to get a 15mm lws follow focus up to 19mm studio spacing, but they typically raise the height of the follow focus significantly (some manufacturers don't really design their adapters to raise the follow focus to standard height) but when it comes to matte boxes you're often times left with certain choices that exist in the 19mm world and certain choices designed for the 15mm lws world and never the twain shall meet.

Actual gear suggestions: These opinions are all my own, but this is where I went with things:

Wooden Camera Easy Riser with 15mm lws clamp - This set of rods will take your follow focus, any lens support and your matte box.

Berkey Systems (berkeysystems.com) 15mm Rods - They are very, very well made. And they are extremely reasonably priced for their quality level. Seriously. The difference between a really well made, really well anodized AL rod and a cheap one is serious. My iris rods are of the internally threaded variety, meaning you can buy adapters that thread into your rods to extend their length in case you want to use a longer lens, etc. But my base iris rods are about 8". This allows me to get a Zeiss ZF prime on there with a follow focus and I could easily rod mount my matte box, but it is currently clamped on. For a zoom, you might want 12", but if you've got a wide angle zoom or prime in your kit that's relatively short, having shorter rods you can thread in and out of to make them longer is nice. Or, you could just buy slightly shorter and slightly longer rods. Whatever your budget is.

If you are really on a tight budget you can call Modern Studio Equipment. Google em. Their rods are made of steel (heavy but also strong) but they use a non standard threading, so you can only thread Modern rods with Modern rods. Berkey's rods can be threaded together with Element rods, Zacuto rods, etc.

Next - I bought a Zacuto Recoil Lite. It's very useful. I have the baseplate attached underneath my Easy Riser and my tripod plate attaches to that. 'Why do that?' you might be asking. Because the Recoil lite comes with a set of rods attached to it as well. I have my Redrock hand grips attached to those rods all the time. This means if I want to go to handheld mode, my handgrips are already attached to the rig, and they're on a separate set of rods that will not interfere with my actual iris rods. I know you can accomplish the same thing if you've got one of the Red/O'Connor/Arri rosette style rigs, but the difference in price is hundreds of dollars. Like over a thousand bucks different.

And, included in that over a thousand dollar savings is the Recoil's quick release shoulder pad which is killer, works great, comes on and off quick and means I bring my quick release along with the shoulder pad, not along with the camera. It's a trade off of functionality, but it works absolutely a treat for me.

Lastly I chose to take the rod clamp off of my old Redrock DSLR 'tripod adapter plate' (a cheeseplate with a 15mm lws rod clamp on it) and attach it to the top of my camera. I found a Redrock alan screw from somewhere that was long enough and bolted it onto my Wooden Camera top plate at the very front center of the camera. I had to throw a couple of little (Redrock brand) shims under the rod clamp, but once I bolted it on, I could throw a couple more 6" rods on top of the camera so I have a spot to slip a wireless follow focus on. I like to mount wireless FF to the top rods to that if you for some aesthetic (or technical) reason you want to switch back to a traditional FF you don't need to pull the wireless motor off, you can just swing it out of the way.

This setup leaves me plenty of room for my Wooden Camera cheese top handle and two Ultralight arm mounting points.

Parting Shot - My Redrock FF does not work with short primes with the Wooden Camera 15mm lws clamp. I don't blame Wooden Camera, I blame my short a$$ Zeiss primes in combination with a non flippable/reversable follow focus. I have since bought the Zacuto flippable and it works terribly well. As does the Arri MFF-1

p.s. - If you have a Redrock follow focus and you're stuck in the same position (short lenses + deep rod clamp = pain) you can mount your Redrock FF upside down on the top rod rig I described above and it works... and if you're using Nikon lenses, they pull the right way. How about that?

I hope this helps. If you have any questions, PM me or find my contact info at www.jtalleydp.com
Click to expand...

This advice is worth far more than two cents worth, sir. Kudos..It's helped me quite a bit as I'm literally on on sites getting ready to order :)
 
I think Justin nailed it, bearing in mind he does use mostly Primes, not, say Canon zooms like (cough) some of us do, which might modify your approach slightly.

I am still stunned at what companies are charging for some admittedly beautiful shoulder-mount kits -$1000, $1500s+ to start for many, which, at least for this Scarlet owner, is too much of a swallow - and I am a hand-held guy from w-a-a-a-y back. Justin's tip on the Recoil is a good one if you are looking for value. They are almost free compared to many systems out there and as he says, regardless of what you get, the ability to have a kit that you can quickly and easily go from hand-held (ie shoulder mount) to sticks is a huge plus unless you are doing mostly narrative/studio work. The Recoil does this very well.

Like you I have had my Scarlet since Feb and have spent WEEKS cruising vendor sites and lurking here seeing what people are recommending. My kit is _finally_coming together and believe me, its a Bastard, in the sense that its using bitsas from ALL over the spectrum to make it work the way I want. All of which is what is so amazing - that you have these incredible/frustrating choices to gear yourself up!

FWIW check out
http://www.shapewlb.com/
Its a Canuk outfit and sells thru Adorama in the US. I bought their 15mm Quick Handle set and shoulder-pad bits and have rigged up a Recoil-like kit at less $$ than the actual zacuto version. And the quality is s-u-p-e-r-b.

Stu Aull
S-X #00199
Alaska
 
Justin,

What wireless FF have you had success with?

Justin Talley said:
My two cents... and sorry, this is going to be long...

I've owned several cameras with rod based systems from film to digital. I've owned a full 16mm system, HVX back in the day, 7D handheld rig, 5D handheld rig (many many versions), FS100 handheld rig, and all of that rigging has taught me what I like and what I don't like.

15mm vs. 19mm - Unless you're doing mostly work where a production company is renting gear for you, or your pockets are deep don't do 19mm for your actual iris rods, and don't do studio spacing. 19mm studio spacing AKS are primarily used with film cameras in a studio configuration or on rigs where you're using seriously large heavy glass.

If you plan to own your own follow focus and matte box some day, or you already do the price difference on the whole between aks designed to work on a 15mm Light Weight Spacing (lws) system are significant. There are many adapters to get a 15mm lws follow focus up to 19mm studio spacing, but they typically raise the height of the follow focus significantly (some manufacturers don't really design their adapters to raise the follow focus to standard height) but when it comes to matte boxes you're often times left with certain choices that exist in the 19mm world and certain choices designed for the 15mm lws world and never the twain shall meet.

Actual gear suggestions: These opinions are all my own, but this is where I went with things:

Wooden Camera Easy Riser with 15mm lws clamp - This set of rods will take your follow focus, any lens support and your matte box.

Berkey Systems (berkeysystems.com) 15mm Rods - They are very, very well made. And they are extremely reasonably priced for their quality level. Seriously. The difference between a really well made, really well anodized AL rod and a cheap one is serious. My iris rods are of the internally threaded variety, meaning you can buy adapters that thread into your rods to extend their length in case you want to use a longer lens, etc. But my base iris rods are about 8". This allows me to get a Zeiss ZF prime on there with a follow focus and I could easily rod mount my matte box, but it is currently clamped on. For a zoom, you might want 12", but if you've got a wide angle zoom or prime in your kit that's relatively short, having shorter rods you can thread in and out of to make them longer is nice. Or, you could just buy slightly shorter and slightly longer rods. Whatever your budget is.

If you are really on a tight budget you can call Modern Studio Equipment. Google em. Their rods are made of steel (heavy but also strong) but they use a non standard threading, so you can only thread Modern rods with Modern rods. Berkey's rods can be threaded together with Element rods, Zacuto rods, etc.

Next - I bought a Zacuto Recoil Lite. It's very useful. I have the baseplate attached underneath my Easy Riser and my tripod plate attaches to that. 'Why do that?' you might be asking. Because the Recoil lite comes with a set of rods attached to it as well. I have my Redrock hand grips attached to those rods all the time. This means if I want to go to handheld mode, my handgrips are already attached to the rig, and they're on a separate set of rods that will not interfere with my actual iris rods. I know you can accomplish the same thing if you've got one of the Red/O'Connor/Arri rosette style rigs, but the difference in price is hundreds of dollars. Like over a thousand bucks different.

And, included in that over a thousand dollar savings is the Recoil's quick release shoulder pad which is killer, works great, comes on and off quick and means I bring my quick release along with the shoulder pad, not along with the camera. It's a trade off of functionality, but it works absolutely a treat for me.

Lastly I chose to take the rod clamp off of my old Redrock DSLR 'tripod adapter plate' (a cheeseplate with a 15mm lws rod clamp on it) and attach it to the top of my camera. I found a Redrock alan screw from somewhere that was long enough and bolted it onto my Wooden Camera top plate at the very front center of the camera. I had to throw a couple of little (Redrock brand) shims under the rod clamp, but once I bolted it on, I could throw a couple more 6" rods on top of the camera so I have a spot to slip a wireless follow focus on. I like to mount wireless FF to the top rods to that if you for some aesthetic (or technical) reason you want to switch back to a traditional FF you don't need to pull the wireless motor off, you can just swing it out of the way.

This setup leaves me plenty of room for my Wooden Camera cheese top handle and two Ultralight arm mounting points.

Parting Shot - My Redrock FF does not work with short primes with the Wooden Camera 15mm lws clamp. I don't blame Wooden Camera, I blame my short a$$ Zeiss primes in combination with a non flippable/reversable follow focus. I have since bought the Zacuto flippable and it works terribly well. As does the Arri MFF-1

p.s. - If you have a Redrock follow focus and you're stuck in the same position (short lenses + deep rod clamp = pain) you can mount your Redrock FF upside down on the top rod rig I described above and it works... and if you're using Nikon lenses, they pull the right way. How about that?

I hope this helps. If you have any questions, PM me or find my contact info at www.jtalleydp.com
Click to expand...
 
Could you show us some pics of your setup?

Thanks

stu aull said:
I think Justin nailed it, bearing in mind he does use mostly Primes, not, say Canon zooms like (cough) some of us do, which might modify your approach slightly.

I am still stunned at what companies are charging for some admittedly beautiful shoulder-mount kits -$1000, $1500s+ to start for many, which, at least for this Scarlet owner, is too much of a swallow - and I am a hand-held guy from w-a-a-a-y back. Justin's tip on the Recoil is a good one if you are looking for value. They are almost free compared to many systems out there and as he says, regardless of what you get, the ability to have a kit that you can quickly and easily go from hand-held (ie shoulder mount) to sticks is a huge plus unless you are doing mostly narrative/studio work. The Recoil does this very well.

Like you I have had my Scarlet since Feb and have spent WEEKS cruising vendor sites and lurking here seeing what people are recommending. My kit is _finally_coming together and believe me, its a Bastard, in the sense that its using bitsas from ALL over the spectrum to make it work the way I want. All of which is what is so amazing - that you have these incredible/frustrating choices to gear yourself up!

FWIW check out
http://www.shapewlb.com/
Its a Canuk outfit and sells thru Adorama in the US. I bought their 15mm Quick Handle set and shoulder-pad bits and have rigged up a Recoil-like kit at less $$ than the actual zacuto version. And the quality is s-u-p-e-r-b.

Stu Aull
S-X #00199
Alaska
Click to expand...
 
Gary - Thanks!

Stu - Agreed. There are a lot of ways to skin this cat. Some of us have been down that road many times and taken a few bumps along the way. For me, this is the culmination of what I've learned so far vs. what I can afford to spend to benefit from the lessons.

Will - Mostly Bartek on low budget work Preston/FIZ on the bigger budget gigs. I don't own though. Not a Steadicam guy.
 
OK I guess you would call my solution different.

It has been suggest by Lliam that I share my solution to this vexing issue. So here it is with some rationalisation for why I have done what I have done.

It seems to me most current QR systems & rods have been designed for Cine lens standards ( 19 mm & it seems even 15mm) That is a fixed camera and rods with all the adjustments happening up the front end to accommodate MB & FF systems. It seems with most designs, we are still caught in the 20 century with camera systems that weight a tonne. This does not acknowledge the reality of using a cutting edge 21st century digital camera on 15mm rods with still lenses and there huge variation in lengths of lens. For me the critical issue when using still lenses is not the length of lens but the distance from the end of the lens to the focus ring ie MB to FF distance. This seems to stay almost constant.

So my solution has been configured to give a versatile QR mount system on 15 mm rods that allows for camera movement at the back end for rapid re-adjustment of camera to accommodate different size still lenses ie modern L glass & then swapping over to a tiny Leica lens all with minimum fuss & all for under $400.

Here is my shopping list for individual elements which when combined create a highly versatile QR & rod system

Rail Blocks

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RailBlock-R...ltDomain_0&hash=item3cbaf270bd#ht_3121wt_1161

15mm block & plate

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tripod-Moun...ultDomain_0&hash=item19cecf2371#ht_538wt_1161

Manfrotto QR Plate

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Manfrott...ultDomain_0&hash=item58927d5c9e#ht_4764wt_927

Manfrotto Long Plate

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Manfrott...ultDomain_0&hash=item5892a46f18#ht_4236wt_927

Shop around you can get cheaper than some prices quoted .

The idea is you use the Manfrotto QR Pate + the 15mm Plate & block mounted in a line on the Manfrotto long plate or alternately a tripod plate of your choice. You may need a spacing block to rise the system up to give clearance on your tripod. This system allows the camera to slide up & down on it's QR system allowing for the following......

1) Easy positioning of camera In relation to MB & FF systems regardless of lens length Ie can shoot with 70 - 200 L Glass then swap over to a prime all on the same rig in seconds. Just slide the camera up or down the QR system to accommodate without the need to reconfigure the whole rig.

2) Almost Instant setup from tripod to shoulder mount plus easy balancing of the camera regardless of lens or battery configuration.

3) Instant demounting, for hand held shots from either shoulder or tripod mount.

4) A simple streamlined rig without tonnes of crap hanging off it.

5) You no longer need a "swing away" MB as you can now slide the camera back on the plate to allow for lens swaps

NOTE: This system raises the camera about 5mm above correct height which should not be a problem for adjustable MBs ie most good ones.. & shouldn't be a problem for better FF systems .

This system will not be for everyone, however if you want something that works whilst waiting for someone to design a better system then this could be for you.

If I get time over the weekend I will upload some pics of my Scarlet on this system.

Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
Justin Talley said:
My two cents... and sorry, this is going to be long...
Click to expand...

Apology not accepted. Posting something that is both long AND informative AND backed up by years of experience is super, super helpful to those of us that are new, floundering around, and still trying to figure out what would work best without breaking the bank.
 
Such a nice, helpful post, Justin. Thank you for that. I understood most of that beforehand, but learned a few neat tricks.
 
Justin really nailed the "what's important" part of this discussion, but I'll throw in a little more detail to the mix... O'Connor has a great diagram and explanation of the rod standards used across the industry; it's a solid read for those who want to learn: http://www.ocon.com/labs/rod-standards.html

I work at Birns & Sawyer in North Hollywood and we're constantly seeing the pros and cons for each system. However, it's entirely dependent on your camera build and usage. But I wish you happy learning and happy shopping! If you're in the area (North Hollywood) feel free to stop by Birns to see some of our gear and try out the different systems first hand (www.birnsandsawyer.com).
 
Justin Talley said:
Cheat Sheet to the Vendors I listed -

Top Plate/Bottom Plate/15mm Rod Clamp/Top Handle/Battery Back - WoodenCamera.com

Rods - BerkeySystems.com or modernstudio.com

Recoil System/Shoulder Mount w/Rods - Zacuto.com (I purchased from BHPhotoVideo.com)

Hand Grips - RedRockMicro.com (Again, BHPhotoVideo.com or Amazon.com)

Monitor Mounts - UltraLight Arms (filmtools.com)

Top Rod Clamp - RedrockMicro.com or WoodenCamera.com or BerkeySystems.com
Click to expand...

Justin - great post on your setup!

As is the originator of this post, I'm also rod/rig-challenged at the moment, and trying to figure all this out.

The most interesting thing I've seen is a video showing a breakdown from tripod to shoulder mount of this system:

http://vimeo.com/36949507 The video really helps to make sense of it all.

I'd love it if you had the time to make a short video on your system, and maybe contrast your system's advantages/disadvantages to that Allstar rig.

There are just so many choices, and so many hidden "gotcha's" with fitting it all together. Would really appreciate a video on the things one really needs, the things to watch out for, etc!
 
Nick - I'm blushing.

Matt - How are you?! Good to see you on the forums. Might have a job coming into Birns for next week. For those of you who don't know, Birns and Sawyer is a great shop and I've been renting from them for years and years. Check em out if you've got a gig in L.A./SoCal.

Les - I think the Allstar system is very well thought out. I happen to already own products in various categories, so I didn't want to buy a "from scratch" system which theirs is. They are employing all the principles that my rig consists of - Separate rods for your follow focus/matte box and your handheld handles. Mine are just both 15mm lws, where their rods are on 19mm studio spacing. For my purposes going to 19mm studio would have been more expensive without really buying me a whole lot. The other thing about their rig (which I've seen in person and is very well made) is that it's a lot bigger than mine, both longer wider. I like that my Scarlet rig is smaller than my FS100 rig. Which is crazy but true.

I'm a luddite when it comes to the web, but if I can figure out how to get pictures onto this site I'll snap some pics of my rig and post them here so you can see what the heck I'm talking about. I parted ways with my SLRs, so they'll be cell phone pics, but you'll get the gist. If I didn't look like a Grizzly Adams/Abe Lincoln hybrid I'd shoot you all a video... but I do. And no one wants to watch that while they're eating breakfast.

Cheers all. I'm glad to be of help. Any questions, PM me or find my contact info at jtalleydp.com
 
Justin - Life is good... and yes, I'm trying to spread my wings a bit with the forum (why not right?). Heard about your gig from Ellen, I look forward to helping you out!
 
Thanks, Brain. Cupid seemed like the obvious name for my camera when it finally arrived on Valentine's Day, but someone had already snagged it. I appreciate the link.
 
Big thanks to everyone who replied... It's incredibly appreciated.
 
I love the Grizzly Adams/Abe Lincoln hybrid comment so much, its going in the "Favorite Reduser Quotes" thread. Thanks for the laugh and the sweet rig details :)
 
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