Shoulder Pad w/ Arri Dovetail?

[Gavin Greenwalt]

I'm imagining a product and someone surely must have made one but is there a shoulder pad with a dovetail on top? Then I can just slide my camera off of a tripod with dovetail and on to a shoulder-pad dovetail with rails and everything intact.

 

[Jeff Garton]

Element Technica Mantis.

 

[rod bradley]

Allstar-cine -- great quality and even greater prices. Mine has hell up over 3 years of constant use. Tom is very quick and reliable. And all the stuff I've ordered has been shipped out
instantly, and to my astonishment (I'm in LA) has arrived in 34 days on ever order. Shipping is quite reasonable. Never had customs issues.

Don't be put off by the website. Contact allstar.cine@gmail.com and tell him what your needs are. He is a working DP and understands. I've never
had any communications problems, and I know his English is a lot better than my Mandarin. I have no association other than a happy customer.

 

[Tim Bradley]

You can use the original Red One shoulder pad/plate. All you have to do is mill off a tiny amount from the top of the plate (see pic)

This works perfectly with my Epic and Element Technica Arri dovetail. The milling cost me about $70 in Sydney Aust.

 

[Michael Ou]

Yes, Allstar good products, but their website is in need of a major overhaul. I'm looking into the same shouldermount/dovetail combo, and will probably place an order in a day or two. Their shoulder mount fits both their top plates and their Arri mounts. Lots of flexibility in the system. But as a system I had to understand what all the parts did, so the videos on their website helped a little. Communication is very good and shipping was surprisingly fast for overseas.
http://allstar-cine.myweb.hinet.net/html/red_accessories/DSMC.html

 

[rod bradley]

Glad to know that Michael's experience, along with others I know personally, is the same as mine. But not surprising. Definitely the website does not do justice to the product line. Or their constant thinking ahead and innovation. If you have to consider budget, definitely a plus.

 

[Dan Kanes]

Hold out for the forthcoming Wooden Camera Shoulder Dovetail.

I also like the Allstar shoulder rig - but seriously - how can you go wrong with Wooden Camera AKS?

 

[jason dewey]

+1 for the WC shoulder rig Ryan is working on, especially if you already own the quickback with the xtra long lemo. check it out:

http://instagr.am/p/IKnw5mt79j/

 

[Ryan De Franco]

Funny, I spent a few hours looking up thse question this morning... Scouring the post you rig threads.... And came to the same conclusion.

Even though the Allstar might be a good $300 solution... It has a female mounting point for a dovetail, not an integrated dovetail shape as the WC rig appears to have. So now you need a 1/4 inch more metal between you and your small camera.

sounds like nothing but center of gravity is everything. The more accessories you have, underneath all the gack you still want a machine that sits like a cat on the shoulder, close and alive. the plate is a wall between your motion and the camera's. Whoever can turn this little box camera into an Ikonoskop or an Aaton you've got a shoulder mount that sells like hotcakes

Hopefully the wooden camera battery counterweight + a well positioned viewfinder will accomplish this. I can't wait.

 

[ALLSTAR]

Thank everybody for discussing about my products.
To say in this way may be very strange and not professional that I only care about my products' function is good or not, I don't really care if they were sold a lot or not. I made products because I need them myself, and designed stuff based on my working experience. I am not a accessory manufactory, and I don' t make a fortune because of producing these products. I don't spend a lot money on promoting my products and on the brand image decoration.
Ryan is right, the center of gravity is the most important. 3 years ago, the motivation that I started making shoulder system was not because I don't want to spend money buying other companies' products, it was because most shoulder systems have center of gravity problem, either too high or too front. Therefore I designed dual bridge plate by myself to work with shoulder rig, this set works very well on REDONE, I really like it.

Now it can also be used on DSMC cameras:https://vimeo.com/36949507
But DSMC body is too small, so when you add follow focus, matte box, the center of gravity is still in the front.
After adding module and battery plate in the back, the problem will be improved, and we are producing even lighter handle set.

Wooden camera company is my customer about 2 years ago, they rent our shoulder rigs for $50 USD/day. http://woodencamera.com/equipment
If their new shoulder pad is added under the bridge plate, the center of gravity will be too high, like Element Technica Mantis or our Arri H. If it is added on the rear of bridge plate, like RED DSMC shoulder pad, the center of gravity will be too front.
For the RED DSMC shoulder pad, if you had assembled them, you can use our grip base for fast assembling.
THe grip base can also work on Alexa and F65.

Thank everyone's support!

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

If their new shoulder pad is added under the bridge plate, the center of gravity will be too high, like Element Technica Mantis or our Arri H. If it is added on the rear of bridge plate, like RED DSMC shoulder pad, the center of gravity will be too front.
For the RED DSMC shoulder pad, if you had assembled them, you can use our grip base for fast assembling.
THe grip base can also work on Alexa and F65.

Is there anything that isn't too high or too far forward?

 

[ALLSTAR]

Is there anything that isn't too high or too far forward?

There are 2 ways:
1. Don't let bridge plate get on your shoulder, attach shoulder pad under the camera directly such as Allstar Dual Bridge plate system or RED quick release plate.
2. make the center of gravity to be in the rear of the bridge plate, such as adding quarter battery module or something heavy in the back, but it also means you get heavier load.
Of course, there are some rigs can get balance, but it might take time to assemble it.

 

[Sean Porter]

Hold out for the forthcoming Wooden Camera Shoulder Dovetail.

+1 to that, Ryan's stuff is great.

 

[Patrick Tresch]

http://eu.innocinema.com/product_info.php?cPath=5&products_id=171

And you can mount the shoulder pad under the dovetail, directly on the camera or above the top plate to have a lower camera setup.

Pat

 

[Adam C Lubkin]

I held off on posting here because there's already a thread on this, but I have a shoulder rig on the way that takes a different approach to achieving the "cat on the shoulder" ideal. As a long-time student of human anatomy and kinesiology, I've found it strange that so many pics of people with their Red shoulder rigs (going back to R1 but including recent Epic pics) look so awkward, with people having their heads cocked back in uncomfortable ways and looking through the EVF from strange angles. And I dislike using a camera that feels tippy up on my shoulder. So I designed my own rig from the ground up. The Epic presents certain challenges to getting an optimal position, and what I discovered is that I had to design my own baseplate so that I could get the shoulder scoop into the best position (although it works fine with standard baseplates like Red or Arri). I also spent countless hours studying folks of different builds to determine angles and placements. It's been a long process. Like they say, the last 10% takes 90% of the time. But we're almost there. I'll have pics up in a couple weeks and will have units with me at NAB.

 

[Mike Halper]

Allstar (sorry I don't know your actual name), the problem I see with your design is that it forces us to use your dual bridgeplate to have a decent center of gravity height. A lot of us already have bridgeplates, and that would require us to add a dovetail between our existing bridgeplate and your shoulder pad. It would be nice if you had a shoulder pad that just has the dovetail and not the plate receptor/clamp so it could attach to any Arri-style bridgeplate without needing anything else. The Innocinema seems like the best option right now, but is pretty expensive (might as well go Mantis) so I'm waiting to see Wooden Camera's option since I'm so happy with what they've done with everything else.

 

[Patrick Tresch]

To Adam Lubkin,

I've wanted to design a shoulder pad myself numerous time... But didn't have the skills nor the tools to do it.
Epic is a real challenge for ergonomy. Please post your rig as soon as possible. I'll be ready to take order if it can lower the center of gravity of the camera on your shoulder like a cat (the Beauviala cat don't stand on the shoulder...)


Patrick

 

[ALLSTAR]

Allstar (sorry I don't know your actual name), the problem I see with your design is that it forces us to use your dual bridgeplate to have a decent center of gravity height. A lot of us already have bridgeplates, and that would require us to add a dovetail between our existing bridgeplate and your shoulder pad. It would be nice if you had a shoulder pad that just has the dovetail and not the plate receptor/clamp so it could attach to any Arri-style bridgeplate without needing anything else. The Innocinema seems like the best option right now, but is pretty expensive (might as well go Mantis) so I'm waiting to see Wooden Camera's option since I'm so happy with what they've done with everything else.

Hi Mike,
My name is Tom, my website is really awful. We certainly have shoulder rigs for Arri bridge plate. You can choose these two bundles: ARRI H or ARRI combo.

But like other companies' products , if you would like to assemble shoulder pad under the bridge plate by a dovetail, the camera will be raised up 4-7cm, and the center of gravity will be too high and become like bobblehead. So I do my best to make ARRI H and ARRI combo to be raised as less as possible. (only about 3 cm). And using very wide and soft shoulder pad to get more steady and comfortable. But the best way is to assemble the shoulder pad under the camera directly. Therefore I designed Dual bridge plate. Choosing shoulder system is better you try it in person, you can try my products if you know someone who has them.
please let me know if you have other questions. thank you, Tom.

 

[Kaku Ito]

Since I have three RED ONEs and three Epics to take care, I have various baseplates for them. I own RED DMCS baseplate, Element Technica baseplate and Allstar Dual Bridge baseplate set. After being responsible to configure the rigs for the various cameramen, people who are in needs of quick switch between video head mount to the lightest shoulder rig configuration with a good center of gravity, I would choose the Allstar Dual Basebridge system.

Here's the video of the older dual base bridge system in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0AR...DvjVQa1PpcFNvA-1S22rSdNKQYIRovpVZqoxKHgZimUk=

 

[Justin R Goff]

http://eu.innocinema.com/product_info.php?cPath=5&products_id=171

And you can mount the shoulder pad under the dovetail, directly on the camera or above the top plate to have a lower camera setup.

Pat

Thanks for the mention Patrick.

The ActionProducts Razor Shouldermount is very versatile in its mounting and balancing options. As a modular component, the Razor is compatible with dovetail and tripod plates that utilize standard 3/4" and 1/4" threads. The Razor Shouldermount also allows the ActionProducts Battery Module to be mounted on top of the pad using a Swivelmount. The pad itself also has the ability to flip 360 degrees for comfort. Please let me know if there are any questions!

Razor Shouldermount
AP locking Arri Adapter
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