Trost Slider GROUP BUY - limited time

[Tom Van]

Got my 100x50 in yesterday and I couldn't be more happy with it. Great support as well, those guys at Trost are awesome!

 

[David Coughlan]

Gabe, would it make sense for us to get a purely informational order list going so you and your team can decide whether it makes sense for you to extend the group buy? I'm happy to lead the charge on collecting information if you think it would help inform a decision! (I know my post count is low but I've been lurking for quite a while -- not a Red owner, yet, but the Trost drove me to finally register -- I have no problem if you're more comfortable with Bob or someone more senior on the board heading this up.)

 

[Nick Fury]

So, what else can these guys make...Buy with confidence.

Thank you very much

Fury

 

[Gabriel Cheifetz]

Gabe, I think a future option would be to make the sliding base a mitchell plate (natively) and then make a mitchell to puck adapter that allows you to still add the 2nd axis.
http://www.willyswidgets.com/products/mitchell-to-euro-male-stub/

Interesting. Would you also want Mitchell on the bottom of the slider, so the slider could be supported on Mitchell tripods?

 

[Gabriel Cheifetz]

Gabe, would it make sense for us to get a purely informational order list going so you and your team can decide whether it makes sense for you to extend the group buy? I'm happy to lead the charge on collecting information if you think it would help inform a decision! (I know my post count is low but I've been lurking for quite a while -- not a Red owner, yet, but the Trost drove me to finally register -- I have no problem if you're more comfortable with Bob or someone more senior on the board heading this up.)

Possibly, but I'd want to coordinate this with Bob. I do appreciate your support, and you're right - this sort of info is really helpful.

 

[Evin Grant]

Interesting. Would you also want Mitchell on the bottom of the slider, so the slider could be supported on Mitchell tripods?

Absolutely! It would be kick ass if I could have a 100mm ball top/bottom combo for lightweight setups and a mitchell top/bottom combo for my 2575 studio builds, actually I might just have one of each!

Here is the 8Ball slider with mitchell top and bottom I have now...

 

[Brian F Kobylarz]

Interesting. Would you also want Mitchell on the bottom of the slider, so the slider could be supported on Mitchell tripods?

Gabe,

I could not state emphatically enough how valuable this would be.

There are numerous options for this type of interface unavailable with others. Couple of quick examples;

Offset from a dolly with a UBangi.
Car mounts - leveling (like Willy's Widgets)
High hats & low hats (esp the B&S low)
Inserting risers
Rotating / offset Mitchell interfaces*
(this is one I use most often with my MYT - very fast setups and shot options)

Some of the best support for camera rigs is based on the Mitchell design for a reason. It's secure and can handle loads without slipping (especially dynamic loads).

My vote for considering this interface as an option for the Trost sliders.

 

[Jason Osterday]

Gabe - Like Evin and Brian said, a Mitchell top/bottom option is huge for this rig.

I unfortunately couldn't sell the Trost to the grips on a current project because they wouldn't be able to mount it to the Fisher or Chapmans and it would make for a sticky situation when risers are needed, etc. The commercial guys that will be using these in couple weeks however are quite excited because it isn't feature film work so we typically go onto apple boxes or some other simple flat surface/tripod arrangement.

I think you guys have the right modular idea with the puck system, just need to implement a few attachments. I plan to use a male mitchell plate (basically just a circular plate with a key) and bolt it to the bottom of one of the rotating baseplates to allow me to first tie down the baseplate to the mitchell sticks and then connect the slider to the puck. I'll try and send some photos on Friday when I build it. Using a mitchell head though will likely prove more challenging.

 

[David Coughlan]

Possibly, but I'd want to coordinate this with Bob. I do appreciate your support, and you're right - this sort of info is really helpful.

Completely understood -- Bob, if you're up for helping us explore a round two, please let me know if there's anything I can do to lighten the load!

 

[D Fuller]

Gabe - Like Evin and Brian said, a Mitchell top/bottom option is huge for this rig.

I think you guys have the right modular idea with the puck system, just need to implement a few attachments. I plan to use a male mitchell plate (basically just a circular plate with a key) and bolt it to the bottom of one of the rotating baseplates to allow me to first tie down the baseplate to the mitchell sticks and then connect the slider to the puck. I'll try and send some photos on Friday when I build it. Using a mitchell head though will likely prove more challenging.

It would also be excellent to have 100mm claw ball options top and bottom, and having them fit to your clamp system seems really smart. In fact, I'm wondering if it would be possible to get just the puck with a 3/8 stud to screw into a male claw ball, then clamp on the bottom. It would help keep the height down in some builds.

 

[Gabriel Cheifetz]

Gabe - Like Evin and Brian said, a Mitchell top/bottom option is huge for this rig.

So if I'm hearing you guys right -

Mitchell slider:

- Female Mitchell carriage (native, not an adapter)
- Male Mitchell baseplates on the bottom of the slider
- Optional Mitchell to Trost puck adapter accessory, so you could mount a 2nd axis onto the carriage if you wanted

 

[Brian F Kobylarz]

Gabe,

I believe the priority is the male Mitchell baseplate on the bottom.
Just like Evin, I would want both in my inventory.

As far as the carriages, I understand that it might be difficult to fit a Mitchell (dimensionally) to the surface - might be better to keep the puck there so you don't automatically build in height when working a 100 x 50 second axis setup. That would force (2) Mitchell's with the accompanying nuts. Also, keeping the puck as the interface between the two axis's retains the ability to rotate the upper level (the 50).

However, a puck to Mitchell adapter for the top side of the 100 if used alone, or for the 50 when working a second axis would be ideal.
(In that case, the puck design still fixes the 50 to the 100)

I would also add Dave Fuller's idea of a puck with 3/8 thread as another accessory.
It would permit us to do some interesting builds.

 

[Evin Grant]

Gabe, look into the Cardellini head lock for a truly innovative, fast and secure way to lock down a mitchell base, I have one on my 2575 and would never go back to a regular tie down.

http://www.amazon.com/Cardellini-Head-Lock/dp/B00G2UTT4A

 

[Ketch Rossi]

It's great to see so many ideas flow in, and I agree that a Mitchel flat base mal amount natively or not is an important one.

However the 100mm Bawl Head, is possibly even more important, it needs to take a 75mm reduction too, as I know many prefer a small Fluid Head.

As for me I use a 100mm Bawl Head Fluid head for light weight work in from 15 to 20LB, and a Mitchell or 150mm Bawl head for heaver set ups form 20 to 50LB.

 

[Phil Moreton]

All these options are great.
I agree that the most important part would be an option to lock down natively to a Mitchell tripod. So a trost mitchell baseplate would be a huge advantage, in the same style as the current baseplates with the puck on top. As this is what is so great about this slider, its quick release option which makes you change the angle of the slider with ease.
Any slider on a bottom bowl mount will slip. You can however get adapters to make your bowl tripods completely flat to stop this.

I think the puck collars are a fantastic quick system and already appear to be strong enough. A simple puck to 3 inch Mitchell riser would be good (if 3 inches is enough height). I would personally at the moment love to be able to put a bowl mount over this puck. Again using the 3 inch riser idea but with a 100mm bowl top rather than using the current options out there where you have to screw it down on to the 3/8.
To make it fully customised per the user, you could make riser rods at different heights depending if you choose a Mitchell top or a 75mm to 150mm bowl top.

Just my two cents even tho I've probably repeated what some others have already said.

 

[D Fuller]

I have to say that the Trost Slider is about the nicest piece of kit I've seen in a long time. Excellent work, guys.

I'm eager to see what they develop for accessories, and the discussion so far is encouraging. I'm personally not so much interested in Mitchell mounting, because while I appreciate everything it offers, my crews are generally quite small, so lighter gear is very important. (That said, a Mitchell adapter that uses the clamp system would be very valuable on the bottom of the slider for mounting to a dolly.)

My first interest, though is in a 100mm ball head adapter that can hold a Sachtler 20 weight head. Until Gabe and his crew get to that, there seem to be four candidates for that. I'd guess any of them could work, but there are differences:

Manfrotto 325N $69
This one is the least expensive, and it comes with a 75mm adapter, as well as screw thread adapters to accommodate most tripod stud threads. It has the disadvantage of not allowing leveling. (Some find this an advantage.) It's strictly a rigid mount. But on the plus side, it's 3" tall. So it's the lowest-rise option I've found.

Varavon Half Ball Riser for 100mm Ball Head $139
This one seems dead simple. Hard to imagine anything going wrong with this design. It is 3.9" (10cm) tall. Vavaron sells a 75mm adapter for $40.

Cinevate Dromos Hi Hat $399
This thing is interesting because it allows the ball mount to be set to any angle. But it's big. Too big, I think. As with the Manfrotto, the dimensions aren't readily available, but they claim 1" spacing on the cheese holes, so it looks to be 7 or eight inches high, and about the same in width. And it's expensive compared to the other solutions I've found. I do love the idea of an orientable ball socket, if it were able to be made in a smaller package. (Gabe?)

Kessler 100mm High Hat $119
Kessler's High Hat fits the Trost slider perfectly. It's 4.75" tall, which is taller than I'd like it to be, but it's what I'll use for the moment (because I already own it).
----

If I were speccing the design for one of these, I'd want it to be as short as possible -- just long enough to accommodate the head's stud. It would be OK with me if i had to lift the head to get clearance for the knob to screw on if it made the thing shorter. An orientable ball socket would be a plus, but only if it were truly orientable (not limited to one axis) and truly solid. And not too tall.

 

[Gabriel Cheifetz]

Gabe, look into the Cardellini head lock for a truly innovative, fast and secure way to lock down a mitchell base, I have one on my 2575 and would never go back to a regular tie down.

http://www.amazon.com/Cardellini-Head-Lock/dp/B00G2UTT4A

Evin, what do you like about this Cardellini approach? Its speed vs. a normal tie-down? If they've got it figured out, we could try to talk to them.

 

[Gabriel Cheifetz]

Gabe,

I believe the priority is the male Mitchell baseplate on the bottom.
Just like Evin, I would want both in my inventory.

As far as the carriages, I understand that it might be difficult to fit a Mitchell (dimensionally) to the surface - might be better to keep the puck there so you don't automatically build in height when working a 100 x 50 second axis setup. That would force (2) Mitchell's with the accompanying nuts. Also, keeping the puck as the interface between the two axis's retains the ability to rotate the upper level (the 50).

However, a puck to Mitchell adapter for the top side of the 100 if used alone, or for the 50 when working a second axis would be ideal.
(In that case, the puck design still fixes the 50 to the 100)

I would also add Dave Fuller's idea of a puck with 3/8 thread as another accessory.
It would permit us to do some interesting builds.

Hot damn, that was well thought-out, Brian. So here's the latest then, combining everyone's ideas more or less:

Mitchell:

- Puck to Mitchell adapter for the top of the carriage
- Male Mitchell baseplates on the bottom of the slider

Bowl:

- 100mm and 75mm bowl riser that clamps onto the puck on top of the carriage

and questions (anyone can feel free to chime in):

- Do you imagine the male Mitchell baseplates connecting via pucks to the slider, like our current baseplates, so they can rotate? Or bolted in fixed position instead?
- How concerned are you guys with keeping the Mitchell + bowl adapters low-profile? How high is too high?

 

[BRANDON JAMESON]

EXCITING TIMES!

EXCITING TIMES!

As a brand new TROST owner, I am excited to hear that you will be developing a Mitchell mounting solution for the sliders.

Bravo!!


Please count me IN!

 

[Bob Gundu]

In Gabe we TROST.