Ultra Light Magic Arm not holding Odyssey 7Q on my Red Scarlet

[Simon Van Parijs]

Hi guys,

I have recently bought an Ultra Light 8" and 5" magic arm. Everybody seems to be loving them and I felt like I was ready getting a proper one after my cheap noga arms.

However I have been using them for my Odyssey 7Q and they keep slipping off which is really anoying. I originally bought the 8" arm and that really doesn't work out. The 5" is slightly better but to be honest for the price it still isn't solid enough for me.

I've been emailing back and forth with the company that sold them to me and they keep saying that the Odyssey might be too heavy for it. I don't really understand how you can pay 200£ for a magic arm that isn't rock solid with all 5" or 7" monitors. I just was so sure that I must have had a faulty one. A friend of mine has the Smallrig Arm and that works better to be honest, and is so much cheaper.

I know that the Odyssey is awkward to mount without having a 3/8" hole on the top of it so it might be a balance issue.

Has anyone had any of these issues before with these arms? Or with mounting the Odyssey 7Q?

Thanks,
Simon

 

[Jake Wilganowski]

Well there is always the titan by bright tangerine if these don't work out

 

[James J Lamberg]

I struggled with this for awhile. Had a cheap Ikan arm that never really worked then shelled out for the wooden camera version of the ultralight arm. Had to return the wooden camera ultra arm as it was even worse. After that I tried the Titan arm and it holds it, but I hate it. I find the Titan to be too heavy and when you crank it down it locks up and is very difficult to reposition. My ultimate solution was getting the classic Noga cine arm and using the 1/4 20 hole on the back of the monitor rather than the sides. When you mount it on any arm from one of the side holes, the weight of the monitor creates to much torque. To make it easier to pull on and off, I added a low profile nato rail from small rig and fixed it to the back so that it protrudes below the monitor by an inch or so. I like to keep nato clamps on either side of my noga arm aswell so you dont have to play the game of screwing your $2000 monitor on and off of a cine arm.

 

[Chris Steel]

I've had inumerous issues rigging the 7Q. The Ultralight / WC Ultra ball mount arms are great within their weight range. They hold many monitors solidly and in a wider range of positions than Noga arms but once you pass that weight limit... The rubber on the balls just doesn't get enough friction.
I've had noga arms struggle with a 7q with batteries on it, ended up using two arms to support it (top and side) which was awkward for the operator and during card changes.

As much as it's a great monitor recorder, I hate having them on-camera.

Bright tangerines Titan arm and Mathiews Infinity arm are the only arms I know that can take a rigged 7q and hold it securely in a place the operator can use it.
Noga Holt-It range and Cine range can support it if using external power but even then, it's close to the limit.
Other arms may take the weight but I wouldn't trust in their longevity.