Thomas English

Yeah, I'd love an answere to this too. All I have ever found is the Cam-Tec Cat Griller http://shop.strato.de/epages/61417979.sf/en_US/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61417979/Products/Cat-Griller I have one. It is relatively big and heavy and really its for putting a camera with a dovetail onto the top of a head.

Brilliant!

Have you got one Joe? I'd love to try it out on a job some day. Might have to do a little dry hire at some point or just pop by for a beer.

You are completely right Charles... But setting and rigging the Tango is complicated enough with so much going on you don't want to throw in another variable like unknown focus rings on randomn DoP s mates lenses. As soon as you get into that conversation you start getting calls back like.. can we use these lenses or these lenses. Your set up does sound perfect... but if you don't have ad-nauseum client management time CP2 s are my chosen de-facto lens. I know where I stand and the DoP knows where he stands. I'd like to buy a set of ZF's but I have a set of K35's and not interested in buying a set of lenses specifically for the tango rig yet... Also the CP2's have a lens support point at the bottom. Once used this gives two anchor points onto the camera.. Especially when flying the camera upside down this helps. A Zacuto lens support needs to be in your kit as very few facilities houses have them.

That is completely true Charles. However without any job prep its better to get the standard across the board CP2s. They are available is every rental house in London and you know exactly where you stand. Its a matter of what your going to put on the camera list whilst emailing from your blackberry from a different job stuck up a ladderpod. If you were going to purchase Tango specific lenses the ZF's would be the way to go. There are a few sets of Contax around London and I've considered ordering them before. Sometimes facilities houses get clever. Hence the CP2 s are defacto and DoP s are happy with them on A-Camera. If using stills lenses including ZFs with focus rings on I would say that the analogue Bartech was the only follow focus worth using. Otherwise you end up tearing the rings off the lens.

A 7D or 5D with Compact primes is the defacto setup with the Tango. You can tape ND filters on. I have not yet found a MattBox that can handle the CP2s that I am happy with. There will be a little 15mm mattbox out there. Yes.. You need to put the camera on a riser as the CP2s are bigger than the camera. I do believe they can take a screw in filter though. The FS100 will be great because of the shear number of mounting points. "For broadcast applications are there any cameras out there right now, sort of on the HVX level that would work?" If you consider HVX as broadcast.. which I don't.. If then the Sony A1E is perfect. Its not problem putting an XCS or Marrell bubble at the slave end powered by your follow focus battery and intercepting your video feed. Your best off though just operating with the horizon level using the ZEN which is easier than regular Steadicam because ROLL is not as fluid and has far more momentum due to the fact there are two sleds. The Bartech or single chanel Preston is the perfect follow focus and it lives on top of the slave sled along with its battery.

That AB plate is very cool. Does anyone make that for Sony V-Lock?

This changing to low mode business I don't think is so great. Currently all I need to do is Tilt my TB6 right up and move my batteries backwards and I am balanced for low mode. I can do this with the rig on about to do a shot. This yoke setup definitely requires me to dock the sled. Unless off-course there will be a yoke to CP2 spud adapter so I could tilt the whole yoke upwards and retaining the best of both worlds. This monitor looks very cool by the way. Edit: I've just noticed that there is an XCS spud at the bottom of it. For my purposes I would like it to be an articulated and kiplocked spud (as we are used to) for either XCS or CP2. This would enable me to send my monitor arm out, tilt my whole cinetronic setup and move my batteries backwards quicker than an AD can say "lowmode"

It looks remarkably similar to the Steadyrig battery hanger: http://www.steadyrig.com/prod_Batt.html

The Arri light dovetail? That sir is worth checking out. Do you have a part number or anything? In Panavision UK they have a few of these 6 inch dovetails. I was always thinking with a bit of delicate swiss cheese work they could be perfect. Ostensibly you could always get a normal ET one and cut the front 6 inchs off and put in a new stop. Its funny how many times your asked if your rigs dovetail plate is compatible with the O'Connor quick release system. Funny enough to be a good idea for a manufacturer someday. Count me out.. I have a selection of over 8 rig camera plates to choose from.. I don't want to start again.

Its tempting Chris.. its tempting. Its just quite big and fairly expensive. But transvideo stuff is awesome. You don't regret it...

The boxx Atom seems like the way to go soon. That Transvideo TitaN LT seems to not be on the horizon so I think I'll be going boxx atom as soon as its released. The newer Camwaves definately seem to be getting better than earlier ones....

Ok Amando, I've not understood your cryptic responses to this thread but I would love to see what Cartoni quick lock bracket you are talking about. Please post a link, photo or hand drawn picture (no crayons please). Thanks!

And cheap enough to test. I want to go a standard across my whole sled with little bits and bobs like battery plates, transmitters etc on one lock type. I'll check those out. Thanks Jess.

Chris, Is this a conversion that one does at home? I.e. buy a Segway , buy your bits and fit them together. Or is this something that must be done is a factory full of Elves somewhere. If the latter is the case. How much is a working system out of the box including the Segway? Otherwise. What Seqway do you recommend for this conversion.

Estimated price point?

Hey Jess, They do look interesting however they seem to have less mounting points. I'd like to get at least 2 screws into both the male and the female side of this story. These seem very much for Noga Arms and the like. http://16x9inc.com/shop/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=32

Thanks for this info, Thomas,,, Hey Amando! Im not saying its a good idea! I am wondering if its a good idea?.... They do seem really strong but would you put a heavy Gyro on a vehicle mount attache to your rig with one of these? It would be amazingly fast and convenient for all sorts of reasons if your could.

Would you feel comfortable about fixing your Kenyon KS6 to a Sled using these quick Element Technica V-Lock Fixings? http://www.elementtechnica.com/products/view.php?p=62

FAR BETTER mounting strategy than using the BPA1.

I'm quite interested in the concept of flying the Arri dovetail plate with this camera. That was the camera can have its 19mm bars and bridge plate just as it pleases. When we go onto Steadicam all we do is slide off the head and slide it onto Steadicam. The faster I can have these swaps (Head to Steadicam) the less I am used as a human tripod.

Yeah, I remember when RED came out and there were photos of it on a flyer... Soon did that change. But the Epic really does look like people will be trying to keep it light.

I used the integrated FF system once on the 416 and found it a headache. Follow focus units should be separate to cameras so u can power cycle them (turn them on and off until they work) and not loose the directors frame. Especially when cameras take so long to turn on. The Alexa isn't immediate y any stretch.

I did a 3d job with two of them on steadicam. I thought it a shame you couldn't master and slave them like EX3's. I liked the fact they had ND. Its just another camera really.

If you find that disturbing have a look at this: http://www.ntsh.co.uk/south-central-the-day-i-die/