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Deke, While it is true that it’s now easier to reload the camera when right side up, I can’t remember a job that I’ve done where people don’t want to look at a frame before I put on the rig. Whether for lighting, or set dressing, or HMU and Wardrobe, someone always wants to look at a frame, and generally they want an approximation go what the frame actually will be (I.E. it doesn’t help the DP much in setting lights if the camera is about to be 3 feet lower than it is on the stand!). So I dock in low mode. It also helps me to have as little time flying the rig as possible. When I pick up the rig, it’s in the right orientation, pointed at the set, and I dock in a direction (lens to the right, contrary to what is taught at most workshops) that means that the rig is ready to fly the moment it comes off the dock. No flipping the rig, no spinning it around my body, no delays. With heavier cameras I’ll enforce this even more (such as when I did a music video on Primo Anamorphic lenses recently... 17 pounds for the 50mm) - we roll and slate on the stand, and I pick it up once everyone is ready to go, not before Vanities run in for a moment of touch up or before the artist puts away their phone. Hopefully that clears up why I still dock in low mode, and still think that it’s a useful thing to do.

PIMP

Yeah, but then craft service brings around the fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, and this theory quickly falls apart.