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Another Hyperdeck Shuttle Mod - Anton Bauer Camera Back Style


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Being inspired by similar designs by Rencher, Germond and Bard I finally received the parts to do something I've been wanting to do for a while and thought I'd share it as I'm sure others can build and improve on it. It always bothered me that I had an internal battery in the Hyperdeck which really doesn't last long enough to be useful for my purposes other than if an alternate power source was disconnected without me knowing. I also didn't like how heavy the BMD cheeseplate is as well as always having to come up with some sort of way to power the thing from p-tap to barrel which aren't always available after adding FF, HD Transmitter, Monitor etc. I've always liked several camera back solutions I've seen where we can just stack devices with the last item being a battery powering it all. So with all this in mind and getting some info from Iain on his great mod, I went to work.

 

Here are photos of my phase 1 mod:

 

Male Gold Mount Plate powering Hyperdeck and the Female Gold Mount:

http://www.mommaertsdmp.ca/images/url/IMG_1534.jpg
http://www.mommaertsdmp.ca/images/url/IMG_1536.jpg

 

Unfortunately given the size and design of the female plate I had to offset it to keep the centre balance correct:

http://www.mommaertsdmp.ca/images/url/IMG_1538.jpg

 

Mounted on an AB mount installed on back of camera cage, could also go on the back of monitor with an AB plate:

http://www.mommaertsdmp.ca/images/url/IMG_1541.jpg

http://www.mommaertsdmp.ca/images/url/IMG_1540.jpg

 

Stacked on battery hanger:

http://www.mommaertsdmp.ca/images/url/IMG_1542.jpg

 

Alternate method however I haven't tested this yet as I need to investigate and ensure that it's safe to power the Hyperdeck from the CAM PTAP to Hyperdeck Barrel which would essentially loop the power back in the system which may be a huge no-no. If I can't do this then I'll have to stack a battery on the hyperdeck or install a kill-switch on the female AB plate. I do like the balance of a single battery setup when possible so hopefully I can get it to work.

http://www.mommaertsdmp.ca/images/url/IMG_1545.jpg

 

 

For Phase 2:

- I want to put an on/off switch on the Hyperdeck but am weary of it getting accidentally switched.

- Like Iain's mod, I'll be installing some BNC terminals.

- I'd like to install another switch which would disable the power to the female plate, again though would want to make sure it's located in a knock free zone.

- Maybe both these switches will go on the bottom of the male AB plate as that area is fairly protected.

- Another option, if I can't loop the power, would be to use the male side of the hyperdeck and use an intersex plate from Alan when available, then run a ptap to barrel to power the Hyperdeck.

- I'd like to use authentic AB male and female plates however I have been unsuccessful finding the latter, so I ordered from ebay/china which is never my preference as nothing is every exact fitment wise (If any of you know where I can buy a smaller but good quality powered female plate please let me know).

 

Anyway, I welcome any ideas, thoughts or comments good or bad.

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Unfortunately given the size and design of the female plate I had to offset it to keep the centre balance correct:

http://www.mommaertsdmp.ca/images/url/IMG_1538.jpg

I had to go to China for the female plate too, and since its a little too big I ditched it. The solution was to cannibalize a $90 SO-XLR plate from Anton Bauer. The studs unscrew and the plate splits in half. I drilled and countersunk 3 holes to match the stud pattern and sandwiched the useful half of the SO-XLR around the HyperDeck's plate. That's about as close to an authentic AB solution as I could find.

 

Alternate method however I haven't tested this yet as I need to investigate and ensure that it's safe to power the Hyperdeck from the CAM PTAP to Hyperdeck Barrel which would essentially loop the power back in the system which may be a huge no-no. If I can't do this then I'll have to stack a battery on the hyperdeck or install a kill-switch on the female AB plate. I do like the balance of a single battery setup when possible so hopefully I can get it to work.

http://www.mommaertsdmp.ca/images/url/IMG_1545.jpg

That's a tougher choice, since you could do some real damage with the wrong setting. Since mine lives on the back of the Gen2, it can always get power from the monitor plate (which is powered by the sled). So I rewired it later to put the HyperDeck battery back in the mix and the plates are wired straight thru. They don't power the HyperDeck at all. Even a switch isn't idiot proof. While I trust myself, I don't know about dry hires or ambitious assistants.

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If you are just using one battery, I can't see the harm in using the Dtap connector. One battery will only ever be attached to itself, which is fine. That being said, the issues could arise if the sled was in 24v and you attached the aux plate to the cam Dtap (as it would connect the + to - and vis-versa)

One safe way to do it would just be to make sure the breaker is pulled for the plate you have the Hyperdeck on. On Pro sleds (at least the Gen 1 and Gen 2 I have looked at) the breaker is the first place the power goes to, before it makes the circuit to any other batteries or connectors.

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Anton Bauer does make a male gold mount. If you are interested in buying one, you can contact me via email: alanjrencher@gmail.com They are much smaller than the Chinese plates The only drawback is that they are completely flat on the back, so in order to run the wires, you have to shim it away from the mounting surface or create a channel to run the wiring.

 

I also did a couple more mods to my Hyperdeck: I've replaced the DC barrel jack with a Lemo ECG.0B.302.CLL jack, and I've replaced the two Mini DIN jack with Mini BNC jacks. The jacks are actually slightly too close together for the Mini BNC spec, but I've found that I can get two male connectors in there.

 

IMG_20140221_183304549.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Oh those were mini-bnc connectors on your mod? I assumed they were full size! But looking at them now and re-reading your post, yes they are mini-bnc. Unfortunately I already put my full size BNC's on, otherwise I would have loved to incorporate that as well. Once your AB plate comes in and installed I'll take some final photos.

 

Thanks for posting that, I wouldn't re-read your post otherwise!

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Finished the final phases of my Hyperdeck Shuttle Mod. Not the prettiest job as I don't have the proper tools to work with metal but the final result is much more user friendly for mounting on steadicam or camera back.

 

Final mods include:

- Toggle switch to turn on or off the Hyperdeck. Also kills the power in the revers direction if I power the Hyperdeck with the barrel plug.

- Added full size BNC terminals

- Replaced piece of crap female AB plate with quality slimmer profile AB plate.

- Maybe one day I'll replace the Hyperdeck backplate with a new one instead of covering up the holes I made for the other mounts with electrical tape lol.

 

post-13727-0-85067500-1395900318_thumb.jpg

post-13727-0-54776300-1395900287_thumb.jpg

post-13727-0-32380800-1395900300_thumb.jpg

post-13727-0-57594300-1395900310_thumb.jpg

 

Thanks again to those who shared their mods and helped me with mine. Thanks to Alan for getting me the proper AB Female Plate I originally was looking for.

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  • 2 months later...
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Thanks to Mitch, Alan and everyone else for blazing the trail on this mod - so excited not to be doing the footage acquisition dance and paying off DITs anymore :)

 

Only thing haven't been able to test yet - is the SDI Start/Stop Flag working for everyone? Trouble with any specific cameras I should be aware of? (i.e. Epic?)post-11512-0-76071800-1402373404_thumb.jpg

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That's recently the Alexa hasn't worked, Victor? I know you used to have to turn the SDI flags on in the menu, but they're supposed to be permanently enabled now. That's a bummer.

 

HyperDeck Shuttle ~ $325

Anton Bauer Plates ~ $220

'Monitor' Female Lemo ~ $40

Add'l Parts & Labor ~ $250

 

Even after buying an SSD, I think it was all under $1k. Plus some blood, sweat and tears of course.

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  • 3 months later...

Can anyone mention the type of cable used for soldering to the board, and then to the full size BNC connector at the rear ?

I used some cable I had lying around, and I get glitches.

 

I do not have access to RG179 cable in Australia, but lots of 50ohm networking cable, both single core and multi strand.

 

Would that work ?

 

Also, what ground did you use ? With the screw touching the BMD body, the BMD body is essentially ground, and both the SDI in and out

share that ground.

 

That could be a problem..

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