Alexa anti-vibration bracket needed

[Pascal Combes-Knoke]

Hello all,

 

I have contacted Mattais Bier as well as his company (http://www.cam-jam.de) but have not received a response. I would really like this product or a similar product for upcoming shoots. Any leads?

 

I also just read Jerry Holway's post relayed from Chris Fawcett about an inexpensive solution (

) but I'm not confident at all that my Flyer LE dovetail is long enough or has the right spacing.

 

Yes I know you are thinking I do not have the right rig for an Alexa....I have flown many times and weight is not a problem. I also up-gauged my post's wiring to handle it.

[Brian Freesh]

Your Flyer LE dovetail is the same as the second dovetail in the video. The original Flyer dovetail was shorter, but the FLyer LE and Archer 2 plate are the same.

[Pascal Combes-Knoke]

Thank you Brian this will save me a lot of $$

[Pascal Combes-Knoke]

If anyone has the Alexa bridge plate adapter BPA-1 I will buy it from you.
I've been on a shoot that did not have this piece and I had to suffer a very heavy dovetail......

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Get yourself one of these and be done with it.

 

http://www.steadicamforum.com/index.php?showtopic=19892&hl=

 

[Afton Grant]

Can the Flyer LE support an Alexa?

[Brian Freesh]

Apparently, according to Pascal's first post. He's also thrown an F65 up on that thing if memory serves. And people used to think I put a lot on a Flyer! A stripped Alexa with a lightweight prime should be fine though, I just get the impression he's regularly overweighting the rig.

 

As a heads up Pascal, the plate pictured above is too wide for your top stage.

[Matthias Biber]

a BPA-1 won´t work. The mounting holes are offset to the side and it rises the camera, so the hook in the back won´t have contact to your extra long dovetail plate. That is why all these alexa plates are coming up.

The cam-jam bracket can be screwed on any dovetail plate that already fits to your sled. And it also works with ENG cameras.

 

Questions are usually answered within a day, assumed there is no typo in your contact information ;)

 

http://www.cam-jam.de/alexa.html

 

http://www.steadicamforum.com/index.php?showtopic=17820&hl=

[Afton Grant]

I would say the cam jam is the way to go then since it'll work with the unique width plates you already have and also won't raise the camera - very important with a small rig like the flyer.

[Pascal Combes-Knoke]

@Afton, yes the Alexa is fine assuming powered through post, clip-on matte box, etc.

@Brian you are right lol. The F-65 is justttt barely under my 24 lbs. Not ideal at all. Plus tethered to power supply.

 

@Matthias, so you are saying the guy in the video above is using a custom bridge plate adaptor, not the BPA-1? I noticed you make one and I'm interested.....how much do those cost? http://www.steadicamforum.com/index.php?showtopic=12955

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Afton .25" in plate height isn't going to make a difference. What will make a difference is stiffness and adjustability

[Afton Grant]

Afton .25" in plate height isn't going to make a difference. What will make a difference is stiffness and adjustability

 

If it's the same thickness as an XCS plate, it will raise the camera a full half inch. Even if it is just a quarter inch, however, you know as well as I, that makes a big difference, especially with a full size camera like the Alexa. You've argued dozens of times on this very site why a short sled is ideal, as well as bragging about how high you can get your XCS gimbal in order to shorten the gimbal to lens distance....winning that competition over the PRO rig by fractions of an inch if you mount the docking ring as Baldwin suggests.

 

To quote you yourself, "I suggest reading about a gentleman named Archimedes and his lever."

[Brian Freesh]

Pascal, your arm and mine can handle a sled with a 24lb camera on it (~33lbs total on the arm depending on batts). And the F65 build you had came in under 24lbs, a rare build, don't expect to get away with that often.

 

Your actual limit is 19-20lbs on the sled. More than that and you are beyond spec. I damaged the side-side adjustment on my Flyer by flying 20-22lbs on it regularly. It was an easy and cheap fix, but not all of them are. You're also introducing more risk of vibration with more weight, though your sled is undoubtedly stiffer than mine.

 

All of this and more is up to you to worry about or not, and like I did you may well be taking all considerations into account before you accept a gig with a too-heavy camera (in which case sorry for telling you what you already know). I would recommend not taking any gig with a camera that could potentially be built heavier than 20lbs for that gig, unless you can secure a bigger rig for the shoot.

 

My $.02