Alexa on a Pilot, well it flies, sort of

[Zoran Vincic]

Here it is, Alexa mini with a focus motor, BM sdi to analog converter, sennheiser audio receiver all bundled up on a Pilot with a 155wh battery on the sled, together with a Marshall 651stx monitor. We used Cooke S4 mini lenses, mostly 50 and 31mm and just a few shots were done with the 18 (which is the lightest of the bunch).

 

 

 

As the title says it flies but it is not ideal. The arm is drooping just a bit too much and I had to use my right arm to lift quite a bit more than normally. And I was not relaxed while operating it. It really did feel like a struggle. If the rig was less than a kilo lighter it would had flied beautifully.


And if you're wondering what's that cable from the monitor to the top stage, Pilot's power wiring would melt if I powered Alexa through it so I made a D-tap extension which ran from the d-tap port on the battery to a 4 port d-tap splitter that was on the top stage. Worked like a charm.


So yes, it can be done.

No, I wouldn't like to do it again.


v

 

[Shawn Wang]

u should bongee cord wrap the arm

 

that helps

[Zoran Vincic]

And for those of you who are curious how exactly did the Alexa fly with a rig this small, here is the finished video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3mvuMLiTAo

[Hajin Rhim]

did you put a flyer gimbal on it?

[Frank Born]

That should be a 3D-printed grip by Frederic Sturm. Works nicely on a Pilot with the original Gimbal.

Best, Frank

[Zoran Vincic]

That's correct Frank, it is the addon grip Frederic is making. It really does make a huge difference in handling.