CRAZY HEAVY SET UP

[Carlos Matias Garcia]

Greetings Everyone,

I'm being asked to fly the ARRI 435 on my sled (Betz Rig HD+Volt) which it was okay until they told me about the lenses.....They want to pair it with the Panavision Primo Anamorphic. Only the camera set up will be around 21 kg+ sled, batteries, monitor......I'm reaching 33kg probably so the arm (and my back too) will be maxed up. To me it's not only crazy but also non doable. I'm checking with you guys to see if wrong. Any comment will be welcome.

Thanks

[Jake McClean Walker]

There’s a couple of things you could try to avoid this. 
 

First of all, I’d loose the BP-8 Bridgeplate and Long (steel?) 19mm rods from the bottom of the camera. They’ll be contributing to a lot of the weight in that picture. 1stAC may have to move one of the motors somewhere else.
If the lens requires supporting, which these definitely do, you can use a long Steadicam dovetail plate (such as Peter Abraham’s zalex plate or catgriller indy500 plate) which should allow you to use a screw through the front of the plate for lens support. The long plate screws directly into the camera body. Cam-Jam and other plates may also allow some form of 15mm lens supports. 
 

Secondly, you could have a word with the DP, mention the issues/risks with such a large build, and see if they’d be open to lightweight anamorphics for the steadicam shots. Something like G series or T series is much lighter and doesn’t require lens support if I remember correctly. 
 

Or there’s the potential of using the 235 body for further weight reduction if panavision have one available in PV mount and 4 perf (assuming 4 perf anamorphic for your setup). Again, loosing everything off the bottom and going longplate+lens support route. 
With the 235, the steadicam mags are different to the 435 (different throat angle). That’s caught me out in the past…

 

Edited May 29 by Jake McClean Walker

[Carlos Matias Garcia]

On 5/29/2026 at 10:42 AM, Jake McClean Walker said:

There’s a couple of things you could try to avoid this. 
 

First of all, I’d loose the BP-8 Bridgeplate and Long (steel?) 19mm rods from the bottom of the camera. They’ll be contributing to a lot of the weight in that picture. 1stAC may have to move one of the motors somewhere else.
If the lens requires supporting, which these definitely do, you can use a long Steadicam dovetail plate (such as Peter Abraham’s zalex plate or catgriller indy500 plate) which should allow you to use a screw through the front of the plate for lens support. The long plate screws directly into the camera body. Cam-Jam and other plates may also allow some form of 15mm lens supports. 
 

Secondly, you could have a word with the DP, mention the issues/risks with such a large build, and see if they’d be open to lightweight anamorphics for the steadicam shots. Something like G series or T series is much lighter and doesn’t require lens support if I remember correctly. 
 

Or there’s the potential of using the 235 body for further weight reduction if panavision have one available in PV mount and 4 perf (assuming 4 perf anamorphic for your setup). Again, loosing everything off the bottom and going longplate+lens support route. 
With the 235, the steadicam mags are different to the 435 (different throat angle). That’s caught me out in the past…

 

Hi there Jake!

I asked them to remove the BP and 19 rods but it wasn't light enough so I talked a lot with the AC about striping down the camera but he wasn't willing to remove the cinetape and the clipon so considering it wasn't light enough I decided to talk to the DP. They're trying to switch to LT+VLITE so it should be possible. My plan it's remove the viewfinder, ask for the steadimags, power the camera trought the sled and use the catgriller longplate....

Thank you for your answer!

Bests,

Carlos