BMCC Rigging Thoughts...

So rather than sitting around cutting myself in angst over the slight delay, or whining to anyone who will listen about crop factors, delivery dates, ergonomics, etc. I’ve been keeping myself busy reworking my DSLR rig for the BMCC and I’m very happy with what I’ve come up with so I thought I’d share it and hope others would share any custom rigging they’ve come up with…

Just some thoughts regarding the rig below, I refer to this as the “Pod”, I had a very similar setup for the 5dMkII and find it’s invaluable on a set. Keep in mind it is designed around a feature film shoot, not documentary work, and not recording audio with the camera.

The idea behind the “Pod” is that by using Manfrotto Quick Releases on all our support equipment, and a Manfrotto plate on the bottom of the cage, I’m able to move the camera from the shoulder rig, to the tripod, to the slider, to the jib crane in less than sixty seconds. I designed this system after the first week of shooting last year and realizing how much time we were wasting moving around cables, arms, follow focus’, etc.

Some thoughts on “cost”…

Because I’ve seen several people complaining about the “rigging cost” of buying such a “stripped down” camera I thought I’d also mention that my cost to go from the 5dMkII to the BMCC wasn’t bad at all, and the costs that I did incur offered an overwhelming hardware advantage.

I sold my Redrock Micro Baseplate, and my LockCircle LockPort on eBay, and got about 75% of what the ViewFactor BMCC Cage cost, so no big deal there. Switching to the three 95w V-Mount Batteries was a bit costly, but again I sold the dozen LP-E6 batteries I had for the Canon and SmallHD monitor and recouped most of the cost and now only have three batteries to charge and deal with, which I’m ecstatic about. And I did need to upgrade to the SmallHD DP6 SDI, which was about $250 more than the standard DP6, but SmallHD products are bomb proof and worth every penny.

All the other parts were used on the DSLR rig and just repurposed for the most part.

Thoughts about some of the components…

The ViewFactor Cage is the only option in my mind, it’s so smooth looking and a rock solid build. There are mounting holes everywhere, and it mounts seamlessly onto the front of the BMCC so it doesn’t add any width to the camera or obstruct the touch screen rear in anyway. And the “rod block” that comes with it is without question the tightest, most sturdy rod block I have ever seen, and I have blocks from at least five different manufacturers laying around.

The Letus Top Handle is amazing, it’s a great carrying handle as pictured, and if I go to the shoulder rig I just loosen the rosette and flip it back so it matches the center of gravity for the longer rig with a counterweight.

The V-Mount Battery plate has a custom made cable that comes out of the power tap and then splits to power the camera and the DP6. The plate itself is velcro’d to the Cage and eventually the side of the BMCC. This allows easy access to the SSD door, and it can also be quickly removed and velcro’d to a cheeseplate on the back of the shoulder rig to aid in balance.

I was inspired by the Zacuto BMCC design and went with the “top rails”, and what a difference it makes. Now all of the adjustment screws for the follow focus are a breeze to get to.

So, I’m sure it’s not for everyone, but thought I’d share, let's see what others have in mind!

So rather than sitting around cutting myself in angst over the slight delay, or whining to anyone who will listen about crop factors, delivery dates, ergonomics, etc. I’ve been keeping myself busy reworking my DSLR rig for the BMCC and I’m very happy with what I’ve come up with so I thought I’d share it and hope others would share any custom rigging they’ve come up with…

that's why i continued reading.... Your rig looks great and yeah i've been thinking in a solution to change from shoulder to tripod quickly. And that v-mount battery on the right side, don't you think it will unbalance the weight and be unconfortable?? or are you using a EVF on the left to balance it...
just asking because it's the way you go

Great point... It's still just numbers on paper right now, but I think the balance will be very good. On the right side we have the follow focus, battery plate, and 95w battery, roughly two pounds. On the left the SmallHD Dp6 monitor weighing in at about one pound, but it will sit about four inches out from the rig on the accessory arm, so I'm guessing it'll be very close to balanced. When the batteries and monitor get in I'll definitely check the balance.

oh well...then it sounds like it's going to be quite balance, anyway you can always add some little wait to fine balance it.

Good work man!!! I hope it works for you and that the camera starts shipping!!!

There are great looking rigs on the web for the BMCC. I myself have the ViewFactor cage naked at the moment. I will order the hinge battery plate from them soon.
I have some RedRockMicro parts at work that I can try but really need to get the camera first before getting deep into cost here.
I really other options from Lanparte and Tilta.
There are others like Bebob and Zacuto to check out.
Lots of options, not enough camera time

Sean-
what models of matte box and follow focus are those?

Wow, I had not seen that hinged battery plate before, very cool but I'm not sure how I could make it work on the side without getting my hands on it first...

I just got the follow focus and matte box recently, both are Fotga DP500... They were ridiculously cheap so I thought I'd give them a try, like $220 for the box and $135 for the focus.

I had the redrock micro matte box previously and it was a great product but it was just so damn big and cumbersome that we rarely used it. This one is solid aluminum, two filters, though they don't rotate, a compact "swing away hinge", and comes with flags as well. I did have to "flip" it so I could use the "top rods", but I don't have any complaints. It's small, rugged, and swings smoothly. Only complaint I could muster would be the knobs to tighten the flags arent amazing, but I'm testing lock washers on them and it seems to help a lot.

The follow focus is their newest version and has hard adjustable stops, a damping screw, flippable gear, and is all aluminum.... There is just a crazy small bit of play, but less than any other sub-$500 focus I've used.

I know a lot of people love to rip on "cheap" components like these but my philosophy is learn what the strengths and weaknesses of something is then use them to your advantage or work around them if needs be. Bottom line is they get the job done and free up funds for more toys!

Nice Rig, Im hoping to see a BMCC up-close and personal soon to start this part of it too.

Bottom line is they get the job done free up funds for more toys!

amen! Do what you can with what youve got man.

Dito @ amen

Sean so the Fotga FF is ok? I recently got myself one from Lanparte and I was positively surprised.. quite precise and really nicely dampened! On a normal shoot with a rental setup I'm used to the Chrosziel stuff but for personal use / low budget it's just not economical.. besides that they don't really have (imho) a good FF for use with still lenses.

I looked at the Lanparte and Tilta stuff at IBC, some parts were really nice, some parts not so much. I think the key is to combine different brands to a personal rig that is useful to you. I don't think there's a "one fits all" when it comes to that.
Sadly I sold my trusted Chrosziel matte box some time ago... and I didn't like the filter holders of the chinese boxes... the indian one was total cr@p .. lol some of them even had shiny parts on the "inside" of the box which completely defys it's purpose. (the indian model hat a few mm of gaps between the edge of the filter holders and the rotating stage! )
So I ended up ordering a Shoot35 Cinebox which should arrive tomorrow - really curious about it's built quality!

Regarding the cage itself I'm waiting for what my Berlin pals of ReWo (http://content.rewotechnic.de/) come up with...

Anyone own the Rewo ring rig around here?