90 degree horizontal mounting of a full camera rig?

Hey folks. I've been racking my brain over this and can't figure it out... I have the Manfrotto 535K legs with 504HD head for my 4.9kg (11lb) BMPCC rig. One crucial thing I need though, is to be able to horizontally mount the entire rig at 90 degrees (flip the camera onto its side) while maintaining full pan/tilt capability for a film I'm shooting over multiple days.

One way to cheat it is to rotate the baseplate 90 degrees and then and vertically tilt 90 degrees, but then I don't have proper pan/tilt control. Also, the rig would be off the tripod's centre of gravity and only held there by a single 3/8" thread.

What's the best way to do this without the whole thing hanging off a single thread, along the tripod's centre of gravity, and having full pan/tilt control as normal?

Any help would be massively appreciated - thanks!

Sandeep, it can be done and has been discussed previously on the forum. It may not work with your existing gear though. Apologies I can’t recall the name of the gear that supports portrait versus landscape camera orientation on a tripod, but it is out there.


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Mounting that much weight vertically and safely will cost you. There are a bunch of ways but some are super costly. This is somewhat affordable. There are also places where you can rent one. There might be a temptation to get some kind of China manufactured knockoff but I would not advise it. You will also have to get some good camera tripod plates that work off of 2 screws, preferably 3/8".

https://www.studiodepot.com/filmtools-s ... wedge.html

https://www.sharegrid.com/losangeles/l/ ... ?type=rent

B&H has a solution in stock:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... egree.html

You might also check with your local film/video production rental company.

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Do you have a cage on the BMPCC?

It would be best to have 2 points to attach to.
Most cages have 1/4-20 on either the cam left or right side.
I have a Viewfactor cage.
I have used 2 X 1/4-20 screws. The camera is solid.
I could add 15 mm rods to support the lens if needed.
Having a cage will help tremendously.

If using long lenses be sure to support the lens and take the weight off the mount.

BMPCC vertical 3.JPG (71.6 KiB) Viewed 1482 times

Thanks for the replies all.

That's pretty easy really. All you need is a 'large L-bracket' such as made by Novoflex: https://www.amazon.com/Novoflex-188x225 ... B00BR05UWU and use an Arca Swiss clamp: https://www.amazon.com/Andoer-Aluminium ... B00RK2DSIM, mounted to the rig plate. You may also need associated clamps to attach to your Manfrotto plate or some simple bolts. And if you're unsure of the weight, get two brackets.

I've attached Arca Swiss plates and clamps to my rig to make the attachment and removal off the tripod and the splitting of the rig much easier. I don't know why the Manfrotto 501 plates have become the norm for video gear, as I really find them pretty ordinary in general use.

Does this solve the problem of having the whole rig attached at only one point? It would still be attached via only one screw on the Arca Swiss clamp, no?

Do you have a cage on the BMPCC?

It would be best to have 2 points to attach to.
Most cages have 1/4-20 on either the cam left or right side.
I have a Viewfactor cage.
I have used 2 X 1/4-20 screws. The camera is solid.
I could add 15 mm rods to support the lens if needed.
Having a cage will help tremendously.

If using long lenses be sure to support the lens and take the weight off the mount.

I do have a Movcam cage on it. I can't use the left side of it as I have a HDMI out and DC power in cables on that side. But maybe I could remove the wooden handle to see if I could use the other side...

Does this solve the problem of having the whole rig attached at only one point? It would still be attached via only one screw on the Arca Swiss clamp, no?

One point should be fine if your using some kind of anti rotation mechanism.

You'd probably break your tripod head before your sheared off a 1/4-20 bolt. They are a lot stronger than most people think.
https://elginfasteners.com/resources/st ... hs-part-1/

If this is an ongoing project, I see that Smallrig have a BMPCC cage For $69.00 with screw holes on cam right side.

https://www.smallrig.com/smallrig-bmpcc-cage-2012.html