Cheapest possible rig/cage for BMCC

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Antonio Rosiello

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Cheapest possible rig/cage for BMCC

PostMon Feb 18, 2013 1:51 pm

Hey guys

i know many of us are probably using their old dslr shoulder rigs to use the bmcc. I'm just wondering if you found some kind of cheap rig since all my money are gone for good! :lol:
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Peter J. DeCrescenzo

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Re: Cheapest possible rig/cage for BMCC

PostMon Feb 18, 2013 3:01 pm

If you typically don't need mount points on the sides of your camera, you might consider the following instead of a cage:

Wooden Camera BMCC Mini-Baseplate:
http://woodencamera.com/Blackmagic/Came ... e-BMC.html

This baseplate is very small & light, but looks very strong. It allows for rod clamps to be mounted both at the front & back. This flexibility makes it easy to configure the baseplate with front-mounted rods to support a matte box, follow focus, etc. Or, add rods on the rear of the baseplate to configure your own shoulder mount. I plan to do both.

RedRock BMCC ultraPlate Top Plate
http://store.redrockmicro.com/Catalog/u ... ema-camera

Actually, I've already had a machinist make me an even smaller, custom top plate as a substitute for the RedRock ultraPlate. The custom plate's dimensions are such that when combined with a rod clamp will securely position a pair of rods exactly 85mm above the lens center axis (rod-center to lens-center). This gives me the option of top-mounting a matte box, follow-focus or other gear from above the lens instead of or in addition to the more common lower mounting position. The height (dimension) that a custom plate needs to be will vary depending on the dimensions of the particular rod clamp you use, so once you have a rod clamp you can specify the height for your custom plate. Cost me about $30 to have the custom top plate machined.

Info about rod standards:
http://www.ocon.com/labs/rod-standards.html

Cheers.
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MikeC

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Re: Cheapest possible rig/cage for BMCC

PostMon Feb 18, 2013 6:19 pm

Peter J. DeCrescenzo wrote:Actually, I've already had a machinist make me an even smaller, custom top plate...


Peter- I'd love to hear more about how you went about doing this. Did you have to design something in a 3D modeling program or CAD and then delivery it to some sort of CNC shop? I've been thinking about this for other camera parts so it would be awesome to hear more about how you did it!

Cheers!
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Peter J. DeCrescenzo

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Re: Cheapest possible rig/cage for BMCC

PostMon Feb 18, 2013 10:02 pm

MikeC wrote:
Peter J. DeCrescenzo wrote:Actually, I've already had a machinist make me an even smaller, custom top plate...


Peter- I'd love to hear more about how you went about doing this. Did you have to design something in a 3D modeling program or CAD and then delivery it to some sort of CNC shop? I've been thinking about this for other camera parts so it would be awesome to hear more about how you did it! Cheers!


I used paper & pencil to make a rough sketch to show the machinist. For the particular rod clamp I used, the top plate needed to be about 13mm thick (height). The plate's other dimensions are approx. 125mm long by about 13mm deep. The "plate" is essentially a simple, square metal stick with several 1/4-20 threaded & two non-threaded 1/4" holes in it. The 2 non-threaded holes are 67mm apart to allow bolting the plate to the top of the BMCC.

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