Hi Guys

I have done a few mods on the support rod to make it useable now. If you are an average height person like me if you put the belt around your waist and leave out the rod and pop the camera on your shoulder I found that from the bottom of the belt pocket to the rail support where the flexible bit plugs in is only 410mm so with the camera level, for comfortable support you need the sprung rod to be open a bit and under a bit of spring tension and extend to 410mm .... Yeah right ..if you close the tubes up tight the closed tubes alone measure 380mm ...then you have the fitting at the top which is another 50mm nearly and because the ball joint in the pouch sits in the middle that's another 50mm so it was obviously designed for someone 6'9" (basketball player)

I used it last night and the only semi-practical way is to drop the belt lower..then it works. Now if you are a normal male with normal hips that get smaller as you get lower, guess what? the belt ends up slipping down and ends up around your thighs!! It has to be around your waist.

OK, the mods I have done to sort this out are as follows :

Belt and ball joint : unscrew the ball and plastic plate and just pop the rod end into the pouch ... because of the rod angle the ball joint is useless anyway and the DVTech rig just uses a pouch anyway !!

Top flexible end : The flexible rod screws into a long plastic fitting (nearly 35mm) and this is easily shortened. I unscrewed the flex fitting and used a nail to push out the pin that secures the piece of plastic in the top tube. I then completely cut off the fat section of the plastic so all I had left was the piece that pushes into the top of the tube. I then drilled a 5mm hole down thru this piece of plastic and used a 1/4" tap (the fitting has the same thread as tripods) So I ended up with a piece of plastic with a 1/4" thread down the middle ...I whacked this back into the tube and screwed in the flexi fitting (the pin isn't really necessary)

This reduces the "length" of the support rod by close to 4" at least and it's now a practical support rod and you can use the belt around your waist too.

Anyone else (especially Pete?) find that the whole thing is way too long to be practical??

Chris

I did one last little mod here to make it even better. Instead of using the almost useless ball joint that is ineffective when mounted vertically in the belt ..I'm now using the ball joint horizontally and it now works really well.

What I have done is use a simple "L" bracket from the hardware store and actually punched a hole in the belt and bolted the bracket to it. I then cut off unwanted material from the plastic disk and bolted the thing to the piece of the bracket that sticks out ....because the ball joint now faces upwards it works correctly and can now swivel. The added bonus from this arrangement is that the ball joint is even lower than the pouch on the belt (I have taken it right off actually) so you gain another 3 or 4 inches of usable rod length.

Chris

Still haven't used it yet Chris - I plan on using it for the evening receptions only and my last wedding ended at the speeches - I have however an all day wedding tomorrow so will be using it - will let you know how I get on!

Pete

Hi Pete

I would say definitely don't shorten the tubes and springs otherwise you need to buy softer springs as it gets way too stiff. (I know, I shortened my spare rod and to be usable it now needs new springs)

Just reduce the piece between the flexi joint and the top tube and if you can drop the position where the bottom rod connects with an "L" bracket. Used mine at a wedding yesterday and now it's perfect!!

Chris

Chris - Well it worked well enough last night but i had to remove the ball and plastic plate - it serves no function anyway as you say the DVTech rig just has the rod into a pouch - I wrapped some gaffa around the bottom as I didn't want it to rub away at the pouch but I think it might with prolonged use. I have the top section all the way down and the bottom section floating as it's smoother and even though it felt good and will save my back it's still a few inches too high.

Not sure how to reduce that piece under the flexi joint though - seems to be welded on.

Pete

Hi Pete

Ok here is the routine to make that piece shorter.

(1) Unscrew the flexi-joint so you have just the plastic fitting attached to the rod.
(2) look at the top few millimetres of the rod and you will see a pin securing it to the top tube. Use a nail and a light hammer to simply drive it out (the hole goes right thru)
(3) Pull out the plastic fitting and you will see the top is the fat bit and the end piece is the thinner piece that went inside the top tube.
(4) Drill a 5mm hole right thru from top to bottom ...it's already drilled 3/4 way so just continue the hole so it exits out the skinny bit at the bottom.
(5) Use a 1/4"BSW tap (cheap at the hardware store) and cut a thread starting at the thin end where your drill bit came out and turn the tap in until a thread has been cut the length of the thin section only.
(6) Use a hacksaw to cut off just the thin section and wack it back into the top tube and because you have a thread going thru the middle now ..screw the flexi-joint into that and discard the fat section of plastic

Voila ..your rod is now around 3" shorter!! and is great to use!!

Chris