New 7Q Monitor Mounting Solutions at NAB

[Dave Allen]

I had a chance at NAB to look at a whole slew of Odyssey 7Q's mounted by various means and you can bet the first thing I did was take photos and try to rotate the monitor 1/4-20 thread post axis. Nearly all of them rotationally moved or flopped left or right.

I only saw one articulating arm set that held the 7Q tight, and that was Cineflex arms. Although I couldn't disassemble it at the Sony booth, there appears to be a piece of round bar stock used as a jam nut.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachme...1&d=1397412399

At the Convergent Design booth I grabbed just about all of their mounted monitors, and only one was tight and it was on some generic arm, but it had a jam nut added on the 1/4-20 arm post. This seems to do the trick and would cost you about 25 cents. It would require a wrench to remove, but it's cheap.

The next solution was Olaf's right angle bracket and they had a couple them at the C.D. booth. I think the gauge or thickness of the bracket is probably way overkill. To cushion it a bit, there is a cement applied thin rubber tape that interfaces between the anodized aluminum surface and the cooling fins on the rear of the 7Q. These fins are quite narrow and leave deep lines in the rubber strip. The durometer of the rubber is on the softer side so the question remains how long it will hold up to repeated mountings. It's one of the reasons why I inquired as to an indexing pin pressed into the bracket, as I think it is worth the extra $30. This pin would index into the female hole just above the female threaded hole, and C.D. uses an Arri standard spacing. I think the $30 additional for a hand mounted indexing pin option is worth the extra peace of mind.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachme...1&d=1397412399

Another thing about Olaf's bracket in its current form is one cannot use the Convergent Design horizontal batter bracket from Nebtek as the top of the aluminum extrusion channel stock used by Olaf is a bit taller so it appears to interfere with the horizontal Nebtek sheet metal mounting plate. The solution is to use a slightly smaller right angle extrusion stock rather than have to machine off a bit of material.

Olaf has another solution where there is a rectangular bar that mounts vertically to the backside of the 7Q, then replies upon friction to hold it place via a tightened knob and a linear rubber friction strip. If I were making this, I would take Olaf's flat bar stock with a screw slot and machine a female channel in it spaced just as wide as the two centered fins, that way the aluminum bar stock indexes over the two heat sink fins and would capture both to prevent rotation, yet the monitor could still be adjusted in height but wouldn't rotate on the mounting bracket nor rely upon rubber friction and knob tightness to prevent rotation.

Next up was a new mounting solution form RedRock Micro. This does require you use a cage with two upper forward facing 15mm holes for rail mounting. This was so sturdy that the carbon fiber tunes were axially flexing quite a bit. I good smack and CF arms might snap depending on the resin used.

[img]]http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=32370&stc=1&d=1397412399[/img]

Another solution I saw was a new perimeter mounting solution from Nebtek the guys who make the battery plates sold by C.D. With Nebtek's rig, you can use the new Hoodman HCD7 hood ($100 retail, $80 show special)

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachme...1&d=1397412399
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachme...1&d=1397412399

The last solution was the most tricked out of the lot and was from Solid Camera. Really nice machine work and cosmetics, and the cage would protect the monitor a bit if dropped. This mount also allows for quick release monitor detachment without tools. Their battery mounts also dovetailed onto the rear horizontal members and one could choose any position. Between the arms, the cage, and the battery plate style shown, you're in the $1000 pricepoint. The only drawback to this solution was it appears to preclude the use of the new Hoodman HCD7 hood which fits around the monitor perimeter.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachme...1&d=1397412399
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachme...1&d=1397412399
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachme...1&d=1397412399

As a final note, Zacuto said they think they have a solution they came up with for the 7Q and will send pics.

So between a 25 cent nut to full blown quick detach rigs, we now have some great Odyssey monitor mounting solutions.

And Chris, the current software version here does not seem to easily allow images embeds uploaded to the server so feel free to fix!

[Dave Allen]

As an update to the previous above article I wrote, Movcam is coming out with a really nice Odyssey monitor cage and mounting solution.

While the Solid Camera solution is really nice, at over $1300 out the door, the Movcam system appears to be remarkably lower in price.

[Dave Allen]

Not sure why BB code is turned off, or why the image didn't render....attempt #2

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachme...1&d=1400211134

[Scott Stoneback]

Does anyone have an update to what is available for cage solutions? This thread is pretty old.

I did some basic searching, looks like the Solid Camera unit is no longer for sale on their site. If anyone knows otherwise, tell me... I would like to buy that unit. It looks the best for my needs.