anton bauer mount for ex3/more balanced?

[Jim Stamos]

Has anyone tried this to better balance the ex3. i would more want to go this route than use one of the various shoulder mount rigs out there. it seems it would certainly balance the cam more taking away some of the front end heaviness.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/584274-REG/Anton_Bauer_QR_EX3_QR_EX3_Gold_Mount_for.html

[Andrew Stone]

Yes, I have one and use it relatively often. You will note the metal bar under the battery showing to the right of the camera with the two tapped bolt holes. You can attach relatively inexpensive BEC plates to them, butter it up with velcro and put wireless receivers or a nanoflash or whatever on it. B&H sells BEC plates, if you are interested.

This A/B attachment is one of the best bangs for the buck that Anton Bauer sells. If you have A/B batts, it is a no brainer. If you don't you can buy refurbed AB batteries from a fellow in Florida, John Ritter, who has an eBay store. His handle is ritter9. He supplies a lot of stuff to the Steadicam community.

[Jim Stamos]

andrew, do you think it helps much to more balance the camera or not that much?
im over shooter with full shoulder mounts as im leaving the sd world of the dsr300. the ex3 is really the only one im interested in. the ex1r is nice quality wise, but handholding for long periods is pointless and hve to shoot throught a good vf which the 3 has.
input welcome.how long will the cam run with a dionic 90. i would also use my ultralight with this vs. an led.

[Anthony McErlean]

I've got the Bebob Coco-EX3 V-Mount Battery adaptor for my EX3.
I does help to balance the camera a bit better but its still front heavy.
I doesn't even come close to the balance you get, or I got, from the DSRs.

It does help a bit, I would prefer to use the camera with the bebob as not.

[Andrew Stone]

Jim there are several REAL solutions out there (Anthony's solution is one) to create a balanced rig out there but start in the $500+ range and most are in the $800 to $2000 to get the ENG feel but before I go and dig up the info on all that, I have some questions because maybe if you are still largely doing ENG or handheld event style shooting then maybe you want to consider another camera. Sony has a couple of ENG style cameras in the XDCAM EX line. More expensive than the EX3 but when you start to factor in creating a frankenrig out of your EX3 with shoulder mount adapter, rails/weight systems the cost and the inconvenience gets the price closer to these relatively inexpensive ENG style cameras that Sony released recently.

Are you looking for a smaller camera? Are you planning to put a zoom through wide-angle adapter on the front of the camera and have it essentially live on the camera? What is your budget for your new camera package? Do you largely perform shoots where the camera has to be built before a shoot and just grab and run or are you more of a studio kind of guy with an hour or two setup prior to a shoot? Do you go from handheld to tripod often when shooting?

Quite a few are going to disagree with me on the weight handheld issue with the EX3 but from my own experience, once you start accessorizing it, the weight climbs fast especially if you need wide angle. In my mind creating an ENG shoulder mount solution for the camera is the way to go but lots don't feel that way.

What is the draw on your Ultralight? On it's own the EX3 would last, guessing, about 5 hours with a Dionic90. I have exhausted a Dionic once on an event shoot but it was a marathon shoot of the kind that should be avoided.

[Andrew Stone]

Taking an opposite tack. There is an inexpensive solution to turn an EX1 or EX1R into a camera that has a decent viewer with a diopter attachment. It costs a couple of hundred bucks. View it at the link below:

EX KIT PRO-Hoodman Corporation

If you don't need timecode in and out on your camera as well as interchangable lenses this may be your solution. I personally haven't used the Hoodman one. I have tried other 3rd party diopter attachments on the EX1 and it does work well. The build quality on the Hoodman affair looks VERY good. Might be an idea to search the forum for threads on how people liked the unit. Save you a bunch of money and grief if the viewfinder is what you really want out of your HD camera.

[Jeremy Hugues]

To Jim and Andrew,

There is also this shoulder mount from DM: DM-Accessories - EX3-SHOULDER Shoulder Brace For EX3 Camcorders

I am interested but would like to test it before putting 300 dollars.

Anyone with experience to compare to the simple Anton Bauer battery mount?

[Andrew Stone]

Hi Jeremy,

There is no weight over the shoulder so it will not be balanced. Although I have heard some people (a few here) have said they like the DM shoulder brace FWIW.

Back to the original post... Probably the best EXISTING solution I have seen in terms of cost/benefit is the Protech ST-7if you have a front heavy rig with an extra lens, etc on it, as shown and talked about in this thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdc...ano-flash.html

It isn't cheap but it is a bolt on solution (read: grab from bag & shoot rig) and far cheaper than a Zacuto rails and bits rig. The benefit of Zacuto, although extortionately expensive, will be like microphones and lights, as you can rationalize the laughable up front cost in that it should last, practically speaking, a lifetime.

Olof Ekbergh, a member here, that builds 3rd party rigs that are quite affordable for the EX series cameras. Here is his website:

http://www.westsideav.com/

As you will see his rig is inexpensive and makes it balanced if you operate generally with a stock EX3 with a couple of accessories side-mounted near the back.

[Anthony McErlean]

Olof's details here, post 9 for EX3
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdc...ch-st-7-a.html

[Vincent Oliver]

I can personally vouch for the DM shoulder brace. It is easy to use and is great for extended shoulder use. I took it on location to Africa and it helped me achieve steadier handheld shots. The MkII version is an improvement over their first effort, at least the shoulder mount now fits to the contour of your body. I would have liked a quick release for the shoulder section rather than the four screws - with this attached it will not fit into my Kata bag unless I remove the front compartment. Otherwise the DM brace is a worthwhile addition to the EX3 camera.

[Gary Brun]

I also have the DM Brace and can vouch for it.
Nice bit of kit it is too.

GAry

[Derek Reich]

I also can vouch for the DM brace, along with the Bebob V mount kit.
I heartily endorse both, build quality and performance are stellar. One thing about balance with the Bebob.... the battery is slightly offset to the right due to the design allowing access to the input/output ports on the back of the camera. Because of this, the camera is not balanced side to side and has the tendency to want to tip over on the right side when set on a table or floor. When I added the DM Accessories shoulder mount, this corrected the problem. It's still not balanced side to side, but the brace provides an additional flat surface that helps keep the camera from tipping over when sitting on a table.
The imbalance is not really noticeable when shooting on the shoulder, and far superior to the stock EX3 design.... especially when shooting on the shoulder for long periods.

[Ben Ruffell]

I have the DM one and it is an improvement, especially with V mount battery and a Nanoflash hanging off the back. Still not perfectly balanced, but it is an improvement.

This new mount would be what I would look into: EXMount.com

http://www.ruff.co.nz/Blog/Blog.php

[Christoph Gelfand]

I can vouch for the EXMount. I mount two wireless, a Dionic 90 and soon, a Nanoflash to the camera creating the backweight of a proper shoulder mount camera. The VCT-14 tripod connection on the bottom of the mount makes it the most practical mount thus far in terms of moving from running and gunning to tripod work and the sliding shoulder pad locks in two positions to easily change the weight from center (tripod) to rear (shoulder). Better yet, the EX3 and ExMount fit in my traveler Portabrace bag fully assembled so I can just pull it out and shoot.

[Olof Ekbergh]

I make a very simple strong system for the EX3. It is compact and greatly improves the balance of the EX3.

It can be ordered with AB or IDX battery plate or simply by itself.

The tripod mount becomes much stronger and a VCT-14 wedge is also available.

The basic system is $225.00, wing for wireless mics etc. is available for $25.00. I also make special NanoFlash and many custom solutions, for reasonable prices. In the photo below the wireless mic is facing out, normally it faces in for protection, or 2 can be mounted one facing out and one facing in. The system is compact and fits in my runbag assembled.

Contact me for more info or go to my website.
olof@westsideav.com
Westside A V Studios WEB Store
603-383-9283