After their release at IBC in September, the ARRI Master Grips have finally made their first stateside appearance. At an event at AbelCine in New York last week, we got a chance to spend hands-on time with them—which is, of course, what matters most for handgrips.
Further, touchpoints matter. An odd protuberance from a shoulder pad or a sticky eye cup can be distracting or downright painful while operating. Designers in every field know this well, which is why so many hours of work go into designing bicycle handgrips, automobile seats, and the tactile feel of your cell phone. With camera designers, however, it often seems as if ergonomics is completely forgotten in the race to improve specs, add more features, and out-market the competition.
The grips accommodate a wide variety of operator hand sizes while providing a large palm pad for sure grip and various pressure points.
Not so with the new Master Grips from ARRI.
Credit: News Shooter
If the shape of the handgrip looks familiar, it should; ARRI has used more or less the same handgrip design for decades. Many filmmakers first used them on the ARRI SR3. Given the age of the design, ARRI actively sought to refine it this time around, experimenting with dozens of new shapes to see if any offered the benefits of the old grip.
None did. That's why ARRI used the original molds to create the basis for this new grip. Lacking individual finger slots (which tend to work with only one hand size), these grips accommodate a wide variety of operator hand sizes while providing a large palm pad for sure grip and various pressure points.
The Master Grips have some fascinating upgrades.
However, it wouldn't be a "new" product if it didn't come with a variety of new features, and the Master Grips have some fascinating upgrades. ARRI grips have long offered a zoom control rocker designed to integrate with motorized zooms, a great feature for the handheld documentary filmmaker out shooting solo who wants smooth and precise zoom control. The Master Grips upgrade this control with rockers on both sides which are now programmable, so you can control focus, iris, or zoom from the handgrip, and can switch sides at will.
Arri Master Grip DisplayCredit: Charles Haine
Of course, to upgrade to this level of control, ARRI needed to add an interface. A touch-screen system mounted directly to both of the handgrips allows an operator to easily see how their grips are configured and to change them in the field—however, for each grip, you need to choose either a zoom rocker or a focus/iris wheel at purchase.
The left grip is particularly easy to read while the camera is mounted on your right shoulder, and could theoretically enable an operator to make changes mid-shot—though that is unlikely. However, while operating a film camera without in-viewfinder info display, it's exciting to have data available on the grip screen that you can view with one eye while the other operates the camera.
The lens controllers are designed to work not just with ARRI cameras, but also to be adaptable to other camera platforms through the addition of an LCUBE converter box. Configuration is already available for the RED camera platform; others are sure to follow.
Currently, the lens control is designed to work with external lens motors, but internal servo motor lenses will be controllable through EF mounts on the AMIRA or ALEXA Mini in the future.
Arri Master GripsCredit: Arri
The mounts are available now from your ARRI dealer.
Master Grip Left Wheel MLW-1
- Left-side camera handgrip
- Assignable user buttons and a finger wheel for iris or focus adjustments.
- Includes a steel ARRI rosette and two LBUS interfaces
Master Grip Right Wheel MRW-1
- Right-side camera handgrip
- Assignable user buttons and a finger wheel for iris or focus adjustments
- Includes a steel ARRI rosette and two LBUS interfaces
Master Grip Left Rocker MLR-1
- Left-side camera handgrip
- Assignable user buttons and a control rocker for super-smooth zooming
- Includes a steel ARRI rosette and two LBUS interfaces
Master Grip Right Rocker MRR-1
- Right-side camera handgrip
- Assignable user buttons and a control rocker for super-smooth zooming
- Includes a steel ARRI rosette and two LBUS interfaces
