One of the first things you learn when working with camera stabilizers like the Ronin or the Movi is the importance of a compact camera package that is easier to balance. Why?
Because a large lens out front can make the rig harder to balance, and it'll drain your batteries faster, because of the physical weight of all that glass. So use smaller lenses. Problem solved.
Not really...
Sometimes you (or the DP or director who hired you) just want to use a particularly long master prime (a notoriously heavy and sometimes big prime), or a small zoom, to get your shot. So here is a real solution: Ignite Digi has come out with new Accessory Mounts to help you do that.
To compensate for the weight of a heavy lens, matte box, and focus iris zoom controllers on the front of the camera, you need more weight to the back of the camera, but you want to that without adding length (since length is a problem with gimbals, since you don't want to hit the rear crossbar and limit your tilt range).
This is true especially since most gimbals power the camera directly to avoid having the extra weight a battery on the back of the body... but most cameras are designed with the idea that the battery on the back will serve as something of a counterweight for the front heavy lens systems.
The Accessory Mounts solve this problem by creating a mounting point for popular accessories that is both towards the back of the camera but doesn't extend beyond the back of the camera body.
Stick your wireless video or follow focus transmitter on the mount, and you get a counterbalance that adds more weight to the back without adding more length.
One particularly nice part of the design is that it clips onto the gimbal cage and not the camera body. Since you might use one of these loaded up with a bunch of just weights, which you don't want if you grab the camera and put it in handheld mode, for instance, that is a smart design goal.
That said, if you want to grab the camera body and also your transmitter, that shouldn't take too long when switching from gimbal to studio mode.
Check the new Accessory Mounts out at Ignite Digi.
Tech Specs (for Ronin 2 pair)
- 220 grams for the pair (7.7 lb
- 20 mm (0.79″) Diameter
- 190 mm (7.5″)
- 6061-T651 aluminum and hard anodized for durability
- 5x ⅜” 16 UNC threaded holes
- 4x 6.35 mm for ¼”-20 UNC Through-holes
