NATURAL HISTORY CINEMATOGRAPHY

[Dave Blackham]

I agree 19mm bars, we use a x or ET base plates. Remember Epic needs raised up 11.8mm to align lens centre correctly. Stainless or good carbon bars work fine.

If the bars are very long with a heavy lens you may also need an extended wedge plate which the front of the bars can rest to provide additional support.

We have a small 19mm to 1/4 20 lens support on to which the lens is supported on to the bars.

[Steve Phillipps]

I agree 19mm bars, we use a x or ET base plates. Remember Epic needs raised up 11.8mm to align lens centre correctly. Stainless or good carbon bars work fine.
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True, though that's only for cine stuff like matte boxes etc that are a standard height, not relevant for stills lenses which have randomly-sized tripod feet - it's just suck it and see! Easy to make spacers though.
Good idea about the extra support but I reckon you're talking about seriously heavy lenses like the Optimos, the Sigma is a relatively reasonable (by cine standards) 5kg or so.
Steve

[Dave Blackham]

True, though that's only for cine stuff like matte boxes etc that are a standard height, not relevant for stills lenses which have randomly-sized tripod feet - it's just suck it and see! Easy to make spacers though.
Good idea about the extra support but I reckon you're talking about seriously heavy lenses like the Optimos, the Sigma is a relatively reasonable (by cine standards) 5kg or so.
Steve

True, you may not need a riser plate but its awkward if you don't have one at times. They are easy to make if needed. The Sigma should be fine with just a good set of bars but something like a large telephoto lens may need additional support. Well over half our work is for Wildlife work and we use as lightweight as possible but sometimes the additional plate is essential.

[Joe Pontecorvo]

Hi Steve and Dave, I just wanted to thank you for your advise. I went a slightly different way in the end for my 300-800mm Sigma. I am using Really Right Stuff rails based on a recommendation from Isaac Babcock. It does require some modification. I will post the rig as soon as those modifications are complete.

[Pawel Achtel]

sent to me by a fellow wildlife film maker: I'm sure it looks familiar to some of you :)

[David St.Louis]

That was fantastic, I aspire to achieve this quality!

[Joe Pontecorvo]

I just wanted to share my final rig for the Sigma 300-800mm. I ended up going with Really Right Stuff rail system thanks to a recommendation from Isaac Babcock.

[Dave Blackham]

Looks really good. Thanks for sharing this.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Hi Joe,
Can you list down all the parts for the system and if possible links please.
Sabyasachi

[Yusuf Thakur]

RAK-Tree of Life 42 mins film.

A natural history film shot 95% on RED and 5% on HD

Shot predominantly with a RED One and Sigma 50-500 and Nikon 17-35.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtRrteUAr0M&feature=plcp

Yusuf Thakur
VFX,Dubai
www.vfxme.com