In the past people always told me fd lenses were no good on ef bodies? But your doing it? Can you make a post or possibly email me explaining this? Because I’ve got a bunch of fd lenses I’d love to use on the t1i and the 5dmk2

Depends of what you mean by “no good”. To make them work on the EF body, you need an adapter (look at the link above).

If you are talking about image quality, you are half right. While they are OK for video, they cannot compete with L lenses for still pictures in terms of image quality, contrast, saturation, etc.

Adapters are cheap, just buy one and see for yourself!

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Do you still use your FF and are you happy with it? Do you have some new footage where you use it? Is there room to add external display in your rig?

It looks nice and it’s damn cheap. Keep up the good work!

Hi. Yes I am happy with the rig but I have not had the opportunity to use it much recently. This is probably going to change next weekend since I am planning to either go on a photo-roadtrip or shoot a promo clip for a friend.

The problem with this rig is that it takes a lot of room and setup time (tripod, head, FF, etc..) while the Zacuto Rapid fire is up and ready in less than 30 seconds. Of course they are both use for different things. It just happen that what I am shooting right now benefits more from the Rapid Fire.

If you are thinking about getting one, it is generally a sign that you will need it Happy shooting!

Ok. It seems that it’s at least better than focusin normally with your hand

yeah those two are made for different use. I’m pretty much always shooting “planned” shots (music videos, short films etc) so there’s always time to adjust my equipment. For work in enviroment that you don’t control, this kind of rig are not the best.

Do you know any good and cheap way to add this kind of handle to the top of the camera:

http://homepage.mac.com/denverkr/dslr_kit_5.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/denverkr/dslr_kit_4.jpg

That’s from redrock so the handle itself costs like 240$ without those additional rails and stuff you need. That kind of handle is very good for some faster moves and places where there’s not much space. I think there’s room for that kind of handle in your rig..

I never used a top handle so I dont know what I am missing but since a lot of people are talking about it, maybe I should give it a try…

I dont think it would be very hard to get the parts from a hardware store. The plumbing department should have everything you need. The real challenge would be to make it look cool, and balanced. I will keep this in mind the next time I go to Home Depot.

Could it be possible to install that Manfrotto baseplate directly to this rail block:

http://www.cinevate.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=68&osCsid=d32af61b5475e5188866a6c8def3cd5a

I’m trying to go even cheaper than you so would it be sturdy and would it even work if I buy rails, Cinevate block and Manfrotto baseplate?

I think I’m trying to say that is that huge iron plate necessary that comes with indirails, or could you just put your Manfrotto to the rail block you have there, if the rail block had hole on top of it, like Cinevate block does have.

I dont think it would work because the lens would be too close to the rails and you would not have enough room to install the lens gear. Also, think about how you are going to install this on the tripod! The current Indirails brick might be a bit too tall but anything smaller would need to be custom made for the 5D.

But that Cinevate block has threads in both sides, so I could install the Manfrotto to the upside and the tripod mount plate to the downside like you have, but instead of installing them to that indislider brick, I would install them to that Cinevate block. Or am I missing something?

I’m also going to make something like this to get the top handle:

http://www.idcphotography.com/kart/index.php?p=product&id=103&parent=0

That’s too expensive for what it is and I wouldn’t be using those side handles, so I’m going to make that myself. That will make the camera go a little bit higher too.

Would it be too much of trouble if you take a picture from both sides of your rig when the camera and FF is installed? I would see how much the FF will take space.

How long it took to get that lens gear set from dvcity? I made my order 23th day and it still says “processing”. Last update on my order was 24th day. I emailed them yesterday but havent got reply yet.

In my case, it went straight from processing to my door without any intermediary states. Give them a few more days and it should be at your door.

Dude, i appreciate you’re sharing your secrets with people.
And, by the way, Marry CHRISTmas!