Andrew Malecki's Lion awaits it's BMC

I delived a Lion to Andrew yesterday he has everything set up to go as soon as his BMC is delivered.  This is the first Lion from the lastest batch.  Though we always do your best, this now fulfills Lion's potential, and it is a completely solid foundation to build off of.  Here are the up dates.

We have added these two 1/4 - 20 female mounting points for a locking hinge which holds a cheese plate for a V-mount or Anton Bauer Battery plate.  The idea behind the locking hinge is that you swing the battery out to quickly adjust the counter balance.  I will have pictures of the prototype soon, all of the Lion's will be set up this way from now on.  The power distro. will have two quad P-Taps one on top of the mag and one right behind the camera a configuration suggested by Matt Workman.  The one difference is that they will run parallel along the length of the Lion.

The Lion is now finished with Tried and True Original Wood Finish, I love the results.  It  is highly polymerized linseed oil combined with beeswax, and completely nontoxic.

Aside from the Mas Epoxy connection which as a  Tensile Strength: 6,7000 psi the nose mount has two set screws we really wanted to make sure that this point would not fail.  

The rods are now flush with the bottom of the Lion's "L" not a advantage for the BMC but we wanted the C300 owners to be able to push their cameras all the way back, no one had a issue but it will improved the balance and I think is will look much tighter. The rods now run all the way through and are cut when the 10 degree angle for the front of the shoulder is sawed.   This greatly increases strength at the thinnest part of the rig and doubles the surface area where the aluminum, Mas Epoxy and wood meet.

To anyone out there who has already bought a Lion, contact me and and I will update or replace your Lion free of charge (excluding shipping).

Ergocine original hardware

Dennis at Egli Machine has just finished the design for our new 15mm light rod 15 degree tilted grip bracket.  It has M6 thread all the way around, is cut from 6061 billet aluminum, and Arri style rosettes on each side.  We will be cutting our first bracket next week, the projected price is $145.00 (I just raised it by $10 because of added hardware costs) for the bracket and lock down screw. If you already pre-ordered the price stays as $135.00.

The working configuration will be the Black Cherry or Walnut Grip on the right side and Cherry or Walnut billiard ball size sphere on the other.  The bottom of these two pieces will be flush along the bottom so you can place you Lion on the deck and it will be level side to side.

I am also thinking that I will be able to design brakets on the operator side to accommodate third party wired and wireless remotes with relative ease.

The bracket will come in natural brushed, black, forest green or gold, well are also offering our cheese plate in these colors.  In addition we will have our own 15mm male/female threaded rods in the next couple of weeks in 6" and 4" and these two will come in a choice of colors.  More colors to come I am looking at burgendy red and navy blue.

Quick and dirty BMC foam model on the Lion

I have been getting a lot of hits from a BMC board so I put together a 1:1 scale foam mock up of the Black Magic Camera and did some photos.  This Lion is still in the finishing process but I wanted to give you a idea of how it all fits together.  The Lion would have a monitor just like the normal configuration for the 300, Epic and DSLR, I don't think a EVF will work well with BMC but the small monitor would be perfect. 

Editors Note: Because of the width of the BMC every shoulder rig will have issues with optimal EVF placement, the Redrock plate shown does have the ability to slide from side to side.  Shifting the camera to the right should correct for this.  That said the suspended monitor configuration is my personal preference.

Please for give the quality of the photos I was flying solo on this.

Check out the Latest BMC Post

New Ideas, compatibility and function

We have been testing the rig with some different cameras, and we want to send it out there so you could have a look.  We built out a Epic with the generous help of Joseph Victorine.

We have been thinking that the balance would be improved if the camera body was back right up against the shoulder.  We have change the design to have the bottom of the L flush to the C300 plate so the camera can slide all the way back, those 2 or 3 inches should make a big difference.  My main issue is the power and video out, even with L adaptors it is not optimal.  

We will be getting a very early demo back soon which I can butcher and really customize the Lion for the Epic.

The other obvious issue is power distribution, we started to address the issue with the Epic test with d-tap brake out right behind the camera and batt mounted on the side cheese plate.  This works but it takes up the cheese plate which could be better used and it is less than elegant.  Matt Workman has come up with this battery mount.  He has squared the back but we am going to make a plate curved to the shape of the body on one side and flat on the other.  This will be available on the next run due out in two weeks.  It will be oriented at the an angle like the images above.

Next is quick sizing test with a 7D.  We did not wire up, but it gives you a idea.  I would love to get a Blackmagic to test with any takers?

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