10Jan 60D on Cinevate Base Rails Follow Focus Cyclops

5 Comments

1. 1
   
   michael schacht
   January 11th, 2011 at 9:01 am
   

   How safe does the cyclops feel on the 60D like that? Have you tried the cyclops on your cheap external monitor? Is there any way to mount that? I feel like if there was a mounting solution, that might be the best way to use the external monitor. Any thoughts?

2. 2
   
   Emm
   January 11th, 2011 at 9:12 am
   

   @Michael – The Cyclops is held in place with an adjustable arm. It’s also something you don’t need to put your face into. There’s no pressure on the LCD.

3. 3
   
   David
   January 11th, 2011 at 11:31 am
   

   @Michael,

   I purchased a Cyclops and returned it for a number of reasons. The first piece (eye flange) is held in place to the second piece (with the lens) by a short friction flange. It didn’t feel solid enough that I would want it hanging out there without supporting pressure on the back end. When they come apart, the expensive lens (the rest of it is plastic) is right at the edge.

   I purchased it for a T2i and the Cyclops sled configuration. The sled doesn’t allow the Cyclops enough vertical movement to fit flush against the LCD. They sold it that way without telling anyone that it didn’t fit the T2i then asked me to wait until they designed a plastic shim. Of course the sled covers the battery so everything needs to come apart to do that. The shim, which still wasn’t available a month after they were selling these, would just make the whole thing more flimsy.

   The LCD end is WAY too big for a GH1 monitor and hangs about 1/8 below the camera bottom.

   It’s another couple of months now and their website STILL doesn’t tell people the sled doesn’t fit the T2i and nothing fits the GH1. They don’t show the “fix” (a kind of DIY kludge) for the T2i for obvious reasons. But you won’t know you can’t use it on the T2i, GH1 (and the GH2 if it’s the same size) until you get it. Understand that they won’t pay for shipping to/from and they will try to get you to pay a restocking fee of 5%. I believe they are acting in a highly unethical way to not disclose these shortcomings when it costs the customer time and money to return.

   If you’re going to use it locked down in a studio with a camera that fits it – fine. But it’s just not solid enough and has too many pieces, to be useful in a mobile situation supported on the back end by an articulated LCD.

4. 4
   
   Dennis Wood
   January 13th, 2011 at 8:03 am
   

   Michael, it’s interesting that you would mention the external monitor as you’ll see a cyclops version for that specifically once the upcoming 3rd party EVF units see actual production. David, we do stock the shim pieces in CNC aluminum and have provided these at no cost to anyone with a fit issue.

   Cyclops with the articulating link option is being used by stillmotion during NFL shoots and the sled option, by many of our professional customers. Using a small quick-release block under the camera is one way to address both camera quick-release as well as raises short cameras like the T2i.

   To take the product to the next step you see hints here of what’s coming. Essentially we’ve designed composite articulating links as well as the “Simplis” quick release block. If you follow Patrick from stillmotion on his NFL shoots (twitter stream is constant) you’ll see the Simplis rig and cyclops in use on everything from the 7d to the 1D. This newer system therefore addresses 100% fitment on everything we can get our hands on including the GH1 (articulated LCD) and T2i.

   Cheers,
   Dennis.

5. 5
   
   Steve M,
   November 8th, 2011 at 11:09 pm
   

   Emm, any other suggestions on how to mount this to the 60D as you have it depicted in the photo. Cinevate doesn’t list that articulating arm, and frankly, their site is a disaster to navigate. Anyway, with all the new fixtures for DSLR’s perhaps you have alternative options? Thank you!

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