SHAPE Shoulder Mount Kit for Sony a7S with Matte Box and Follow Focus

Description

Providing a complete handheld shooting kit for you a7s camera, the Shape Sony a7S Shoulder Mount Kit includes a cage specifically designed for the Sony a7S, a 4 x 4 matte box, snap-on follow focus unit, 15mm LWS Quick Handle Rod Bloc, quick release baseplate, 18"(45.7 cm) long set of rods, a padded shoulder pad, and back pad.

The kit of components protects your a7S and turns it into a modular, shoulder-mounted rig. The modular nature of the rig allows you to swap out the a7S camera / cage and mount a different camera / cage as your needs change. The follow focus snaps onto the 15 mm LWS rods, so you can add or remove the follow focus without having to remove other rod mounted accessories. The matte box features a rod mounted swing-away design for 4 x 4" filters with 2 x rotating stages.

The SHAPE a7S Cage provides two cold shoe mounts on top and leaves the camera's hot shoe mount accessible, offering convenient support for the Sony XLR-K1M and XLR-K2M audio packs. One cold shoe mount is offset to the side and is removable to provide access to the controls on that side of the camera. The other cold shoe mount overhangs in front of the camera and can be useful for both top handles and mics. The right side of the cage can be unscrewed and totally removed to allow you to hold the camera by the handle. A cutout on the bottom provides battery door access.

The cage secures to the bottom of the camera using an included 1/4"-20 screw with a small retainer ring. There are three mounting threads on the bottom, the middle one for the camera and the other two for tripod plates. The cage is designed specifically for the Sony a7S. It's lightweight and solid and offers added protection and 1/4"-20 mounting threads on all sides.

The Black Liquorice Candy DSLR Handle from SHAPE is a compact, ergonomic top-handle that can be attached to any camera with a standard shoe mount. It attaches facing forward or backward and also offers 1/4"-20 and 3/8"-16 threaded accessory mounting threads.

The Shape Quick Handle + Rod Block is a professional video stabilisation accessory with 2 camera handles, each providing an individual rotation angle of 360°. You can attach the handle to the camera platform using a simple screw knob. A simple push button located at the articulation allows easy attachment and removal.

Combined with the anodised aluminium Rod Block, the Quick Handle offers composite camera support for all 15 mm rods. You can achieve precise positioning by sliding the Quick Handle along the rods and tightening the small red knob located on the Rod Block. With 2 screw-threaded holes, the Rod Block provides for attachment of components such as the Quick Handle.

The SHAPE 2-Stage 4 x 4" Matte Box accepts lenses with up to a 100 mm front outside diameter. It mounts to 15mm LWS rods and utilises a swing-away design, which lets you perform quick lens changes without having to remove the matte box from your rods. You can adjust the height of the matte box in relation to the rods, which comes in handy when your lens centre to rod centre height is slightly off from the standard.

Two rotating filter stages support the use of 4x4" filters. The matte box comes with a top flag (eyebrow), side flags, four matte box doughnuts in 66, 72, 82, and 90 mm sizes, and elastic doughnut.

The Shape Friction & Gear Follow-Focus Clic with Adjustable Marker is designed to attach onto standard 15mm rods of shoulder support rigs and other rigs. It attaches onto them via a clamp system, with simplicity. You would sit the Clic atop the rods, and then slide and close a Shape-patented lever clamp underneath the rods, and the lever locks and holds the Clic securely on the rods.

The Clic's focus mechanism also works with a clamp system, which when unlocked loosens the focus mechanism and allows it to be moved horizontally. It moves so to adjust itself closer to the lens. As it moves, its main feature -- the focus disk -- moves with it, and the focus disk is what reaches the lens. The focus disk can either be a friction wheel, as you see in the photo above or a gear wheel. Both are present in this package, and replacing one with the other is accomplished with the help of the included Allen wrench. The friction wheel has a rubber outer surface that would press up against the lens, keep firm contact with it, and ensure accurate and slip-free focusing. The friction wheel would serve well for most lenses and is made of high-quality rubber that in cold temperatures won't get too cold to lose its grip. The gear wheel would accommodate those lenses that specifically have teeth on their focusing rings, and it would do so without any ring gears, by pressing its .8 pitch gears into the teeth.

The focus mechanism can be used on either the left or the right side of the lens, depending on the direction you place the Clic onto the rods in. And the focus disk itself can be used either in front of the focus mechanism, as you see in the photo above, or behind it, so to accommodate a wider variety of lens lengths. To move the disk to the rear, you would first just unscrew two screws from a cube-shaped gearbox that you can't see in the photo above because it sits behind the focus disk. Once the screws are off, the focus disk can just be flipped over for use with longer lens constructions.

In the photo above, the white mark disk that you see to the right of the red knob is made of highly resistant Delrin thermoplastic. It can be written on with non-permanent markers to mark up focus measurements for various predetermined shots, and it is interchangeable and thereby many predetermined measurements can be kept ready at your side. Additionally, a slide-adjustable marker made of aluminium is included to be attached beside the mark disk and to be moved and tightened into positions along the disk.

The Clic is CNC machined and made of lightweight anodised aluminium for strength and durability.

These Shape's 15 mm Rods are a pair of 18"(45.7 cm) long rods that fit studio and LWS 15 mm rod clamps, allowing you to use available rod mounted accessories. This pair of rods are approximately 18"(45.7 cm) long and machined from hollow aluminium tubes. The rods feature chamfered ends that make it easier to insert into available 15 mm rod clamps.

The Sony a7S Baseplate from SHAPE is designed to be used in conjunction with SHAPE's a7S Cage. It features two 15 mm rod ports and a quick-release V-lock mounting interface. To make your a7S Cage compatible with the quick-release interface, a V-lock delta plate adapter comes included that instals underneath the cage. With the cage mounted, the baseplate's design places the optical centre of the camera between the two rods and the lens at a height suitable for use with a matte box. A pair of 10"(25.4 cm) long 15 mm rods are included.

The SHAPE Mini Composite Shoulder Pad is a comfort-padded and comfort-shaped shoulder pad for the back of your camera rig. Outfitted with a 15 mm-mount SHAPE Rod Block, the pad attaches right onto a pair of 15mm rods, slides into the best position on them, and tightens in place by a quality lever. It also has a black Screw Knob under which you can add a SHAPE Counter Weight or a SHAPE Back Pad, both optional and both back-supported accessories that work as extensions of the shoulder pad. The Screw Knob's screw is a 1/4"-20 screw. If you remove the Screw Knob, you'll have yourself a 1/4"-20 screw-hole to add various 1/4"-20-mount accessories into.

The Back Pad from SHAPE is a standard rig component included with most SHAPE camera rigs. Its design features a powder-coated anodised aluminium plate and arm which are attached to a thick padding on the side facing the user. The pad is easy to both attach and remove from your rig, and it supports the SHAPE BOX attachment. Additionally, the pad's position can be adjusted to the user's preference– up to 2"(5.08 cm) vertically and 360° horizontally.

Features

Sony a7S Cage

• Designed to accommodate Sony's XLR-K1M and XLR-K2M audio packs
• Two cold shoe mounts on top, one removable to provide access to controls
• Leaves the camera's hot shoe mount accessible
• Right side of the cage is removable to allow you to hold the camera handle
• Secures to the bottom of the camera with a 1/4"-20 screw
• Mounting threads for tripod plates
• 1/4"-20 mounting threads on all sides
• Provides battery door access

Quick Handle

• Provides professional video stabilisation with 2 handles
• Each handle offers 360° individual rotation
• Offers easy attachment/removal

Rod Block

• Composed of anodised aluminium
• Offers composite camera support for all 15 mm rods
• Provides precise positioning of the Quick Handle along the rods via the tightening of the small red knob
• With 2 screw-threaded holes, the Rod Block provides for attachment of components

2-Stage 4 x 4" Matte Box

• The matte box has a rear opening of 100 mm for lenses.
• The included anti-reflection doughnuts prevent light behind the camera from reflecting off any filters in the matte box and degrading the image. Included with the matte box are anti-reflection doughnuts for lenses with a front outside diameter of 66, 72, 82, and 90 mm. The included elastic doughnut supports lenses with a front outside diameter between 66 and 90mm, and it is especially useful with lenses that grow and shrink as you change focus or zoom.
• The side flags incorporate a hook design as a safety feature where they attach to the matte box. This helps prevent them from falling out of the matte box should the lock-down thumbscrew loosen accidentally.
• The swing-away bracket incorporates a height adjustment, enabling you to compensate a total of 0.65"(1.65 cm) vertically. This allows you to use this matte box with a variety of camera/rod support combinations that may vary slightly from the industry standard 85 mm distance from LWS rod centre to lens port centre.

Friction & Gear Follow-Focus Clic with Adjustable Marker

• Designed to attach onto standard 15 mm rods.
• Attaches onto the rods via a patented clamp system.
• The focus mechanism moves horizontally to adjust to the lens.
• The focus mechanism can be used on the left or right side of the lens.
• A friction wheel and a gear wheel are included to interchange as the focus disk.
• The focus disk flips to the rear of the focus mechanism to accommodate longer lenses.
• A thermoplastic mark disk can be written on with non-permanent markers and is interchangeable.
• An included marker attaches beside the mark disk and slides and tightens into positions along the disk.

15 mm Rods (18", Pair)

• Pair of aluminium support rods for 15 mm rod clamps.
• 18"(45.7 cm) long rods with chamfered ends that guide the rod into an available rod clamp, even if the rod isn't perfectly aligned or is at a slight angle to the rod clamp.

Sony a7S Baseplate

• 15 mm rod baseplate for SHAPE's Sony a7S Cage
• Quick-release V-lock mounting interface
• V-lock delta adapter for a7S Cage included
• Baseplate respects optical centre
• CNC-machined aluminium construction
• 10"(25.4 cm) aluminium 15 mm rods

Compatible Support Series for Back Pad

• Composite
• Cameleon
• Sumo
• Spider