Building A Rig For My GH4. Parts. Lots of Parts!
I’ve been messing around with parts I already owned to try and rig up the GH4 for more advanced shooting. Advanced meaning using an audio person and capturing sound into the GH4. Also having better monitoring options for different environments like shooting outside. Here is what I have so far and it works pretty well. I’ll add more pictures later but here is all the bits I have on the GH4 rig.
Fhugen Cage.
I used this one with my GH3 and it works great for the GH4 too. I bought the handle (not being used because it’s wobbly and hot shoe mount) and the HDMI pinch separate since at the time they didn’t have them yet . The HDMI pinch is GREAT! Instead of using the Micro HDMI connector I put a Cable Matters Gold Plated Micro HDMI to HDMI Male to Female Adapter that takes it to full HDMI and clamped it in. Fixed that annoying problem. If you get a cage make sure you can do the same. I already broke two Micro HDMI cables. They suck! Not only did I go through several micro HDMI cables one of the three GH4’s micro HDMI port stopped working. I have only used the camera for maybe 15 hours. All with a monitor attached and no cage. I had to return that camera and buy a replacement. Not cool. It’s nothing new that mini and micro HDMI are horrible for cameras so we have to protect them and a cage with a clamp is a must.
I like PNY skinny HDMI cables. They are 16′ long and have been great performers. They have outlasted all other brands I’ve used so far.
Wooden Camera C100/C300 Top Plate
I liked this on my C100 a lot and wanted to try and mount it on the cage. I also had a cold shoe from Wooden camera but it didn’t line up on the cage. After messing around I found two tapped holes on one side that lined-up. Screwed it in and it’s solid! No twisting allowed. Then I screwed the top plate to the cold shoe just like I did on the C100. I can believe it worked!
Wooden Camera UVF Mount
Again this is from my C100 setup and it works great on this cage since I now have the top plate attached. I added a Nato rail to the UVF arm because I wanted a tools way of swapping out the EVF for a monitor. Indoors I prefer using the Ninja Blade and outdoors the Zacuto works better.
Juicedlink Riggy RM222
I added this for when I have a sound guy with me. It’s upside down so the the cables run out the side. I tried it on the bottom but it just makes the camera tall and awkward. It also covers the switches so making changes to the settings means I have to take the box off the bottom of the rig. When I use a sound guy I record all the audio into the camera and have another copy that he is recording from the mixer. Safe and easy to edit for multi cam work.
Rode Shock Mount With Cold Shoe
I had a 1/4 20 to cold shoe adapter laying around so I put the Rode Shock Mount on top of the Riggy.
Thats it for now. It works very well and if I want to just shoot with the GH4 EVF the whole Wooden Camera UVF slides out with a twist of a knob. I will probably make one change and flip the Zacuto EVF so the cables are on the other side and not getting in the way of the UVF arm.
What do you think? not bad for using what parts I already had right? What would you do different?
A Work In Progress
Next I want to try to get the Zacuto C100/C300 studio baseplate on the cage. That would awesome! I need to tap an extra hole on the bottom of the cage to prevent twisting. Easy enough to do! So easy I already did it. Now the Kessler camera plate is attached with two 1/4 20 screws.
I have three GH4’s. Why? I’m doing a project that requires three cameras and I decided to go with the GH4 and shoot in 4K. The camera shoots beautiful images and is very affordable.
Bring On The YAGH!
Earlier in this article I mentioned I had to replace one of the GH4’s due to the micro HDMI port failing. I talked to Terry at Texas Media Systems and we decided to give a GH4 with YAGH kit a try. I’m not a big fan of the YAGH. I feel it’s overpriced and not well designed. It requires 12v power so an external battery is needed for field use. The four 3g SDI outputs is just crazy, but to also have HDSDI and full size HDMI out is nice. 2 XLR inputs with phantom power is also what I need. So I went for it. Now what? You guessed it. Yet another rig.
For the GH4 and YAGH I went with Wooden Camera.
This cage seems like a perfect fit. I also needed to add rails to the back to support a gold mount battery to power the camera.
This wooden Camera Rod Clamp (15mm LW) is the extra part I needed. It will be attached to the back of the cage. For now I’m not adding fron rails. I dont use a matte box or a follow focus very often so no sense adding more to the rig. I’m taking some other bits from my other rig to put on this one. I’ll have pictures when it all comes in.
At least the YAGH does power the GH4 too so I dont have to deal with several batteries.
In fact I’m hoping I can get this setup powered by one single gold mount battery via this F&V 3 Stud Battery System. This piece of kit has several different D-Taps with different voltages. Pretty handy, and comes with a Canon battery adapter perfect for the Zacuto EVF.
I have a nice rig going so far. Added a Zacuto Shoulder pad right under the lens for balance and the EVF is working well since I flipped it. Also added a 1/4 – 20 knob for tool-less operation. Love that! I should have the front rail mount soon and then the hand grip goes on. In this setup I’m using a basic cheese plate instead of the F&V. The camera plugs direct into the AB plate with no issues. If I need more power taps that require lower voltage then I would use the F&V.
My new Zacuto VCT Universal Baseplate arrived and I’m liking what I see so far.
The VCT has a really nice pad under it. The plate is kind of heavy but built like a tank. I cant find my grips I’ve had for a while. It’s really frustrating because when I put the rig on my shoulder it’s balanced but I need a grip on the right side.
As you can see I’m using the Wooden Camera Cage and the Zacuto VCT baseplate together. The YAGH makes the camera sit very high and I knew that would cause problems but if I use the rails on the Wooden Camera base then the space should be correct if I choose to add a follow focus and mattebox. I haven’t got that far yet. The rail position in the front using the VCT plate looks to low. Might work but need more time to experiment.
More coming…..
I have a lot of work to do when this all arrives this week. Please come back for updates and new pictures as I perfect or give up on this setup. I actually do think it will work well for what I need and what I need is to feed two channels of audio into the GH4 and be able to monitor the image from any type of monitor available. Either SDI or HDMI and has to be powered by batteries for field use.
Wish me luck!
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Filed in: Atomos • Featured Post • GH3 • GH4 • Micro Four Third Lenses • Micro Four Thirds • Mirrorless • Panasonic • Support and Grip • Zacuto
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Erik,
I enjoy your blog and your video work, and your thinking makes sense to me almost always. Which is why I wonder where you’re going with the GH4. Yes, it’s cool and little (and 4K!), but in the end, after you’ve franken-camera’d it to where it’s no longer little, or as convenient or generally useful as your C100, then what?
At the bottom line, in truth, is the GH4 a better working experience — or just a passing fancy? And would you be as strong a backer if the equipment purchases were out of your own pocket instead of the station’s? (These are legit questions, not meant to be bitchy.)
Please keep your advice and thoughts coming.
Sincerely,
Ralph
Ralph. To be clear. These ARE my purchases not the stations. I own a C100 and three GH4’s. The station owns a C300.
Yes the GH4 is a small camera but in order to shoot with it in certain conditions it has to be made to work. That is the purpose of a rig. If you read the article I say how easy it is to strip it down and make it light and usable with the onboard EVF. I think you have to understand how people use this camera like they did with others before it. I really like the 4K image and I’m shooting a 4K project now so for that the C100 isn’t the right tool. I just made the GH4 the right one.
Shooting the GH4 is actually easier than the C100 without any rig. The EVF is far superior as is the LCD screen. I wish it had waveform instead of histogram but my Ninja Blade has that so I’m set. When I shoot with MY C100 I always use a monitor or the Zacuto EVF that I also own the Wooden Camera UVF. This just passed right on to the GH4. So really the only difference is the Juicedlink Riggy for phantom powered mics that I didnt need for the C100 That I own.
Hey Erik – Are you seeing image lag between the GH4 and Zacuto EVF? I’ve got nearly the same set up. Getting lag of .25 – .50 of a second.
Yes.
Just wondering what you are using to stabilize this rig?
A tripod? If I’m shooting handheld I can slide the Wooden Camera UVF off and use the built in EVF. The set up isn’t heavy.
Love it! Do you have pictures from different angles?
Sorry. I will shoot the heck out of it soon.
Eric, I have come up with a very similar solution, but with the alphatron evf located directly above the cage, so that it ends up looking very much like a C100/300 layout – works really well. I’ve also incorporated a manfrotto quick release plate on both my cages, so that, like you, I can quickly and easily swap between the evf and the monitor (Atomos Shogun, when it arrives). I’d like to send images to you, but can’t work out how. Any thoughts? Email you direct, maybe?
Cheers,
Nigel
Cool! I like having having the EVF off to the side a little. It lest me stand to the left of the tripod. Send me some pics! Go to About Me page and click on Contact. I want to get a better EVF but I think I will hold out for the Gratical from Zacuto. I saw it at NAB and it’s crazy good.
Thanks!
Erik
Excellent info. Thanks for sharing!
Could you tell us which micro-HDMI to full-size HDMI adapter you used with the Honu cage? I want to make sure I get one that fits properly.
Here you go. I also added it to the blog post.
http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Plated-Female-Adapter/dp/B007NJ9L56/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=eriknasocom-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=YYGROFAN5XN7HSQP&creativeASIN=B007NJ9L56
Erik, when your shooting with the YAGH and Gh4 do you see a huge jump in the image quality. Just wondering as I am debating getting the shogun. If I am correct the YAGH shoots 10 bit 422 4k. Just wondering if its that big of a jump in image quality.
Thanks
The GH4 in 4K is impressive. We wont know until we see what we get with ProRes HQ or 422 but if you dont need the extra color space internal is pretty dang good.