GH3 and baseplates

[sharry]

Hey everybody. I just joined and this is my first post over here. So, I am Shaheryar from Lahore, Pakistan and I am a passionate filmmaker. I am planning on buying the GH3 and was a little confused over a few accessories. Mainly support accessories. Now I am buying the Benro S6 tripod which have gotten really good reviews. I am having problems with rails systems or rod supports. I saw Andrew building up his GH3 rig with Lanparte pro baseplate and rods with Lanparte Mattebox. 

 

I am currently not looking in making a shoulder rig. All I want is to attach my follow focus and work with it. 

 

I want to buy the Lanparte Baseplate pro with rods. I really like the price point and the reviews are amazing on it. But I have a small issue. Will I be able to change the battery while the GH3 is on the baseplate? This is important. I really would like to buy the battery grip but I have 2 issues with it. One being that it is expensive and the other that it offsets the whole camera to quite a certain degree. Not good. Looking forward to your answers and thank you for your time. 

[sharry]

Anyone please? Please suggest me which rod system to go for with the GH3. I want a baseplate that will allow changing the battery without unscrewing the camera. I just want to add follow focus to it. But in future I will convert it into a shoulder rig. If budget allows, I'll buy the parts for shoulder setup as well. Please help me!

[rjayx]

Hi sharry,

 

In response to : "I want a baseplate that will allow changing the battery without unscrewing the camera."

 

I'm aware that Zacuto makes a baseplate that allows you to change the batteries on a GH3 without unscrewing it. Follow this link and take a look a the product video to see it in action (about 59 seconds in they show the battery change with the plate still attached):

 

http://store.zacuto.com/gorilla-plate-v2/

 

I'm not certain how this plate works with rails, but it looks like it may require this adapter for proper alignment with a matte box: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/709526-REG/Zacuto_Z_GRP_ADPT_Gorilla_Plate_Adapter.html

 

You can get the base plate for about $65 and the adapter for $16.63 at B&H (http://www.bhphotovideo.com), so about $82 total. I hope this helps with what you're looking for.

[rjayx]

I posted a moment too soon - I just saw this too: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/895709-REG/jag35_qrgsv2_quick_release_gorilla_stand.html

 

It lets you use the Gorilla plate I linked to in my previous post to 15mm rails. Not cheap at $150 unfortunately, but it seems very few of these rig systems are. I assume you will still need the adapter I linked to for matte box alignment yet.

 

Best of luck!