Aaton Prod with Superspeeds, Mattebox and Handgrip?

[Marc Roessler]

I'm sure some of you have already used the Prod with Superspeeds and (of course) a mattebox, usually this will be a Chrosziel for Aaton. And if you do this from the shoulder, you also need the hand grip.

 

It just occured to me that you can't really use the handgrip in this scenario: obviously you can't mount it to the rods in front of the mattebox, and it also won't really fit between the MB and the Aaton because the Superspeeds are so short.

 

Any tips? Or are you using some extender to position the wooden grip further below? (Which would also be much more comfortable...)

 

Greetings,

Marc

[Saul Rodgar]

It is kind of a pain, but I do it when necessary. I can see the rods through the viewfinder (the rods on my bracket are rather long) but they are not in the shot. I make the hand grip rail go as far back as I can, which is a bit uncomfortable, but I can work with it. I usually cover the rods with camera tape to prevent reflections, tho. I do wish the rods were short and I could screw longer ones as needed, but Aaton did not figure that out until later. It is one of the reasons why 16mm Aaton cameras built a rep as "documentary camera" as opposed to "studio camera," I guess.

 

Another thing to do is to hold camera by the rods and leave the hand grip off the camera. Not ideal, and you need someone to throw the on/ off switch. But I have also made it work.

[Vincent Sweeney]

I have used it with handles in place without much trouble. Things get tight with the FF mixed in there but it still works, unless you are using a 9mm lens but then you don't really need a FF then anyway. The extension piece that's made for the handle is worth what ever it costs. It makes for a very comfortable combo with the bicycle handle on the other side.