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Travelling with Zoom attached.


Ross Wilson

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I recently found a section in an old Aaton LTR camera manual that states never to transport the camera with a zoom lens attached due to the possible forces applied at the lens mount and ultaimetly throwing off focus whilst not causing any outwardly obvious damage.

Does anyone have any opinions on travelling with zooms attached? Is a lens support do you think enough to mitigate these effects?

Cheers

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The hard front on Aaton cameras (and many other film cameras) is cantilevered over the spinning mirror, making the lower half less stiff and more prone to bending when applying excessive force. Therefore I would avoid having a zoom lens attached for travel - even with support rods)

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Edited by David Sekanina
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Not just the camera, but the zoom can also become deformed at the mount. I’ve seen screws stripped out of lens mounts due to an impact.

A long lever can exert an enormous amount of force at the pivot end, which is why long heavy zooms in particular should never be left on a camera during transport. 

To play Devil’s Advocate however, I recall someone arguing years ago that operators of broadcast cameras often left the zoom on, throwing the camera into the back of a car to quickly change locations. So I suppose like all prescriptions you can take it or leave it. Personally I wouldn’t risk it when it’s a fairly simple precaution to remove the lens and put it in a case for transport.

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It was pretty common to keep the zoom lens on the Aaton in a ready to shoot rigidized metal case when driving in a car on documentaries.  Being able to quickly set up a shot was a factor in this.

The weak point in the Aaton appeared to the the screws holding the top handle to the camera. The threads could wear out. especially if you had to regularly switch between standard 16 and super 16.

Regarding 2/3" ENG cameras they always traveled with the lens in a car. They were often carried on as hand luggage on airliners wit the lens still fitted by news crews.  I've never seen one traveling in a car without the lens on everyday TV productions, dramas are different because you've got camera assistants.

 

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Note, I'm not implying you throw the camera and lens into the back of a car, the camera case I mentioned has high density foam that supports the camera and holds it in place, so that the camera is suspended within the foam.

The ENG camera's are usually in a soft case (Eg Porta-Brace), although some are in a metal case similar to the Aaton.

 

 

 

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