Stop Screwing Around | Embrace Quick Releases Everywhere!
One thing I keep seeing people do is constantly screwing and unscrewing these terrible stand adapters onto their monitors, transmitters, (Teradek, Hollyland, Accsoon, etc) and other devices on set. They do this over and over, wasting time and sometimes end up stripping out threads on the device. I've even seen broken off screws in Teradeks because of this behavior.
Embrace a quick release system.
A QR system helps eliminate repetitive tasks or simplifying setup and
break down. I have chosen the
Kondor Blue Mini Lock and
some no-name versions of it and
deployed them almost everywhere. (I've hinted at the many times in the
past)
The Mini Lock is Kondor Blue's taken on the
16x9 CineLock
with some quality of life improvements. It's versatile little system but
there's many other worth considering:
You could even leverage countless NATO rail/clamp combinations out there, some of which I've highlighted in the past. Where ever you land, pick one and run with it.
With the cheap stand adapters that come with the 1/4-20 stud shown above (which you might already own) you can often just remove the 1/4-20 stud to repurpose it. But I prefer to just grab these CAMVATE stand adapters that have 3/8-16 (or 1/4-20) threaded holes with Arri-style anti twist.
Once you have either the male or female side of the QR of your choice in place on your devices you can put them in all the places you might have a transmitter or receiver. Worth noting that I've found it best to have the male on the mounting side and the female on the device for the Mini Lock system. Having a stand mount with the mating piece opens lots of doors for placement when you get thrown a curve ball on set. But there's more uses outside of stand adapters.
I have a mating piece on my Accessory Mount Pro, Accessory Mount NATO, VESA stand mounts and even one on a 5/8 baby pin.
If you have an articulating arm, that's also a great opportunity for both the stand adapter and QR to be put into action and have a very useful tool that doesn't require you to screw/unscrew anything. The Kondor Blue Mini Lock Ball makes this even easier to do.
So, save yourself some time and potential headaches. Invest in a system to make life a little easier. Get creative! Know that these options shown aren't the only way to go. I'm just hope to inspire you to be more efficient and tailor things to fit your needs.
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