Mount Your Phone To Your TopRock!

[onocoffee]

I made this mod a few months ago after seeing something similar by SysTim and thought I'd share it with you. I wanted a way to set up my phone for listening to music, podcasts or watching videos. And since I come from a production background, I thought that the Magic Arm would be a great solution.

The Magic Arm that I'm actually using is made by a company called Selens, but the components are pretty universal. I put these together from the Selens booth at the NAB Show back in April but I'll include links to the similar offerings from SmallRig, in case you want to do the same.

The components of the MagicArm are interchangeable and I set it up with a NATO Clamp on one end and 1/4"-2 screw with ARRI locating pins on the other. The clamp connects to a NATO Rail that is mounted onto the exterior of the Systainer with 1/4"-20 stainless screws and bolts. The clamp readily comes off and the whole rig stores inside the TopRock.

The ARRI pins lock the screw into a MagSafe mount that has the matching ARRI pinholes - these prevent the screw from loosening due to the mount twisting.

Magic Armhttps://www.facebook.com/share/15d112myq3/
NATO Railhttps://amzn.to/4aJSSAZ
MagSafe Mounthttps://amzn.to/3WNPEGT

I've also mounted another NATO Rail to one of the shelves above the worktop so I can watch videos at eye-level while standing. If you do end up making one for yourself, love to see what you come up with.

 

[onocoffee]

Seems that this site won't allow me to load more than one image. Here's a pic of the mount:

 

[onocoffee]

A side view of the Magic Arm with the MagSafe Plate connected to the NATO Rail.

 

[onocoffee]

Overhead of Mount

 

[Sys_Tim]

Way cool! 

Would you be up for me posting this over on Systainer Works?

 

[onocoffee]

[member=82471]Sys_Tim[/member] Of course!

 

[Cheese]

Very interesting...it reminds me of the Arca Swiss stuff that they use on larger cameras. It's just a lot smaller and a lot less expensive. [big grin]  That MagSafe holder is really slick.  What's the smallest profile magic arm that's available?

 

[onocoffee]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] That's pretty much the smallest Magic Arm I've seen. Over the past ten or 20 years, there's been greater proliferation of Chinese companies providing grip gear. This has brought a lot of new ideas and cheaper prices to the market. And while I still like and prefer the stuff from Matthews Studio Equipment, sometimes the need doesn't call for the highest end.

And depending on the Arca plate, these Arri Locking Pin 1/4-20 will work.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

It looks cool, but scares me a little. ABS is not the strongest thing and that looks like a lot of leverage against a pretty small base plate. How stable is it?

 

[onocoffee]

[member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member] I find it to be fairly stable. The NATO Rail, Magic Arm and Mag Plate are all machine aluminum so it's fairly lightweight, and I don't adjust the arm to stick the phone out to maximum extension. The parts are designed for use in motion picture/television production, which can get pretty rough and tumble. The Systainer hasn't shown any flex but I'm also not beating up on it. If I were going to subject it to heavy abuse, I might put a steel backing plate on the inside to reinforce it.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Ok, great. Like I said, I do like the concept.

 

[Cheese]

The Systainer hasn't shown any flex but I'm also not beating up on it. If I were going to subject it to heavy abuse, I might put a steel backing plate on the inside to reinforce it.

Good call... [smile] ...I surmise that in most of these situations, the support structure of the Systainer will be fine.

 

[Packard]

Very interesting...it reminds me of the Arca Swiss stuff that they use on larger cameras. It's just a lot smaller and a lot less expensive. [big grin]  That MagSafe holder is really slick.  What's the smallest profile magic arm that's available?

I have an Arca-Swiss Mono-Ball, which I bought in the early 1980s and, as I recall, I spent about $800.00 for.  I looked on line and the same item is for sale (new) for around $500.00.  With my Hasselblad and a 150mm lens, it would lock solid and never spilled to the side. 

By comparison, my $1,100.00 studio stand from Manfrotto, is still a catalog item with a price of $3,995.00 the last time I checked. 

Has anyone checked to see if telescopic site mounts would work?  Very solid and quick disconnect.

This Brownells unit attaches to a Nato rail.  It would require a plate to mount the phone to.  But the mount is very secure and quick to install.