Noga Cine Arm and Cine Lock Kit 1

Comments about Noga NF38CA-CL1 NF Cine Arm 3/8" and Cine Lock Kit 1:

I use this to mount a Panasonic BT-LH80WP to an HPX500. The ability to mount the monitor quickly, and to take it off quickly, is a huge plus: much quicker than fooling around with a noga arm directly. My only problem is that I would prefer a 3/8" Noga arm to monitor connection -- I would think that would be better than a 1/4" connection... but all in all, am happy with the product.

Comments about Noga NF38CA-CL1 NF Cine Arm 3/8" and Cine Lock Kit 1:

I own and operate a Silicon Imaging/P+S Technik SI2K camera-recorder in Perth, Western Australia.

The main operator interface is a touch screen display which is mounted to the camera body on a long Noga Arm.

As supplied ex-works, the long Noga arm fits to the camera body via a threaded hole on the carry handle and to the base of the monitor, also by a threaded hole.

There is no quick-disconnect device as standard.

This arrangement requires that you either risk short commutes with the camera fully assembled or dismantle the monitor and arm from the camera.

If the monitor stays on, there is a chance of damage unless a custom hard protective cover is made for slipping over the face of the screen.

Removing the monitor is a tiresome chore when time is at a premium.

Firstly the four monitor cables have to be taken off, then the monitor spun off the threaded pillar on top of the Noga arm with the attendant risk of damage from dropping.

This leaves the Noga arm itself attached to the camera handle. To remove it requires a spanner.

I had heard of a quick-release dovetail plate attachment for Noga arms but had not been able to find it in searches.

I chanced upon this combined assembly which included a quick-release dovetail plate on the BHPhoto site.

I had been searching for a shorter Noga arm than the standard supplied longer version.

I now use this arm. It is so much more convenient to be able to quickly dismount the monitor from the camera body.

It is also small and light enough to pack assembed to the monitor in a fitted foam liner in a box without risk of damage.

If the monitor must be separated from the arm, after dismounting the quick-release plate, the arm itself is adjusted straight and then simply rotated out of the monitor base whilst the monitor itself is held safely firm.

This Cine Arm version also employs what is referred to as a "kip lever".

It replaces the wheel found on the original longer arm for tightening down on the centre friction cam to lock the pivots on the arm.

If the lever comes into interference against any structure and cannot be moved far enough to tighten or release, by pulling back against spring pressure, the lever can be disengaged from its centre and freely rotated to a more convenient operating position.

It also requires less effort by the operator to tighten the friction to effective lock.

The shorter arms permit less leverage force against the pivots by the weight of the monitor which is now reassuringly more secure against sudden falls onto the camera body.

The monitor can still be oriented conveniently for direction and for as much height above the camera body as is a practical requirement.

If the monitor needs to be as far from the camera body as the cables will allow, then the quick-release plate allows this to happen instantly and the monitor can be operated handheld.

The original camera handle fittings are 1/4". The bare base of this arm is a 3/8" fitting. This screws into the wedgeplate.

The base into which the plate engages, conveniently has provision for a 3/8" or 1/4" fitting screw which is provided in the kit.

If there is any shortcoming it may be that the normal careful cleanliness applicable to cameras should be also applied to the arm-end ballpivots to avoid excessive wear of the small expanding retention rings and the machined channels they locate in.

The need to overtighten the longer standard-issue arm, combined with wear caused by grit and dried out lube, eventually caused one ball-end to fail.

The worn ring forced the metal edge of the channel away to the point where because of added clearance at the internal pushrod-ends, it was no longer possible to tighten the upper arm.

The ball-end finally came off.

The shorter arms of this product and their greater effective resistance to the weight of the monitor, do not invite this abuse. It is thus an improved option in this application for me.

There was no exploded diagram of the kip lever/cam assembly received with this kit or the original longer arm supplied by SI/P+S Technik.

Thus if you are unsystematic when dismantling for cleaning/relubing or you clumsily lose grip of the assembly and the parts scatter, or some curious kid-eager pulls it apart to see how it works, it can be a devilish monkey-puzzle to put back together correctly without the help of a diagram.

A small issue is that the collars at the ends of each arm cannot pass without the assembly being adjusted to entirely loose or force is used to make them pass.

An added spacer between the arms at the centre would fix this and permit an easier lowest possible setting of the monitor position.

In my own application, the mount on the handle is higher than the lowermost position the monitor can move to against the top of the camera body.

With sensible care and use, this product can be expected to endure for the lifetime of the appliances it is connected to.