F-Zero Full Camera Kit

A really awesome purpose built large-format camera

I’m really impressed with this camera so far. It was engineered and developed in a way that makes it highly modifiable to fit what you’re trying to do, and the instructions for assembling the camera made it easy to set up for the first time. The bellows aren’t included, but I ordered them from the recommended supplier without any issues. They fit well to the system, don’t have any light leaks (when you make sure they’re resting flat), and can really extend outward for reaching infinity focus. From there, you also need to purchase some type of mounting platform. The setup tutorials pair the camera with a 1000mm C-Beam and gantry plates. They’re very solid for their price and easy to source parts for. However, I found this configuration to be more cumbersome than I would like for use on a film shoot. If you’re using a small mirrorless camera, I think the C-Beam rig works great but for something like a RED Monstro it starts to become difficult to physically move and use. If you go with a C-Beam, I’d recommend adding some type of width somewhere to help keep it stable when you don’t have it mounted to a tripod (like a Kessler Kwik Stand XL). I think it’s a testament to the system that it is very adaptable, because it was easy to switch over to using a camera slider instead as the base. My current rig is a Syrp Magic Carpet Pro Slider with a second carriage for both the front and rear standards. With this slider, the rear standard needs a type of threaded cheese plate to mount properly since the main gantry is unthreaded. I’d recommend adding one on the front lens carrier too just so they’re the same height. I’m still working on adding parts to my rig to make some of those movements that large format cameras are often capable of possible, but I’m just very pleased to have a lightweight, well thought out and modifiable camera system in the F-Zero to get there.