Today I'm going to show you two ways to mount a monitor to the DJI Ronin S https://geni.us/TheRoninS. Both of the setups that I'm going to show you today in my opinion are the best way to mount a monitor to the Ronin S. Now I've made a video in the past showing you three ways to mount a monitor to the Ronin S, but hands down these are my favorites. So let's jump right into it.
I'm going to show you how to mount two of the most popular monitors right now, Atomos Ninja V https://geni.us/TheNinjaV and the SmallHD Focus https://geni.us/Focus.
Now you can really do this with any smaller monitor that's about five inches, but we're going to focus on these two today. The first way is using this monitor mount custom designed from Polar Pro for the DJI Ronin S https://geni.us/PolarMount. And honestly, this thing is awesome. It has a super solid design of full metal, and it does not shake or wiggle or move. Once you get everything mounted, I absolutely love it. So, this bracket screws on to either side of the Ronin S, it doesn't really matter first unscrew this part from this. And this is going to go on the side here. The cool thing about this is this is essentially a little quick release bracket so you can put the Ronin S back in its case and quickly pull this arm off.
So it's not a lot of rigging on and off every single time you got to do this thumb tighten, it takes no tools, which is so awesome. Because a lot of times you're on set, and you forget allen keys and things like that this doesn't require any at all.
Now let's get the Ninja V mounted on there and I actually mount it upside down. That way the HDMI cables shoot out this way instead of towards my hands. You literally just tighten this knob and this knob and you're done. Obviously you need to plug in the HDMI cable. And I highly, highly recommend this HDMI cable from SmallHD https://geni.us/SmallHDMI has a full size HDMI on this side, and a micro HDMI on the other, but is such a thin little cable so it just doesn't add any weight to the gimbal and doesn't like pull it down. And it's not the coiled kind which is annoying and pulls it either is the perfect cable. As a final touch for the setup, I always like to do a little cable management. So take one of these little twisty ties and just wrap it around the HDMI cable on the arm.
Now the awesome thing about this setup is it leaves plenty of space between the monitor and your hands so it's not bumping into it. I love this setup too, because you can use all different sizes of the Sony NPF batteries https://geni.us/NPFbattery, and none of them are going to bump into the gimbal or your hand so you can definitely use the largest ones on the back here and it does not get in the way at all. Another great thing about this monitor arm is that it has three 1/4 20" threads on the top so you can mount other accessories like a light or microphone.
And I absolutely love that because a lot of times I'm using a wireless transmitter, and it's super easy for me to get this set up. The Hollyland 400S Pro https://geni.us/400sPro wireless transmitter sits in a good spot where it's not going to get in the way of any of these motors or anything like that, so you have full range of motion. You can also put a cold shoe mount adapter onto the 1/4 2" here on the top.
And then you can easily throw a shotgun microphone on it and like I said earlier, you can actually do this setup with a SmallHD focus as well. You just need to remove this bracket on the side and then flip the SmallHD upside down and tighten it into place. And just like that, now you've got the SmallHD mounted on there and it works perfectly as well.
Alright, moving on to the second way to mount a monitor to the ronin s, you're going to need two parts. First, you're going to need the Spyder ring clamp from DF Digital Foto https://geni.us/MountRing that goes around the top of the Ronin and then this tilting monitor mount from Smallrig https://geni.us/MonitorMount to get started I'm going to get the mounting ring on the Ronin.
Now that we have the mounting ring on there, we're going to flip it around and get the little small rig tilt mount on and then we're going to grab the Atomos Ninja V and again we're going to mount it upside down so the cables go out that way. And then what you need to do is tighten the screws on the back of the tilt arm. That way wherever you put the monitor it will stay so let's get a battery mounted on there.
And let's talk about that you can't use the largest Sony NPF batteries on the back of this because it really will hit your hand so I don't usually use the largest ones. I tend to use the medium sized NP-F750.
Of course we need to get the HDMI cable plugged in and then you're all set to go. The rig is perfect. Honestly, this setup ties for my favorite because I love having the monitor center mounted on the back. It allows me to quickly get my framing and I don't have to look off to the side at all and the ability to just quickly adjust that tilt on it and have it stay there with no wiggle.
Now we've got the SmallHD focus monitor mounted on the back as well. And again, it's the exact same thing, tilt it, put it wherever you want. If you guys have any other ideas for mounting monitors to the Ronin, leave a comment down below and I'll definitely be checking it out. And if you guys want to learn how to light and shoot better videos, hit subscribe right now I have a ton more videos coming out and shooting, editing, everything like that.
Watch the full tutorial video here:
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