GEAR MINI TESTS
SMALLRIG SCREWAND HEX KEY STORAGE PLATE £23.99/$24.90 smallrig.com
SPECIFICATIONS Contents: Two 1/4in-20 flat head screws, eight 1/4in-20 hex screws, two 3/8in-16 flat head screws, twoM2.5 hex screws, M3 trimscrews, M4 andM5 hex screws. Four hex keys, storage plate, carry bag Material: Aluminiumplate, stainless steel screws and tools Dimensions (wxhxd): 115x111x7mm/4.5x4.4x0.3in Weight: 295g/0.65lb
Every filmmaker should splash out and get one to keep in the kitbag. When you are stuck on location, trying to fix a cheese plate or monitor to an odd-size bit of kit, this is worth its weight in gold. It’s no good having disparate screws and bolts rolling around in your office drawer – with a mishmash of tools to tighten them – when you desperately need them on a shoot. It’s the filmmakers’ essential ‘EDC’, or ‘everyday carry’. The joy of this kit came to light recently, when we had to rig up a Red Komodo with a SmallRig monitor holder, to take an Atomos screen. That’s an American camera and rig with proudly imperial-standard screw holes, alongside a metric screen holder and Aussie screen. The SmallRig Screw and Hex Key Storage Plate came to the rescue with some metric M5, M4, M3 and M2.5 hex bolts, plus 1/4in-20 and 3/8in-16 imperial bolts to make light work of it all. And it comes with a flat screwdriver tool, 2mm, 3mm and 4mm hex keys – plus one of those
We test some pretty high-tech kit at Pro Moviemaker , and love to get into the nitty-gritty of advancements in filmmaking gear. But, it’s fair to say this SmallRig Screw and Hex Key Storage Plate is about as far from cutting edge as it gets. It’s a set of screws and basic tools, all fastened to a CNC-machined aluminium plate. Nothing more, nothing less. It does come in a nice velveteen carry bag, but even that bit of faux luxury can’t mask that it’s just a few bits of hardware costing the princely sum of £23.99/$24.90. Actually, if you spend over $279 on the SmallRig website, you get one thrown in for free. That’s a good deal.
pesky 3/16in ones that nobody outside the US tends to have. These are held in place by small magnets. You could individually collect all these yourself, but you wouldn’t have such a useful container to keep everything together. There are a few spare threaded holes, so we dropped another £3.62/$4.90 on a 12-piece kit of more 1/4in-20 screws of different lengths, and a spare hex key in SmallRig’s hex screw pack. Go on, treat yourself – one day you will be glad you spent a tiny bit of money on something so potentially vital. PROMOVIEMAKERRATING: 9/10 A cheap toolkit that you know will save your bacon one day! Pros: Small, light and cheap Cons: None, really!
MIX & MATCH The toolkit helped with a
Red/Atomos combo (left)
LIFESAVER When you need the right bolt on location, this is an invaluable bit of kit (below)
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