My name is David Ferrone, I am an independent filmmaker based in the UK. In my blog I offer my opinion on various things, mostly related to my experiences as a filmmaker, equipment I use, projects I’m working on and the odd review. I have been making films for over 20 years. Hopefully some of the things I have discovered along the way will be of interest and possibly helpful for other filmmakers out there.
David Ferrone 
G’day David….how are you?
Trust your well. Great to read your website & ideas……very good.
Just a quick query if I may? I have the lumix G6 with the 12-35mm f2.8. love it. I need a collar though for it & I see you have done so. Looks like you adapted the roesch one to fit? I need the collar to attach the lens to a PVC cable glide ive made so I can get dynamic time lapses. If i mount to the camera mount point – its not in the balance point as youd know….& it points to the sky….
any thoughts or advice would be great..
Cheers!
Ro 🙂
P.S -I quite new to photography but….geting my head around it. silly question – what are all these large external units that attach/ hang from the bottom of the unit? extra battery packs?
Hi Ro! Good day to you!!
Thanks for your kind comments! 🙂
OK so first off yes these large external units at the bottom of the camera are for extra battery power but also enable more comfortable hand held use, particularly for stills photographers shooting in portrait orientation i.e. with the camera on its side as it were.
They also duplicate some of the buttons and functions to make it easier for certain styles of shooting. They are called battery grips which can be misleading, in the old days of film they used to be referred to as motor drives because they automatically advanced the film and reset the shutter ready for the next shot. Digital cameras don’t require mechanical motor drive assistance but the form factor is handy for holding extra batteries to power the camera as well as providing a more comfortable grip for portrait shooting. In my opinion well worth having if there is one available for your particular camera, however as far as I am aware there isn’t a battery grip for the G6 unfortunately.
Lens collars, yes you can fairly easily adapt the 35-100mm tripod collar to fit the 12-35mm lens. As you wont be facing the same issues of battery grips fouling the tripod collar foot as I did all you really need do is create your own simple bushing to enable the 12-35mm lens to “fill” the 35-100mm tripod collar. This will solve your lens axis mounting problems. If you need any photos of how I made mine please just ask!
I am interested to hear more about your particular project!! Do share if you can 🙂
Very best wishes
David