

Well I hope that beyond my being somewhat silly and extra, this post is useful. I basically made it my mission to make the most capable and tricked-out a7S III that I could. There's plenty of room for improvement with the rig, and I'll be going section-by-section with my thought process and how it could be improved. Then at the end, I'll show a more practical rig setup (at least for the kind of work that I typically do) that makes the rig a lot more flexible and easier to wield than this ultra megazord of a camera rig.
In summary, this rig has these features and/or is capable of:
-
Pro Mattebox
-
Wireless Follow focus
-
shoulder rig ready
-
External Monitor with 4K raw recording and all pro-level monitor features
-
Two side handles, one of which, can control REC, ISO, aperture and speed.
-
All-day power for the a7S III
-
32-bit Float recording, wireless transmitters and phantom power for XLR mics
-
SDI outputs
-
Wireless Video transmitter to client monitors and/or smart phones
-
Camera-centric umbrella to keep camera cool (not pictured! Dangit...)
-
a SmallRig mattebox, allowing the use of square filters. It can hold up to two filters, block some light out of frame, and give you that oh-so-desired professional look. For me and the work I do, this is almost pure vanity as I usually just use circular filters on the lens which I'll elaborate on later.

Starting with the Top Handle, for a rig this heavy, I went with 2 1/4-20 screws secured to the camera cage vs, what I usually use, which is the nato clamp style. The nato clamp is secured only by a single, relatively thing screw and felt it may not be strong enough to carry such a heavy rig. Which, admittedly, I didn't weigh, but it feels at least 20+ lbs. The nato clamps I recommend for lighter weight setups where you want or need to build the camera more quickly once you arrive to set. Nato clamps are also tool-less.
