Part 1 -

The CINE X SMALL

[Click to watch it on Thomas B Jones YouTube Channel]

Let’s have a detailed look on how to build a small power-machine around a FUJIFILM X-S20 as a core. We will start with the cage and base plate and go outwards from there. The camera body is safely secured in the SmallRig FUJIFILM X-S20 cage. For a lightweight and versatile way of holding or mounting the camera on a video-tripod we opted for the Falcam Dual Rod Base and the F50 tripod base plate. Two shorter SmallRig 15mm Rods make it easy to mount the V-mount battery plate and a follow-focus system if needed. For the top- and side-handles Falcam has two very nice quick-release options in their F22 series. Thanks to the smart quick-release system, any component is installed or un-installed without the need for tools within one second. Especially the mushroom-shaped side-handle is one of our all-time favourite handles, as one can rotate it directly in the palm of the hand - allowing different camera postions from low above ground to overhead.

For the lens, we chose the super versatile 7Artisan 12mm T2.9 Cine lens. It comes with native FUJIFILM X-Mount, so no adapter is needed. For any kind of documentary style filmmaking this rather wide-angle lens has the advantage of delivery ‘in focus’-images with out much need of adjusting focus - Especially helpful, if you are just starting in the game. Due to the compact form factor of this setup, adjusting focus with your left hand under the lens/camera makes turning the focus ring very easy. As an alternative - when operating the camera fro ma tripod e.g. the SmallRig Mini Follow Focus F40 is a good choice. We will talk about various lenses and their advantages / disadvantages in Part 4 - Optics. The SmallRig Mini MatteBox allows the easy use of an screw-in Vario ND-filter like our NiSi VND1-5 or the industry standard 4x5,65” filters that are mounted into a frame that glides into the front frame of the Matte Box..

In order to have the best possible control over your image composition, the exposure and focus control there is no way around a bright external monitor. To keep the size of the rig decent, we opted for a 5” ATOMOS Shinobi here. It has all professional assist-features like false color (dark, mid-range and bright areas of the live image are shown in different colors, allowing to judge the exposure with one quick look on the monitor), focus assist, framing guidelines and more.

Image 1:

Cine X Small (FUJIFILM X-S20) fully rigged.

Image 2: (left side)

SmallRig Mini Matte Box, Shinobi 5” monitor, Falcam Top Handle, SmallRig V-Mount battery.

Image 3: (right side)

SmallRig Mini Matte Box, Shinobi 5” monitor, Falcam Top Handle & side handle quick-release bracket, SmallRig V-Mount battery.

To power the whole setup with one external battery, an industry standard V-Mount battery is used. There are many different brands on the market but the SmallRig VB50 is small and lightweight, offers a very decent capacity with 50 Wh and has all the ports needed to smoothly operate your camera plus accessories. It comes with a D-Tap-port where we will connect the monitor. The camera itself is powered through the 8V-port. Here a word of caution: Don’t you ever plug in the camera into the neighbouring 12V port!! This would fry the camera electronics right away. I color-coded the port in order to make it visually stick out. There are still an USB-A and USB-C port left.

An old saying in the film making community is that “the best cinematography is worth nothing with a bad sound”. So, don’t think the internal microphone of your camera is doing the job (as you want it to be done). Even a simple external microphone like the Simorr Wave S1 or a more versatile system linke the Hollyland LARK M2 (we recommend getting the combo set, as it does not only include two super small, wireless noise-reduction microphones but also USB-C and Apple Lightning receiver units, which transform your smartphone into an external recording device).

Image 5:

Falcam Top Handle, SmallRig Mini Follow Focus, Mini Matte Box & HDMI-to HDMI cable adapter.

Image 4:

Falcam Top- and mushroom side handles, SmallRig Manual Follow Focus & Mini Matte Box.

Let’s talk about money for a moment! All components as seen in Image 1 above add up to around 1800€ (May 2024). The price of the camera itself is 1300€, which brings the Cine X Small to a total of 3100€ if you start from scratch.

The assembly of these components is rather straight-forward and neither needs special tools nor lots of experience. We recommend simply starting with the cage and a top handle and expand from there. As product lines come and go, some components listed here might not be available anymore when you read this article (the Mini Top Handle we used during our production e.g. is not available anymore - the one in the component-list down below is a good replacement, though). Doing the research, trying out new components to make your rig really custom-built for your next project is part of the fun - so enjoy it and please share your rigs and special tips&tricks with the community.

We will try to keep this and all coming article up-to-date.

Let us finish by saying … Go out and shoot .. !