Brake-out cable

[nhaudio]

Hi all,

feeling like making my own brake-out cable and tails to camera. I have little experience with brake-outs and would like to know from more experienced what is a good, comfy distance to insert the multi-pin xlr going to camera.

I've seen these measurement from a pro cable maker:

Outputs are 35cm Long

Return is 65cm Long

any advice on the gauge?

any extra tips are welcome.

thanks

[Matt Mayer]

25 Inches is a good start for the camera tail. I think I made mine closer to 30 inches (76cm). Longer is better in most situations, especially with the advent of the Dionic160 battery. there is nothing more frustrating than a camera tail that hardly makes it up to the camera handle for strain relief.

One other tip, if you put a 3.5mm TRS on your tail for the headphone jack, make it extra long as well for those goofy little camera that put the HP output on the back of the handle and the XLR inputs in the front. (Sony EXs, etc).

I use Mogami 2931 cable for all of my snake cables.

http://www.mogamicable.com/category/bulk/snake/

It is easy to work with and will fit into a standard Neutrik XLR connector with a minimum of encouragement.

I would probably also go a little longer on the Mixer end as well. I think my mixer tail is 16-18 inches, it lets it wrap on my bag a little easier.

If you are doing an XLR mixer tail, leave your 3.5mm lead a little longer than the XLR to accomodate different mixer output panels.

[Eric Toline]

Here's a 24" tip to tip breakaway that I made. Neutricon 8 pin to Arri Alexa 5 pin with HP return plug and HP jack for the camera op. The split loom cover can be cut back to any length or completely removed.