Ergo pro + clamp on camera mounts == win!

[Gerk]

Just got the mounts in hand last night and played with them for a tiny bit.  Super configurable and they seem very sturdy.  Here's the mounts I used:

http://www.amazon.com/Arkon-Samsung-Olympus-Panasonic-Cameras/dp/B00P8A56PQ/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452879899&sr=8-1-fkmr0

And here's what my setup currently looks like:





It's kind of hard to see from these pics, but I promise I will take better ones once the setup is more finalized ... and I will also clean up all the crap off my desk!  This setup is in my studio.  The mounts us a ball head type setup and give really good flexibility in terms of how you can position the keyboard halves.  In between the keyboards is a Slate Raven MTi2 audio touch screen controller (which is freakin' amazing, changes everything for me).  I wanted to get the touch screen much closer and full split out the keyboard halves.  Mission accomplished.  I did a fair bit of typing on them last night and they feel very stable.  I will probably adjust the angles a bit as time goes, but for now this will get the job done.

[suicidal_orange]

That is an amazing setup!  The board itself is lovely, but that touchscreen

[Gerk]

And the reason I decided to do the clamp on version instead of the desktop mount version is for a couple of reasons ...

The first reason is that initially the idea was that I would clamp these to my chair arms directly and have a "mad hacker" type chair, which I've always wanted.  Unfortunately it didn't work out well in my setup -- for fault of the gear, I just couldn't keep them attached to my chair and still get in close enough to the touch screen for my comfort level.

Secondly, and this was always the backup plan, is that I could clamp them to the fronts of my desk and have a full 360 range from there -- they could go out more forward than the front of the desk or go back -- they are currently in the back position.  I also wanted to make sure they were very stable and clamp ons don't move at all.  Also they don't take up any desk footprint.  You can (barely) see that on the right hand one I actually have my mouse under the keyboard.  it also keeps the desk top (the real one, not the virtual one) clean and usable underneath.

I couldn't be happier with the setup.

[Gerk]

That is an amazing setup!  The board itself is lovely, but that touchscreen

Here's a link to more info on that touchscreen setup for anyone who wants to know more about it:

http://www.slatemt.com/products/raven-mti/

I LOVE this thing.  No more RSI related mouse issues for me, now I use my whole arms and can use left and/or right hands (or both at the same time!)

[jacobolus]

Gerk: have you tried tenting the two sides a bit? With the way you have them now, your wrists are still going to be pronated almost to their limit. Even a little bit of tenting relieves quite a bit of strain from several tendons, giving your fingers improved strength and flexibility and making it easier to find a neutral posture for your back/shoulders/upper arms while still typing comfortably.

My own preference is to have a tent angle of something like 35–50°, but lots of folks think that’s too “weird” and prefer about a 15° tent angle (usually the max for commercial products), while others go all the way to 80°.

A question: what’s the range of configuration of the ErgoPro halves on these particular mounts? Would you mind taking a few pictures of them tilted various directions? Thanks!

[Gerk]

Gerk: have you tried tenting the two sides a bit? With the way you have them now, your wrists are still going to be pronated almost to their limit. Even a little bit of tenting relieves quite a bit of strain from several tendons, giving your fingers improved strength and flexibility and making it easier to find a neutral posture for your back/shoulders/upper arms while still typing comfortably.

My own preference is to have a tent angle of something like 35–50°, but lots of folks think that’s too “weird” and prefer about a 15° tent angle (usually the max for commercial products), while others go all the way to 80°.

A question: what’s the range of configuration of the ErgoPro halves on these particular mounts? Would you mind taking a few pictures of them tilted various directions? Thanks!

Yep I've tried a bunch of different angles and for a pure typing environment I would have it splayed more, but for this usage I spent more time doing hunt and peck or hotkey combos on it than I do in the way of touch typing. 

Did a few pics, they have a pretty wide range.  The inner section can spin around to put the adjustor on either side (see last two pics) so they are pretty versatile.  Super happy with them for my needs!  Very solid too, I suspect they will last a long time if you take care of them (i.e don't overcrank the adjustors).

[showman]

This is awesome! I love the idea of the clamps, and that touch-screen looks great. It is good for RSI you have found?

[Matias]

This has gotta be the coolest thing I've ever seen...   

[Kliwon]

wow..   
that nice work Gerk..

[BigDov]

I might be missing something in the Amazon listing, or in your description - did you fab a little piece to actually attach to the back of the keyboard, then to the clamp, or was that included? I really like it, and am getting some inspiration to do something like that myself now... very, very cool

[Gerk]

I might be missing something in the Amazon listing, or in your description - did you fab a little piece to actually attach to the back of the keyboard, then to the clamp, or was that included? I really like it, and am getting some inspiration to do something like that myself now... very, very cool

No, the Matias ergo pro keyboards come with 1/4 20 style camera tripod/hot shoe mounts on them, so you only need to find clamps.stands that have that style of attachment and you're good to go.

[Gerk]

This is awesome! I love the idea of the clamps, and that touch-screen looks great. It is good for RSI you have found?

Yes it has been great actually.  It's not good for everything I do but it's certainly awesome for music and video production work, and funny enough it's now my goto for casual web browsing (like right now, surfing forums).

[zefyr]

OMG this is cool!!!
I'm gonna do this with mine, too!
Great work!

[showman]

Gerk, which of these two Arkon Clamps would you recommend getting?

 This Kind: https://www.amazon.com/Camera-Mounting-Olympus-Panasonic-Cameras/dp/B00P8A56PQ?ie=UTF8&qid=1452879899&ref_=sr_1_fkmr0_1&sr=8-1-fkmr0

Or this one: https://www.amazon.com/Arkon-Samsung-Fujifilm-Panasonic-Olympus/dp/B00EKQC88C/ref=pd_bxgy_421_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=ZJWBBKYN5X9ZK18B9MNJ

Price is the same from the seller I'm dealing with. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Gerk]

Gerk, which of these two Arkon Clamps would you recommend getting?

 This Kind: https://www.amazon.com/Camera-Mounting-Olympus-Panasonic-Cameras/dp/B00P8A56PQ?ie=UTF8&qid=1452879899&ref_=sr_1_fkmr0_1&sr=8-1-fkmr0

Or this one: https://www.amazon.com/Arkon-Samsung-Fujifilm-Panasonic-Olympus/dp/B00EKQC88C/ref=pd_bxgy_421_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=ZJWBBKYN5X9ZK18B9MNJ

Price is the same from the seller I'm dealing with. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The first one for sure, the second gooseneck one won't get the job done IMHO.

[orchid88]

Hello. Just found this posting on the keyboard setup. I’m thinking of getting the kinesis freestyle 2 keyboard and wanted to do a 90 degree setup. Wondering if these clamp would work for it as well? I don’t know if I could attach them? Thank you for your feedback on the stability.