Invented by RoadRags inventor, Russell Richins, the new tool available from MSE allows grips, gaffers, and camera people to quickly mount and secure most baby plates in seconds—without tools.

Matthews Studio Equipment says that since October 25, when their new “Made in the USA” BabySitt’r was announced, phones have not stopped ringing. Shipping in December 2018, the Baby Sitt’r is a universal system that works with any standard baby plate, from most known manufacturers. This simple new tool, adds the company, makes positioning lights and accessories near ground level quick, simple, and incredibly professional.

“Baby plates and pancakes (eighth apple boxes) are more often than not used together to position lights and accessories,” explains MSE VP Tyler Phillips. “To date, it has been common practice to attach the baby plate to a pancake using screws and a screw gun.”

“There are several problems with this current protocol,” he adds. “Tools and hardware are required to assemble and disassemble the two products, which takes time, quite a lot of it—and if you don’t have the driver or the screws, you are ‘screwed’. And, after so many uses, the wood pancake board eventually becomes so full of holes it becomes unusable, not to mention wasteful.”

BabySitt’r is a time saver

RoadRags inventor, Russell Richins, solved the problem. The new BabySitt’r “mini” allows nearly any industry-standard baby plate to be securely attached in less than two seconds. And it can still be used as a standard pancake whenever needed. The BabySitt’r retainers sit below the surface area of the board itself, allowing it to be used like any other eighth apple when flipped over. It retains all the pancake’s normal functions while providing an incredible amount of time saving. In the time it takes to watch MSE’s short introductory video (see above), you could have several BabySitt’rs rigged and ready.  As they say, time is money.

Grips, gaffers, and camera people can now quickly mount and secure most any manufacturer’s baby plates in seconds—without tools. Two different plate pockets accommodate a wide range of plates and even allow dual plate applications. Space saving, spring loaded, and secure, the BabySitt’r is a time saver compatible with MSE’s MyWay Grip plates for endless rigging possibilities.

The patent pending BabySitt’r is only sold in packs of 2, priced at $ 149.00. Baby Plates are not included, but the world’s first universal tool-less beaver board seems to be a good base for easily mounting lights low to the ground.