28May 3 Legged adjustable camera support rig.
I see this rig for sale all the time on ebay. When they first started popping up the price tag was somewhere in the $300 range, but over the last 8 months the price has dropped to something a little more reasonable. Now you can for just under $100.
The rig is usually called something generic like “” or “
” but they all look about the same. There are a number of good features about this rig for the price.
On the plus side:
- Mounting wholes all over the place.
- Extendable arm that can be used as a shoulder support.
- 1/4 20 holes at the top of each handle.
- Folds up into a small easy to travel with package.
- Price
On the negative side:
- No support for 15mm rails.
- Follow focus could be very hard to mount.
- Mounting maybe to small for some QR plates.
Really for the price, I think this could be a very handy travel rig. It folds up so small that I could see many people over looking its faults for the convenience of form factor. If you’re still on the fence, here’s a video of a girl awkwardly smiling well demonstrating the features of this rig.
After Looking this little guy over I may have to order one to add to my collection. .
UPDATE: I just bought one, full review coming soon.
May 28th, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Thanks for sharing, I just ordered one myself for $92.60.
A lot of useful information on this site, appreciate your effort on lending your knowledge and research as a free library of information. Keep up the good work sir.
Do you think this rig will allow a quick release on the bottom to allow mounting to a tripod? I think I saw a thread on the bottom in one of photos.
Thanks again.
May 29th, 2011 at 5:45 am
Looking forward for this review.Always wanting to try it out but just wasn’t sure about it.
May 29th, 2011 at 7:00 am
Looking forward. All the weight is in front. On the shoulder there is no weight. So no balance. I think you go to the gym 🙂
May 29th, 2011 at 7:03 am
Forgot… when you use a dslr with viewfinder. Is the viewfinder in front of the eye ?
May 29th, 2011 at 6:26 pm
i think i will snag one of these…
May 31st, 2011 at 8:30 am
The biggest issue with all these rigs is the lack of a counterweight. All the weight is still on your hands, it does little to help balance the camera, in fact it makes if heavier to hold. I understand why a lot of people like the DSLR but really you are trying to turn it into a shoulder mounted camcorder. why not just find a camcorder with the features you want? (by the time you’ve added all the add-ons, you’re pretty much there pricewise.
May 31st, 2011 at 9:08 am
The compact nature of a DSLR allows you to configure your rig any way you’d like. There are shoulder rigs with counter weights, small compact rigs with handles, hot shoe adaptable audio gear and so on. As for the cost, the lowest priced interchangeable lens camcorder that I know of is the SONY NEX-VG10 $2000 after that would be the Panasonic AG-AF100 $4000, both of which still require a rig to be shoulder mounted. In contrast a canon t2i $700 and a shoulder rig with counter weight $360, still leaves you with $900 to buy the audio gear and field monitor you would need with the AF100 and VG10.
If you don’t mind PVC, a cheap shoulder rig can be built for under $40. You could also buy a used T2i for $550 if you don’t mind ebay. Cost savings is 50% give or take. There are even lower price options out there if you want to shoot on an M43 camera.
June 1st, 2011 at 5:01 am
Deejay these indisystem is pretty decent.. question what is your view on carbon fibre vs standard rod rail shoulder mount system?
These indisystem people need a youtube channel for video demonstration..
June 1st, 2011 at 7:36 am
The indisystem rigs are good start rigs, but the all aluminum construction is heavy compared to other options. A lot of there parts are just drilled out and slapped together so most people aren’t blown away buy the quality, but they do the job.
I’ve used both Carbon Fiber and aluminum rails. As long as Carbon fiber rails aren’t abused they’ll do just as good as aluminum rails at about half the weight.
June 11th, 2011 at 1:02 pm
[…] greet me (besides the dogs) was a large stack of boxes. This morning I dug through them to find the 3 legged camera rig I ordered a few weeks […]