19Jul 3 legged DSLR movie Rig loaded up.
I have 2 weeks of Hotel life left ahead of me. I’ve spent the last few nights messing around with that 3 legged adjustable camera rig I brought with me. I’ve finally found a configuration that I feel comfortable with for shoulder work. The configuration above has the Sony CLM v55 monitor mounted on the left hand grip, a wireless Sennheiser pack on the cameras hot shoe, and an adjustable friction arm attached underneath the rig.
The friction arm is supporting the Okii USB follow focus in a position that is comfortable enough to use it for focusing and start/stop recording options. From this position I can operate most of the controls using my thumb. Even though I don’t consider the Okii USB follow focus to be great for smooth focus pulls, it works perfectly as an all in one camera controller. Just about anything you can do from the camera you can do from the OKii follow focus.
I’m currently trying to find an easy way to mount a counter weight on the back of this little rig. In this configuration my back and arms started to get worn out after about 2 hours of filming. With out a counter weight, this setup is very front heavy. I’m sure there is some way to take advantage of the 1/4 20 female threads on the end of the shoulder posts. I just need to spend a little more time hunting down a solution.
It would be nice if some of the holes built into this rig were smaller. That would make it much easier to adapt 1/4 20 hardware to a lot of the unused space on the support legs. I’m going to keep digging around for a counter weight solution. If any of you have already solved this problem, let me know.
On a side note: This rig has shown up on amazon for $249, I would head over to ebay and pick it up for $80. I’m not sure why the amazon price is so much higher, but ebay is probably the cheapest way to get a hold of this setup.
July 19th, 2011 at 11:38 pm
I string a camera bag on the back for a counter weight. It is heavy enough.
July 20th, 2011 at 2:13 am
Now that my friend is what I call sexy. Drool-a-darooool;)
July 20th, 2011 at 5:24 am
How is the weight and comfort ability on your shoulder? Since there’s not a lot of padding how does it feel?
July 20th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
The pads are about 1/2 inch thick. Without a counter weight mounted the shoulder pad seems to be plenty. Once I get a counter weight mounted it will be easier to tell if the shoulder pad is enough to keep you comfortable.
July 20th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Here’s a thought, lacking the dimensions of the big holes:
Can you use a sandwich of two 1/4″ fender washers (the “bread) with a smaller spacer washer (the “swiss cheese”) between them to mount a 1/4-20 bolt through the big holes?
The smaller middle washer should fit nicely within the hole and be somewhat thinner than the rig member so that you can tighten the outer fender washers sufficiently. Regular 1/4 washers on the outsides might be needed to help prevent the fender washers from bowing too much.
July 20th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
That’s a great Idea. I’ll have to give it a try. Thanks David!
July 21st, 2011 at 7:44 pm
For $80 this thing might as well be on Woot! It’s not something I was planning to buy then the next thing you know I’m waiting for it to arrive in the mail! We’ll see how strong my will can be.
July 27th, 2011 at 11:09 pm
[…] example is on the low price 3 legged rig I’ve been testing. Each handle has a 1/4 20 female thread on top of it. You can very easily […]