Monthly Archives: May 2010

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Total Approx $45.00 Dollar 'Hands Free' shoulder rig modification / Shoulder Mount + Rotating Flash Bracket.

The Goal of this video is to show a simple 'low budget' way of how to mount all of the important accessories for DSLR video onto a cheap $24.00 shoulder mount rig.

Okay that's probably the worst article title ever for a Video Camera blog, but this cheap should support from Amazon or Adorama has earned it's own acronym. A.S.S. stands for 'Amazon Shoulder Support' or 'Adorama Shoulder Support'. I blogged about this thing months ago and one seller on Amazon ran out of stock. The other sellers tripled their prices. It was normally going for around $24.00 dollars, now you're seeing it around $70.00 bucks. You can all thank me for popularizing it. Not to fear, the guys over on eBay are still selling it for around $24.00 dollars and you can find them following the link below.

Anyways, I wanted to hack something up and saw this thing hanging around the corner of the studio. Thought i'd try to add all of my important accessories to it and see how it goes. It's actually not bad, and it turns it from cheap looking to sheek looking. So sit back and enjoy the video of me doing my A.S.S. implants with the Canon 5D Mark II, Battery Grip, Rode VideoMic, 126 LED video light, LCDVF, and Zoom H4n.

Here's the product.
You can find the shoulder support from eBay by clicking this link, or the image below.

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Here's a link to that rotating flash bracket that goes for about $21.00 dollars or so.

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Shoulder mounts aren't the same as Steadicams. It's not totally designed for walking / running, but it still helps alot in those areas. I don't want to reinvent the wheel, so here's a user that's uploaded his version of testing it out by walking around.

If you're still not sold, I believe this is the legendary Phillip Bloom having fun with one.

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I saw these grips a while back online, but thought they would be something very tiny and not very useful. Turns out these things are quite large and the company who makes it also designs Gun and Rifle type stabilizers. I have yet to see a DSLR + Viewfinder with this handle, but thinking that would look very very cool. Might be a great handle to add to the DIY shoulder rigs.

Old school 8mm Cameras

Camcorder with Grip

They can be purchased here:

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Fred C. over at TuperHero.com is working on a DIY shoulder rig I believe he's calling the "Tuper-Rig". Based on the RedRock EyeSpy shoulder mount, he's cleverly used some type of L-Bracket to serve as both an offset (for lcd viewfinders), as well as height leveling. Not easily seen in these photos, he's using 2 long aluminum square tubes to make both the handle + shoulder pad fully adjustable sliding forward and back.

Still in progress, Fred sent me these photos of the basic rig layout. If you check out his blog website at https://tuperhero.com, you'll find more information with some way cool drawings and designs of his final plans. Awesome job Fred, and thanks for that huge huge donation to the website too!!

Final questions i'm sure the Cheesycam audience wants to know is, when's it going to be done, and where can they buy one?

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Now that you're all excited about the title of this post, I have to break the bad news and say unfortunately it's not me giving this prize away. I'm just letting you all know about the Olympus Pen Challenge going on right now. Olympus is going to give you an Olympus E-PL1 camera + $5,000 dollars to fund your next video project.

It's easy to enter, you don't even need an Olympus camera to submit for the challenge. Basically you send them a short video telling them what you would use the new camera + money for, and they'll choose a few winners. Anyone want to team up with Cheesycam for a project, holla back! I'm thinking music video utilizing all the features in the new E-PL1. More details following the link.

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joel-c-donation

Whoa, i'm flattered so many people stop by to read and comment on this blog. Better yet, i'm humbled by those who find time to even leave me a donation. Joel C. was a reader I blogged about earlier who created an awesome DIY version of the Shoulder Rig. Shortly after, Joel dropped a huge huge huge donation towards the blog. Thanks Joel! BTW, i've partnered with a company to create a special unique steel adapter, ordered a few hundred of them, and you'll be getting one in the mail. Thanks for the donation! If any one else wants to support, the donation button is at top right. Thanks readers!

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These videos are long, but super super interesting for anyone who cares anything about lenses. Most of the time I feel like everything camera related is overpriced, but after you understand the work behind creating some great lenses, you'll feel very differently (well at least for Canon Lenses). This is a three part series that covers the making of a Canon L series 500mm F/4. Take the time to watch when you can.

Part #1 Making of Canon 500mm Lens

Part #2 Making of Canon 500mm Lens

Part #3 Making of Canon 500mm Lens

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I've always wanted this Pen camera for it's throwback feel, and interchangeable lens features for a small portable, but wasn't happy with the quality of the E-P1 HD video. Now this E-PL1 version which comes out cheaper than the introduction price of the E-P1 is more my style. This commercial revived my interest, you'll see what I mean at the end of the commercial.

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It's a little early to be posting this up, but I was excited to see the rough cut on a video project I was asked to help with. Sorry Travis, I know it's still in progress, but I just had to show off the excellent work you've put in so far. I'm pretty proud of my Steadicam work with my Hybrid rig for this gig.

Producer Travis Simpson found me on Vimeo and asked me to be the Steadicam operator in a video project that was going to be shot entirely on DSLR's. My bit of experience in DSLR cameras helped as well for being a good candidate as Cameraman #2.

The interesting part of this video is the run and gun type gear used. We had to be fast, mobile, and carry only a few items to work in the tight traffic conditions of San Francisco. This entire video clip was shot only with 2 cameras + 2 lenses. Here's the setup:

Camera #1 Canon 550D / T2i + 50mm F/1.2 on RedRock EyeSpy bundle with Follow Focus
Camera #2 (me) Canon 5D Mark II + Sigma 20mm on my Hybrid Steadicam Rig (Found Here)
Sound was captured seperately by awesome Sound Engineer Kevin Crawford

If you see more than 1 person in the shot, that's the Canon 5D Mark II + Sigma 20mm on Hybrid Steadicam.
If you see the camera panning or moving during a shot, that's Canon 5D Mark II + Sigma 20mm on Hybrid Steadicam.
Close up detail shots or headshots are from the Canon T2i + RedRock EyeSpy + 50mm L F/1.2.
We also used the 126 LED video lights (found on the right side of this website) during the Bar scene diffused by bouncing off of a piece of paper. Love them lights.

Credits for the video (still in editing progress)
Producer: Travis Simpson
Director of Photography: Me!
Host: Ben Djavaheri
Sound Design: Kevin Crawford
Production Coordinator: Derek Fernandez

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You can find more about these lights i've been blogging about in this article http://cheesycam.com/?p=561

I was playing backup camera guy for a friends recent shoot. Packed up the rest of the gear and with 550D / T2i in hand + cheap eBay 126 LED light on HotShoe, I just thought i'd grab a clip of how powerful these video lights are. This is a super raw unedited clip that I didn't even take time to focus properly, but hopefully it provides a helpful insight on this item. You can find more about these lights i've been blogging about in this article http://cheesycam.com/?p=561