If you're like me, I have no straps mounted on my camera. Not always ideal, so here's something a friend showed me. This is a Calumet Aircell Neoprene quick strap. Not only comfortable, flexible, and padded, but it allows you to quickly remove the strap when it's not needed. A good thing for people who want to use Shoulder Rigs, Sliders, Cranes, Steadicam / Glidecam stuff since it can easily throw off the balance. Or people who move from doing Photography to Video. Can be found via Calumet's website (here).
The 717AH is back and with a slight price drop. [Thanks Larry]. This is a solid and inexpensive mount for the top of your sliders or track dollies that help to reduce vibration during your movements. It's also helpful to be able to change pan and tilt angles. You'll find this head on many DIY projects including Rod's DIY Ladder dolly. You can find the discounted 717AH following the link (click here).
There's been a swarm of new products and videos posted on the JuicedLink blog in the last two days. Besides showing updates on current accessory brackets, there's information on the DIY slider (shown at NAB2011), unusual iPhone and iPad mounting brackets, and a handsfree type DSLR rig. You can find more information and videos about the new products following the link (click here).
Rigs are often compared to Lego systems, since they can be assembled according to your imagination. It's hard to justify the cost of industry standard 15mm rigs if all you need it for is to stabilize your camera. You can already do this with a few broomsticks and duct tape.
It starts to make more sense once you start to involve mounting audio accessories, lighting accessories, monitors, evf solutions, follow focuses, and matte boxes. Especially since some of those items require rails to mount. Clamps and rods also make it easy to redesign and customize size and shape depending on the individual. You can grow with a starter set of rails, or you can shrink down from a large rig. Not to mention the benefits to traveling. A large set of rods and clamps can be packed up pretty nicely. Lastly, there are many who just want the pure aesthetics of it.
Here's a video from Vimeo member Just Basl Productions showing how 90 degree clamps play a part in mounting accessories to your rig, or for redesigning your rig to accommodate different shooting styles. The RedRock Micro Spud can be used with any standard 15mm Clamp, and runs for just $8 dollars (click here).
Self Portrait GoPro HD, Palo Alto, Shureline Painters Pole
If you're familiar with the Palo Alto adapter for Painters Poles, it's back online with a very very limited amount. This is just a fun little adapter that will add a standard 1/4x20 thread to the top of any painters pole for added height to small cameras. Would be a fun thing for the HX9V and built in image stabilization. I gotta take this thing back out. My favorite painters pole is the Shur-Line Easy Reach Extension Pole.
Ok, so Gini wasn't completely off his rocker selling what looked like unfinished versions of a Follow Focus. Now we're starting to see some finished versions of the new Gini DSLR Follow focus. Now in anodized black with Marking disc. Check out the stuff following the link (click here).
Here's a closer look at the inline version of the 'EVENT' DSLR rig from Express35. There is so many good things about this rig, but overall you'll find the price is the best part. Express35 stabilizers are made in the USA, and it's quality rivals many of the top local DSLR Stabilizer brands, and yet pricing competes with the cheapest of over seas rigs.
This particular EVENT rig is designed for EVF or LCD Monitor use by keeping the camera in line over the shoulder. You can also use this setup with cameras that have Flip out LCD screens. The contoured shoulder pad wraps behind the shoulder (doesn't sit on top), and the counterweight that sits low balances the rig out even more. With the dual rods on the counterweight, you can offset this if you feel you need to shift it over more to one side. I prefer to have the weight adjusted to sit lower. You can also just shoot without the counterweight, and still have plenty points of contact for stabilizing your camera.
Normally you'll see adjustable handles with some rigs, but those could have a tendency to reposition (slip) under weight. The Express35 XL HD handle is one solid piece which really adds to the whole stability of the rig. The 13" length and 4" offset design of the front handle makes it extremely comfortable to operate with less strain in your arm. There's a few optional pieces I suggest to really get this rig going. The optional top handle makes it easier for me to lift the rig on/off my shoulder or to hold the rig in a position for low shots. The optional tripod mount obviously makes it easier for you to get into tripod mode for some fluid panning (or just docking the rig). The 90 degree accessory rod clamp with stub makes it easy to attach or detach a 1/4-20 accessory. In this case i'm using a friction arm with Zacuto EVF with the rod clamp.
The only other item I'm looking to add is a second handle. It's not necessary to have a second handle for stabilization when shooting video on this rig, but the second handle will allow me to place the rig on the floor without falling over. If you decide to look into Express35 gear, make sure you put in a good word about this Cheesycam blog. To find out the exact pieces that come with the EVENT, and optional accessories, check out Express35.com.
Pricing aside, what does it have to offer? The larger stabilizer should hold 10lbs on the top fairly easy. That's a bit more than the weight a Glidecam HD4000 is rated at. The unit is all metal, lightweight, and gimbal is very smooth. The top stage adjusts forward/back/left/right to center your camera. To balance the entire stabilizer, the Gimbal can be positioned further up or down the post.
The arm is huge and very well made. It can be positioned either left or right side by flipping the mounting bracket. It can definitely carry some heavy weight, but isn't designed to be fine tuned for light weight setups. (The Merlin vest can be tuned for light camera setups). The Padded Vest is very lightweight, easy to slip on/off and adjust various ways for comfort. From an operator's point of view, the Konova arm is much easier to place into the vest system than a Steadicam Merlin Vest (I just leave the Merlin Arm on all the time) and also easier to remove when breaking down. The stabilizer comes with a stand adapter (attaches to a light stand) to dock the stabilizer when not in use.
Let's talk cons. Well price is one. There are already so many other options on the market with either the same price or cheaper. Unless they can bring the price down, it's going to be a tough market to crack. It offers nothing different than what is already available. This unit is wired, but is missing HDMI. HDMI seems to be a growing trend not just for DSLRs, but for other popular cameras under 10lbs. (i'm going to mod this one with my own HDMI). The monitor that it comes with is outdated too, so I'll be switching that out with the SmallHD DP6. So that's it so far, and i'll be taking it out for a test as soon as I can build it up to my liking. Stay tuned.
At first glance most Varavon products take unusual routes in designing camera gear. One example is how they opted to design their ViewFinder with a pop open door and mirror for low angle shots. Unusually I find myself using this feature quite a bit now. This time they've designed their Armor (cage) to not look so 'cage like' when compared to all the other square or rectangular boxes on the market. Varavon sent over the Armor [Thanks Varavon] and it looked like a weird contorted frame, but that's all designed to make your camera still feel like a camera. We didn't really notice this until mounting the 5D Mark II and using it as we normally would hand held. The frame is very lightweight, but it's far from flimsy. Not exactly sure what's it's made from but it feels more like steel not so much aluminum.
Since most DSLR cameras have the hand grip placed on the right side of the body, I guess Varavon figured you'll be focusing with your left hand and supporting the camera with your right. For this, they provided some 15mm standard stubs only on the right side of the Armor body and include a well crafted wide grip handle for support. Instead we tested different things from Shoulder Pads to Target Shooter style gunstocks mounted on the stud. You can use this 15mm mount for a variety of things, but if you build up too far, you might have a tough time getting on and off a Tripod head.
The Armor comes with a mounting base, which is already designed to accept the Varavon View Finder. I have one for the 5D Mark II, so it fit in place perfectly. The entire package together really works, but it has it's 'cons'. The quick release is still a propriety system. The View Finder I have is only for the Canon 5D Mark II, so this won't mount correctly if i'm using a 7D, 60D, T2i, T3i, GH2, etc. For people who own multiple cameras, expect that you'll only be using it for one. Another thing I found was the many many threaded holes around the cage. It's nice if you're mounting a direct 1/4-20 bolt directly. But I tried mounting a hot shoe adapter and it continuously positioned the wrong way. This is due to the threads not allowing a bolt to spin freely before locking it down. I may have to drill a few of these out to remove the threads. For most people Varavon products haven't been competitive in pricing, but that could be contributed to quality. Also, tools like the Varavon ViewFinder and Cage don't exactly fall under 'Future Proof' designs if someday you choose to change cameras. All in all, in the time i've had a chance to use Varavon products, I've been really impressed. They make excellent quality ViewFinders, Sliders, and now this Armor Cage. More information on the Armor can be found at their website (click here).
Calumet AirCell Straight Shoulder Strap
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Varavon Products on eBay