Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

I have looked all through the C300 forum and have not found a shoulder rig I would like to try. My work involves some shoulder work in boats shooting boat so it needs to be stable on my shoulder and able to stay there for hours.

I might try and mod DM rig from my EX3 if I don't find anything better. But I would sure prefer plug and go for a good price, a lot of the rigs are silly expensive and not worth the extra money.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

There is no such thing as a universal balanced rig. I use a C300 often with a custom rig.

For some advice rigging, I suggest you take a look at my Rigging Guide for the BMCC. It should give you some good options to consider.

Hope this helps.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

You have to buy some rig with lots of options for performing various changes to suit your balance. Having said that, I have been trying out various options & must say I couldn't zero in on one which gives me natural balance as RIG need to be hold with hands fold out which cox lot strain on hands & lower back. One needs to also understand that we cant do long BETAcam style ENG shoots with rig system cox they dont have the ergonomics for the natural stance we feel comfortable.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Thanks guys for your responses appreciate the input. I am setting up the C300 over the next three weeks while I dial in the camera and get it ready for the business. Until then I will use my sony gear.

Currently the Movcam rig looks the best to me with a few mods it might work well. I would drop the handles they only cause problems in my work. Hand on hand grip and hand on lens is the best option for me. Also being able to lower the camera below the shoulder looks nice for VCG, and my Switronix 130W/h battery off the back would help balance LCG.

I see no problem using this rig on my should for hours at a time except for its cost. The gear is light and balance should be easy to achieve. No it won't be my Sony F800 but it could be nicely balanced and lighter with no problem to use for hours at a time. Just a shame how much they charge for their gear.

I have been using a EX3 with DM shoulder mount and my Switronix battery off the back on the hinge and it works great. And a lot lighter load then the F800 rigged up.

Has anyone used the Movcam C300 rig?

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

While not sure exactly what you are looking for, I've been having a great time using the DVMultirig, with my xf105, 305 and 7D. It's quite light, folds up tiny and allows me to put the camera down even on wet boats (the legs end up looking like a spider. You can reverse the grips to the top for low angles, and use it on the floor for even lower. You can mount a lanc (I use the Varizoom on both of my cameras), on the pistol grips, they have screw mounts on a lot of the elbows, so you can mount lots of different gear as needed (external monitor, shotgun, etc. and they have an attachment for a larger battery on the back side, like a AB. I don't wear it *on the shoulder* all day, but it can be held quite nicely off the shoulder, resting against the chest when not shooting or just waiting around. Also, it has a great mount for taking the unit directly to and from a tripod. I've shot a couple of all day music festivals with it,working 20 hours a day (no fooling), and it's extremely portable and easily carried folded with camera on board through a mob.

While I have tried other systems, this one seems to work the best for my needs.

I have no stake in this company. Just a satisfied customer.

Support systems for DSLR/ DV/ HDV/ Camcoders

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Thanks Al great input and nice when a rig makes your life easy. 20 hr days I hope they pay you well?

I actually have one and was planning on using some of the parts in my mods.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Ha! That one was for the love of bluegrass music. I do get paid well on some other gigs, so it all comes out in the wash. I'm on this thread because I've been looking into the C100 or 300. Not currently an owner yet.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Agree Al,

My passion at times has me just loving the day with my camera and sailing.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

This is video that shows the Movcam setup on the C300.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Seems like an awesome rig. Overkill for run and gun.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Here's our hybrid Arri/Manfrotto/Optitek rig:

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Looks like that lines up well with the VF. Does not look like there is much padding on the shoulder support.

How much did that rig cost to set up?

I have tried to get three dealers to get back to me on Movcam pricing and availability and no one is contacting me back. So I have started to look at other options.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

OK I finally ordered the Movcam rig. I did not get the V-Lock battery off the back yet since I want to see if there are other options off the back.

As I try and do with all of my purchases I went to a DVinfo.net sponsor. This time B&H since they had it in stock.

As I use the rig I will report back and let anyone who might be interested know what I think.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Hi Sareesh,
Where did you buy your C300 from?

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

I don't own a C300, I rent it. Canon India sells it directly, and their service is excellent. Or, speak to Murali from Expandore: Professional Audio Video Equipment Supplier. He's based in Chennai.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

This is our shoulder rig for the Canon C300 camera. Its mainly a Zacuto base plate with rods, with a few Red Rock micro parts thrown in.
The camera sits on the shoulder well for most hand held shooting, and was the closest we could get to a Betacam style form with the parts we had.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Here is my shoulder rig set up for a narrative shoot in my studio last week.

The Movcam is a nice rig on the shoulder and works great to add on a lot of other gear when on quality sticks.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Sweet looking rig Paul. Hey what EVF are you using. I'm in the research stage for my C300.

Cheers

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Hi Mate,

Nice to hear from you. Hope all is well?

I rent the prompter but the rest is my gear. Mic is on a boom by the talent.

As for EVF I use the C300 viewfinder. The 7" monitor I have on the camera is a Marshall V-LCD70P=3GSDI. I have had that for a few years and it works well. But in the process of upgrading and will put that in the classified tomorrow with a Redrock matte box and filters that I don't use.

You dial in the PP? Using LOG?

I have had great success with the camera so far and happy with the purchase. Still have not used LOG, plan on doing that for the next shoot. Did make the mistake of setting ISO to 320 one day and lost a lot of latitude but learned that the hard way.

Drop me an email if you want to talk PP?

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

All good here mate. I use CLOG on every shoot and love it. My work is very unpredictable at times with locations and setting up lights etc rarely happens so the Log profile suits me. All I do is Load the footage into FCP7 or Avid and use the 3 way CC to pull a look, quick and easy.

I'm sure there are better ways to do this but I have limited time frames and turn arounds on every shoot.
One thing I'm after is a EVF as I'm struggling pulling focus outdoors. I have a Small HD DP6 but I find this useless for shooting outdoors and pulling focus in bright light.

Cheers

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Where is the best info for learning the proper way to set up CLOG?

Do you know have a rig to set you in line with the VF?

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

With Clog I just shoot as normal and use the View Assist function. At first I struggled with Clog getting my skin tones, exposure correct or where I would normally have these set with the 500 but now I'm understanding where Clog likes to sit better. There is no tuition that I have found, just shoot heaps with this PP and grade how you would like the end result to be.

I'm after a add on EVF for the 300 and have been looking at the Small HD DP4, Alphatron and a few others to help me with nailing focus. I find I miss focus a few times on moving objects using the LCD screen. I wish Canon would feature another push in focus thing to help with this, a bit like the 5D.

Cheers

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Hi Paul,
This is an interesting looking rig. Do you have a photo of it on your shoulder without the teleprompter?
What is the model of the silver looking handle on top of the camera?

I did a bit chunk of handholding yesterday with my rig and felt absolutely exhausted by it after 3 hours. I'm used to handholding a Sony PMW 530 with no worries, but I do struggle with the poor ergonomics of this camera.

I did try a Zacuto Stinger kit for my C300, but honestly it weighed a ton. So I stripped it down to basics, but its still front heavy. I do like having an EVF, but have not yet sorted a nice way of mounting it which doesn't involve me fiddling around with it constantly.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Hi Ivars,

I'm looking at your pictures up top and is that a Zacuto EVF? how do you find this?

cheers

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Hi Ivars,

Agree it is hard to have moved from full size 2/3" proper ergonomics to a camera like the C300. So early in my search I hunted and found the Movcam rig. You can purchase it from two DVinfo.net sponsors, B&H, and 16x9. The top handle, front handles, shoulder mount, dual V-lock battery holder are all Movcam. The bottom plate is 16x9 but designed to be with the system.

I have 20 hand held days since 1 Oct with the setup and have shot 14 hr days with out a problem. Rarely do I use the dual battery or even one battery off the back unless I am in very unstable (on moving boats) conditions and need the extra counter weight. With the two handles and shoulder brace i am very stable and the hands are low enough to not get tired on long days. And getting in tight spots is easy.

I do have a Zacuto C300 handle re-locator and it is great. Sure expensive but it paid for itself the first day. I just ordered the Edelkrone Focus Plus + which will replace my left handle. This will mean I have start/stop, ISO button, iris wheel, all on the right hand and focus on the left hand.

As I said earlier I need to move the camera to the left about 2 1/2" to be lined up properly, you can see this in the picture. I am going to find a rail off set to mount to my 15mm rails on the shoulder support and then the bottom rails to make this happen. Movcam has an adjustment it does not go far enough. There are a lot of options I just need to find the right one today online.

Nice thing is all of this folds down in less then one min and fits in my Think Tank Airport bag as a carry on. Then my Lowe Pro Stealth Reporter has my 5D MKIII with 5 lens and extras so both my filming and still gear come on with me. Rest is checked bags.

Hope this helps?

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

BTW thats not me in the photos its my friend and colleague Stephen. I wear glasses with progressive lenses.

The EVF is Ok, but doesn't really quite focus to my eye, and sometime I struggle to achieve focus with it. Other cameramen really quite like it though.

My biggest gripe is the mounting system. I'm used to being able to swivel the vf to wherever I need it fast. I spend a lot of time fiddling with the articulated controls to get it in a reasonable spot but its never quite good enough or quick enough for my liking.

its a bit uncool to be faffing around trying to get the vf in the right place to operate from.

I have been checking out a Solid Camera EVF support online, it looks better to me.

Cineroid have a new EVF out and I'm keen to check this out in the flesh.

One of the biggest issues for me working with a modular system away from a big city with pro gear shops, is that I don't get to try things out before I buy, I tend to rely on internet forums instead.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Yes I have the Zacuto C300 handle re-locator too and find it great with one major reservation. I cannot believe the mini jack plug at the camera end is not secured better to the camera body. They could have designed a cover that screwed over the top of the plug to keep it in place.

We received one of the first ones available and I'm sorry to say the plug at the camera end failed bigtime. The cable just fell off from the plug while out on a shoot.

Zacuto have redesigned this plug with a right angle attachment, and have replaced a few of the original faulty ones already.

They wanted me send the one back before replacing it, but I had to argue with them this would take 2 weeks from here. One week to the US, and one week back at best. This would render my shoulder mount useless as I really rely on the relocator.

They did end up sending one to me asap, and I have been able to re-wire the old plug as a temporary measure. The replacement is still in transit.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Nice looking rig Paul, do you have a photo on the shoulder from another angle?
The Movcam looks great! Wish I had known about it earlier.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

It is a great rig, needs tweaking like all of them do.

Will see if there is another pic somewhere.

Re: Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300
 

Hello:
I am new to ENG style shooting and wondering if I could get some tips. I have the Zacuto FEE NG and another Canon.

--Is one supposed to have the rig balanced so that there is virtually no strain on your arm? It you let your hand go from the hand grip, should the whole rig balance horizontally? In order to achieve this, I had to get 7" rods to extend out the back for the 8lb weight.

--If this is the way to do it, I have been unable to get a steady shot, worse than using a monopod. I recently shot a road sign...it was really shaky.

--What lens is good. I have the Canon 24-105mm but it is only f4, so for low light I am planning on using a Canon 50mm 1.2

--Is this kind of rig any good for one man videoing of weddings. Seems I will have to get a lot closer to my subjects.

My apologies if it is construed that I am hijacking this thread.....