Spiderbrace for lefties!

[Wayne Orr]

As long time members here will remember, I was an early fan of the Spiderbrace, and remain so. Nothing fancy here, just a piece of gear that performs as advertised at a very reasonable price ($69.95). But now there is a little twist to the Spiderbrace that I thought some of the members might be interested in. Here is a post from another forum where I lurk:

As I have a damaged retina in my right eye it's defective vision means that
must use my left eye to the eyepiece of my camera. This is OK normally as the VX2K is ambidextrous optically speaking, but the Spiderbrace does not have any adjustment capable of presenting the eyepiece to my left eye. If there are any folk who have a similar impediment or neat ideas I would be grateful for any helpful recommendations, I have tried using the LCD screen but it is too close to focus on properly and I don't
care for it much for general work anyway. (also for any information of the 'southpaw' capabilities ofshoulder mounted cameras)

OK, so I sent a note to Marcos Gonzalez, CEO of Spiderbrace, and I received this
reply:

I suppose we should include it in the SB website, but we'll make a custom "left-eyed" SB just for the asking. We don't get very many requests, but we've had more than a handful.
If you can get word to the gentleman who needs a "left-eyed" SB we'll make one for him or if he has a right eyed SB he can't use, he can send it to us and we'll swap
it out for
free.

Best,
Marcos

Needless to say, the poster was ecstatic that he would soon be receiving his "custom left-eyed" Spiderbrace, and I am happy to see my faith in Spiderbrace was well founded. So how's that for customer "support"? www.spiderbrace.com

BTW, I haven't been around because I was just spending too much time in the various groups, so I have cut back, but I always recommend DVinfo to the readers of the one group I frequent. With all the fine experts here, I think my suggestions are better spent with a group that is not quite up to the level of expertise to be found at DVinfo.

One quick note before I leave; I notice a few posters here have asked about a quick release for switching between a tripod and a shoulder support. IMHO the very best quick release for this purpose is to be found at Videosmith: http://tinyurl.com/2fheac
The Rover Snap Quick Release is about as fast and secure a quick release as you will find; the only drawback - and its a big one - is the price: $89.95 for one set. Note that to get the best results you will need two sets. Technically one and one half sets, since you will need the male receptacle to mount one on the tripod and a second on the shouder support. You obviously only need one female section to mount on the camera base plate. Too bad about the price, which I feel is out of line.

Wayne Orr, SOC

[Jim Andrada]

Wayne,

Thanks for posting this. I'm in sort of the same situation as my right eye is fairly useless for anything except reading with the book 4 inches from my nose - well maybe 6 inches with a thick piece of glass in front of it!

I'll look into it (so to speak)

[Mark Shea]

Thanks Wayne, I'm a right brain cameraman (left eye) also, I currently use an XL1 and wish to get a XH-A1.

I want a camera support for it, but dont like the handles of the spider brace.

All I want is something that allows me to rest the A1 on my shoulder, and still mount to a tripod

Any suggestions?

[William N Zarvis]

I'm left handed as well and I am really interested in purchasing a spiderbrace. But I never use the viewfinder on my FX1 - I love the LCD! My question is: using the spiderbrace 2 for my FX1, will I be able to comfortably view my LCD with clarity?