Fig Rig Yes/No?
 

Anyone have or used the Fig Rig? I'm looking to pick one up. Any first hand advice
would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Mark

What do you need to do with it? I like mine, but I had very specific uses for it.

I made my own imitation of the FigRig. A 100% copy as far as the normal use. It is fine for shooting things while walking. But one thing that needs to be said is, that you have to train yourself walking with bended knees. First trials mostly fail . .

I don't know what you want to know Mark.
It works very well in certain situations. Mostly when you are trying to cover stuff as it happens.
It works even better with a lanc remote controller mounted on the Fig Rig with push autofocus and zoom.
Ocean Pearl on Vimeo
Here's something I shot last Sunday with a Sony A1 in a sports housing mounted in a Fig Rig. This combination is completely weatherproof. It was a tryout to see if it worked.
A big problem with the sports housing is that you view the LCD screen on the camera via a mirror bolted onto the housing. Filming via a mirror image doesn't sound a big deal until you try it. Very difficult, but I think it can be learnt. And the LCD was difficult to see in bright sunlight.
However the Fig Rig performed really well. You can see that the shots when I was standing up (not sitting down) in the boat are pretty smooth. The movement of the boat is absorbed by the flexing of your legs and arms.
This works on dry land too.
A lot of the shots aren't very level but that was mainly because of the mirror image problem (you tilt left and it tilts right, pan right and it pans left etc) and because the LCD was difficult to see.
Another occasion when it was invaluable was filming a group of people in the countryside on a map reading course. It was easy to move around them smoothly and seamlessly. After a short while they forgot that I was there.
It's not as smooth as Steadicam Merlin of course. I have one of these too. But the Merlin is even more specialised because you can't touch the camera controls or add microphones etc when you are using it.
For relatively static work over long periods a shoulder mount or tripod would be better eg less strenuous and more stable.
Horses for courses. As they say in the UK.

Richard,

Nice, music matched perfectly too. I particularly liked the more distant shots in the second half of the video.

I've used a Fig Rig (a good video mate I sometimes work with has one) and it's an excellent solution if you use a LANC controller and go to the gym before the shoot to build up the biceps for extended out in front of you type posture that is needed. I've used it with a "fully loaded" Sony HC1 (Sony wide angle, Cavison Hood and Rode Stereo Video mic, i.e. not very heavy) but would hesitate to recommend it for a heavier camera (like my EX3).... so you already know I'm no muscle man!

I made a Lerberg Rig (Ikea CD Self)
 

I made this video rig from an Ikea CD shelf, check out the blog here: I can make that....I think.

I really like the fig rig style stabilizers... I have a vest/arm/sled but sometimes its easier to pick up the lightweight rig and start shooting.

It does take a little practice... well all stabilizers really do.