Probably Phil's not more important issue when he opened this thread, but let me rob a little of it to go in another direction with a shoulder mount. Will you? :)

As I am buying a lot of stuff now (camera, WA adapter, filters, etc.), if I need anything else I have to limit my expense.

But a shoulder mount is not a luxury but a necessity. And the Spiderbrace is very affordable.

Only one problem: you can't disassemble it, so it's large to carry around, particularly on flight trips. They are working on a collapsible version, and I got confirmation on that from SB themselves. But I can't find out more, even if I repeatedly asked them about it. Has anyone seen any photo or have any data about that version?

collapsable is very important...current biggest problem with spider brace. The dvrig pro does fold down very nicely from what I see.

I won't get mine for a few days probably, could really do with it tomorrow. shooting a live gig at the Astoria in London, would come in very handy...

DVDRigPro is too expensive for me now. Until I get what I can afford, I will keep doing the moving shots in a different way.

Even I know it's not the same application, one thing I learnt to do is use my Manfrotto monopod on many manners:

1) Poor man tripod: my version has three foldable small legs at the base, which lets you use it as a tripod in fixed positions. No pans though.

2) Poor man steadicam: as it is it can successfully be used as a simple hand held system; a small weight at the base might make it better.

3) Poor man crane: if you telescope it, you can raise it and move it quite smoothly, particularly if you are in wide angle.

All above was used on a shoot I did some weeks ago with a Z1. It worked great. For 2 and 3 it would be great having a light LCD screen that you can move more freely than the camera screen.

Ok..got my DVrig pro this morning.

Well worth the money. It truly solves all my problems and is very comfortable to use.

Shot a concert on Friday night with my z1 and cavision shoulder mount. Am still in agony!! Wish I had my DV Rig pro then...only downside is the belt and spring rod design (essential i hasten to add to the design) makes taking the camera on and off very quickly not that easy.

Now can I make it work with my M2 adaptor. Might be a bit too much I think, with the rods etc... (perhaps with more weights on the back)

Greetings Phil,

Delighted to hear all went well on your first effort with the DV Pro Rig. I too was initially somewhat awkward at first with taking the camera/rig on/off but now it's second nature - very slight loss of time - practice makes perfect. Another item that made a HUGH difference for me was purchasing a lanc controller - I originally just purchased the rig - two shoots later I purchased a Manfrotto.

The master plan calls for a Chroziel matte box probably on Zacuto rails. So like yourself, I'll most likely need an additional weight.

Drop Danny an email at: http://www.dvtec.tv/ - ask him on the specifics of what you what to accomplish with your gear - he'll fill in the missing blanks.

Remember the first guy to get the system up to 30 pounds wins!!

Cheers,

George

Shoulderable Z1
 

I picked up a Hoodman for my Z1's LCD screen. It then occured to me that the right magnifying glass could move this to being a shoulderable rig. I tried a cheap magifier and it was indeed possible to view the screen at close range. But the right hand position was still uncomfortable. I think to go the whole way it would need a way of mounting the magifier, and eye cub, a shoulder pad, and an extension with remote control of start/stop, zoom, and focus.

It is definitely feasible, so all that's necessary is for a company like Manfrotto to rig it up.

after using the dvrigpro for a while. it is very good. still a pain for taking on and off quickly but so much less back strain than the other ones i have used. cavision one used for just 4 hours gave me back ache for a week!!

Affordable shoulder support
 

Today I found a company I didn't know of that makes several products that might be interesting for location shooting.

One of them is a simple and cheap shoulder mount:

http://www.fotodiox.com/shop/product...oducts_id=4128

But they also make a practical monopod with a ball head:

http://www.fotodiox.com/shop/product...oducts_id=4128

And a very affordable kinoflo-style light head:

http://www.fotodiox.com/shop/product...oducts_id=4124

This seems like a company to keep our eyes on!


Carlos

I am working on a way to accomplish this with the Z1. Having that little monitor up front is what made me hopefull.

Step 1 was to get a Hoodman, a type of shade that attached to the Z1 or FX1 monitor. I was playing around with a magnifying glass and found that I could use it to put my eye fairly close to the monitor. In combo with the hood, it acts like a traditional viewfinder on a shoulder cam.

My next steps are to (1) gin up a way of mounting the magnifier to the Hoodman, (2) obtaining some type of handle which would place my right hand forward (3) obtain a shoulder rest, such as what Sony sells, (4) obtain a remote zoom/focus/start button like that sold by Bogen, for mounting on a handle. I think that combo would be lighter and easier that some of the complicated rigs.

I did something like this with a collapsable magnifier off a medium format camera I own. The image is not really that satisfactory, in my opinion, but it will work in a pinch.

What would be nice is to have the ability dis mount the regular view finder and move it forward on the camera. There was a discussion of that possibility in a thread several months back.

Picture of Prototype
 

Mark: Here is a photo of prototype I was working on with a 35mm adapter. Note the old 2 and 1/4 camera view finder magnifier mounted on the LCD.

Another shoulder mount that looks very interesting and affordable.

http://www.camerashop.in/multipurpos...ame-p-835.html

Perhaps lacking the the sort of "mini-tripod" aptitude of the Spider Brace, but at least it can fold away in less space.

Anyone been to Spiderbraces site lately? looks like the collapsable version is out - http://spiderbrace.com/

There also a quick video here - http://spiderbrace.com/collapsable.html

Its not as collapsable as i think some of us would of liked it to be but its definately a better rig now.

Might be about time i bought one i think.

Joe

The front piece, after collapsing, is still too large to put into a bag, which would be the way to do it.

I wonder why don't they allow the two front arms to get together. When folded together it would look like their Mini-Rig, but giving the option of opening up the arms again for normal use.

Is that so difficult to achieve?

Yes it is a shame the front piece doesn't come apart either..