The SP7 Pro Shoulder Brace
an article by the Watchdog

Check this out... I think it's the best heavy-duty XL1-specific shoulder support I've seen yet. One thing I really like about the Canon XL1 is the type of people who are drawn to it and innovate their own enhancements, solutions and improvements. We saw this earlier in the XL1 lifecycle with Alex Dolgin's PowerBrace PB-1000, which allowed the use of standard Panasonic BP20 batteries on a shoulder brace design; Bob Jones' SkyCrane, a camera jib built specifically for the XL1, and David Brugman's Protective Iris for the electronic viewfinder.

Now we have Harold Greene, an XL1 shooter from the Arlington, Texas area who has a designed and manufactured a sturdy custom XL1 shoulder brace which is comfortable, effective and built to last. I met Harold at this year's WEVA show in August, and had an opportunity to shoot with his SP7 Pro shoulder brace about a month later.

This is by no means a cheap item. From the minute you pick this thing up and look it over, it's obvious that Harold has put a lot of quality craftsmanship into it. The SP7 Pro brace is made primarily of anodized brushed aluminum and composite materials with solid fittings. I suppose the best way to describe it, is that it's a form-fitting shoulder brace with a gimbaled camera mount and a box-like structure to the rear for holding a multitude of accessories such as batteries, an extra lens and microphone.

The SP7 Pro works on the basic principle of counter-balance. More weight is added behind your shoulder in order to counter-balance the weight of the camera in front of your shoulder. The actual brace itself is made of foam and is form-fitting, so that the entire weight of this rig is distributed comfortably and evenly and does not become a burden to carry.

The XL1 attaches to the SP7 via the XL1's auxilliary mounting socket, where the Canon MA-100 or MA-200 shoulder pad would normally go. Harold chose to make this a quick-release attachment, utilizing a professional Velbon quick-release plate, made of magnesium with a rubber camera pad (you can have your own tripod quick release plate mounted to the tripod socket in addition to this plate, for added versatility). The Velbon mounting base is itself fixed to a red anodized aluminum block which contains the gimbal mount attached to the brace. There's a soft pad below this block to cushion it against the brace itself, while the mount allows about twenty degrees of dutch roll and about thirty degrees of vertical tilt. There's a little bit of travel allowance at the base of the mount, and you can tighten it to your best position.

The brace itself has a full inch of foam padding front and rear. The front part of the pad is adjustable. A large knurled knob on a large, finely threaded bolt screws the front pad in or out a few inches to accomodate different body types. The curved part of the brace over the shoulder is sharper at the back than it is at the front, conforming well to the basic human shape. I would say that some body types, petite females in particular, may not find this brace particularly well fitting. However, it seems to be ideally suited to most adult males (fits just right on me).

The back half of the SP7 sports a large inverted "L" shape aluminum housing, about three inches wide and three and a quarter inches deep, with a couple of internal composite braces or "shelves." The interior is lined with felt and the idea is to store your extra battery packs, even a Canon VL-10Li camera light, inside these compartments, the goal being to add weight to properly balance the entire rig so it isn't front-heavy anymore. A long, narrow aluminum strip is hinged at the lower bottom and secured with a rubber T-handle at the upper front, to hold everything securely inside this housing. A shoulder strap is included for those times when the brace is not actually on your shoulder, allowing you to sling it from your shoulder.

As you can see from the photos, a lot of extra gear can be hung on the outside of this brace as well. On the right side, there's a composite ring about an inch and three-eights in diameter which you can drop a hand microphone into. Plus there's enough real estate available to velcro on a wireless mic receiver, and an MA-100 if you want, or anything else you can think of. When I first saw this brace at WEVA, Harold had it set up with an extra lens in a nylon bag hanging off the back, as seen in the photo above.

This rear housing has a lot of potential. It's fine just like it is, but I would like to see Harold get together with Alex Dolgin and offer an alternative camera power option. The housing looks to me to be the perfect size and shape for one or two NP-1 or BP-20 battery bricks, mounted vertically, side by side, with enough room left over for the voltage converter. It also seems like there's plenty of room for a "juice box" style external battery pack or two to fit in there. I'd be interested to see these kinds of variations, as Harold's design appears to invite individual customization. Like the XL1 itself, you can tailor this brace to meet your specific needs.

I took an SP7 Pro brace to a weekend shoot at a horse show in Corsicana, Texas. I had to do mostly running and gunning, which called for a lot of hand-held camera work. With this shoulder brace, I was able to steadily and comfortably hold my XL1 pretty much all day long for two days in a row, with enough extra batteries and tapes to keep me from having to run back to the Jeep like I used to do. If you rely a lot on hand-held camera work, look no further; the SP7 is far and away the strongest, most stable and well-built custom XL1 shoulder brace you'll ever find.

Ordering info:

SP7 Pro by CMC
Harold Greene
1101 Dawn Dr.
Arlington, TX 76010
tel. (817) 277-8547
hcgreene@aol.com

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Thrown together by Chris Hurd