Best Balanced shoulder rig for C300

[Ivars Berzins]

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.

[Paul Cronin]

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.

[Simon Denny]

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

Cheers

[Paul Cronin]

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?

[Simon Denny]

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

[Paul Cronin]

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?

[Simon Denny]

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

[Ivars Berzins]

Originally Posted by Paul Cronin

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.

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.

[Simon Denny]

Hi Ivars,

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

cheers

[Paul Cronin]

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?

[Ivars Berzins]

Originally Posted by Simon Denny

Hi Ivars,

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

cheers

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.

[Ivars Berzins]

Originally Posted by Paul Cronin

Hi Ivars,

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.


Hope this helps?

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.

[Ivars Berzins]

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.

[Paul Cronin]

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

Will see if there is another pic somewhere.

[Tim Palmer-Benson]

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.....