Trigger / Shoulder Brace for EX

[Thierry Humeau]

Although most of them are comfortable, I found that a lot of of shoulder braces are either too complicated or two heavy and kind of defeat the purposes of having a smaller, portable cam. I found the S-800 Pro Shoulder Rest #106 from Video Innovators that is very light and simple. To complement it, I am looking for a trigger that would work with the EX, any ideas? I don't care to have zoom control. I find the zoom motor to be quite slow and and prefer to keep it set to manual mode (feels like shooting 16...).

Thierry.

[Eric Pascarelli]

Thierry,

Have you tried the S-800? I did and found it not to be as light as expected. And I would love the handle to have been offset to the left. Still, I agree that simplicity is better for this kind of thing and this is by far the best thing I've seen in that regard. But not quite a buy for me. Perhaps they'll make a new one for the EX1?

Regarding the trigger, I know of nothing, but when we find out the pinout of the lens remote and a source for the connectors, that should be pretty easy to make, or to modify another trigger to work.

[Thierry Humeau]

Eric,

I have not tried the S-800 yet but I am about to order it... It will probably need some customization. There are two good other design feature in it that will help with this:

- The 3" wide shoulder brace should easily accomodate a V-Mount plate so we can use our XDCAM HD V-Mount lithium batteries. This should help quite a bit for balancing the camera weight.

- It should be easy to mount a wedge for a Sachtler quick-release head (DV6)to the flat bottom metal rod so you can switch from shoulder to tripod easily.

Will let you know how it goes.

Thierry.

[Dennis Kane]

Hi Terry
Have you tried the DVmultirig ? I use it on my Sony HVR A1 and I can't imagine shooting without it. It is light, easy to set up and very effective with the waist support rod.
D Kane

[Don Bloom]

I 2nd the multirig. After coming off full size rigs I wanted something to support and steady my small form factor cameras and found the multirig ideal. It allows stability while also allowing for some nice smooth moving stuff. Not to replace a Steadicam device but for simple walking shots or just locking off for a period of time it works very well.
Don

[Jon Omiatek]

DVRIG PRO, hands down the best. I like the old model better than the new model by varizoom. It's worth every penny. If you want something cheaper, I would recommend the spider brace.

[Alessandro Zumstein]

Hello, here is a solution from Chrosziel

http://www.videoaktiv.de/content/view/1352/2/

[Duncan Craig]

Another DVRig Pro/Multirig vote here too.
Quite simply there's nothing like them for the money.

They're not just shoulder adapters. They actually let you control the camera properly for extended lengths of time. One or two-handed.

[Thierry Humeau]

Originally Posted by Alessandro Zumstein

Hello, here is a solution from Chrosziel

http://www.videoaktiv.de/content/view/1352/2/

I like this! But is there any way to quickly remove the camera to put it on a tripod, in my case a Sacthler DV6?

[Thierry Humeau]

Originally Posted by Dennis Kane

Hi Terry
Have you tried the DVmultirig ? I use it on my Sony HVR A1 and I can't imagine shooting without it. It is light, easy to set up and very effective with the waist support rod.
D Kane

Looks too complicated for my taste. I just want a simple brace that balances nicely. Thanks for the rig info anyway, looks pretty fancy!

[Don Bloom]

actually the DVMultiRig is very simple to setup and is far more balanced than any other shoulder brace I've ever used with small cameras. I use my rig a lot and found it takes about 2 minutes to set it up with my camera, LANC controller, wireless receiver and the sprung balance bar for the rig. Don't forget the headphones and on camera light. it really works quite well for th run and gun and some moving shots. Again not a Steadicam but with a bit of practice it's good stuff. I use a Bogen QR577 mount which works with the tripod heads I use so it's an easy set up and the camera cam be adjusted forward and back a few inches to achieve good balance.
Just my $.03 worth (adjusted for inflation and a sagging stock market)

Don

[Daniel Weber]

Thierry,

Here is a link to the brace that I found online. Not sure when they are shipping though.

http://indifocus.com/products.htm

Did you get your camera today???

I should have mine by the end of the week.

Daniel Weber

[Leonard Levy]

I've found that a simple Bogen monopod with a cheap Bogen tilt head tucked into a fanny pack on my waist is incredibly effective, simple, light, flexible and does a great job of both stabilization and reducing the load without limiting you in any way. For long interviews you can even drop it to the floor and triangulate which is more stable and comfortable than any shoulder rig.

I haven't liked any of the shoulder adapters - mainly because when I'm handheld I don't want to sit at shoulder height all that much- I need to be able to move to all different heights very quickly.

I put a cheap quick release adapter on the Bogen tilt head and another on the tripod plate and so can go effortlessly between the two in seconds.

For me all those other rigs are just too limiting and cumbersome.

I often use it on 2/3" cameras now as well using the 1/4" screw in the front of many camera bases.

Lenny Levy

[Graeme Fullick]

I second Leonard's approach. The Manfrotto (Bogen) 562B is a great little monopod with fold out legs (if you want to use them) that has worked superbly for me in the past in the fashion Leonard described.

[Chris Forbes]

Another thing I like about a monopod is that I can raise the camera above shoulder level. As a 5'7" camera operator. Sometimes I need a couple of inches to get to eye level on taller people.