DSLR Rig

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I'm not a big fan of shoulder rigs for DSLRS. Everyone that I know that has one uses it very infrequently and regrets the purchase. You need a third hand.

Just food for thought. I'm not trying to rain on your parade if you have your heart set on one.
 
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WGCProductions said:
Then would you recommend the first one? The first is not a shoulder rig
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As from Brian's comment, this is all subjective to personal taste and style. I had a news camera on my shoulder for years (well, not always) and I associate that shooting style and look with news and video, although it does have its place in limited applications IMO. That's just me, though. A DSLR works nicely on a similarly priced Glidecam and I like the look a lot better, again IMO.

Cages are cool if you want to mount accessories, but that monitor mount won't work in the sun.

That said, I do own a Redrock Micro DSLR rig, but it looks cooler than it is functional. Some shoots require a wow factor and that's what it's for. I shoot really expensive wedding films and that's how I've accumulated all of this stuff.
 
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I agree with cam vader here. Forget shoulder rig, steadicam better. I too have Redrock cinema bundle, looks better than it is but I feel pretty Hollywood when itsall setup. Make sure you have a good tripod first, all these rigs will die one day but a tripod can last forever.
 
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But wait, shoulder cams and stedi cams are two totally different systems and give two totally different looks and aesthetics. So everything depends on what look you want. What I like about shoulder mount is that it's a look that emulates the way we experience reality through our own eyes. And it's also about the easiest, fastest way to get footage. Stedicams take some tinkering with to get the weights and balancing right but once set up they give about the coolest footage you could ever want. In other words, I think it's a bit of a false choice to say either stedi cam OR shoulder mount. What look do you want? let that dictate your purchasing decision. But seriously, at $24, can you afford NOT to get a cowboy studio rig?
 
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brianluce said:
But wait, shoulder cams and stedi cams are two totally different systems and give two totally different looks and aesthetics. So everything depends on what look you want. What I like about shoulder mount is that it's a look that emulates the way we experience reality through our own eyes. And it's also about the easiest, fastest way to get footage. Stedicams take some tinkering with to get the weights and balancing right but once set up they give about the coolest footage you could ever want. In other words, I think it's a bit of a false choice to say either stedi cam OR shoulder mount. What look do you want? let that dictate your purchasing decision. But seriously, at $24, can you afford NOT to get a cowboy studio rig?
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No argument here, it's a style choice. For $500+ bucks, though, I'd rather have a Glidecam (personally). That's what I was writing to.
 
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I've pretty much decided on the cowboy studio rig. It's gotten great reviews and fits the description of what I need. Not only that but something THAT cheap is definitely worth it. What I'm looking into now is an external battery pack that could hook up to either a Canon T1i or T2i for long production time.
 
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I'm not sure if the T2i uses the same batteries as the 7D, but I bought a few of these from China. When I bought them last year they were actually $35 a pop, have gone down now. They're Canon branded and they work just like my stock battery, so if they are knockoffs they'reidentical haha. The boxes mine came in had more oriental writing than local ones and a "not for sale in the US" sticker. Beats the stock price of $70-80 each.

http://cgi.ebay.com/100-New-LP-E6-Battery-Pack-Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-II7D-/150620616874?pt=Batteries_Chargers&hash=item2311b038aa#ht_1499wt_973
 
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PaulGriffith said:
I'm not sure if the T2i uses the same batteries as the 7D, but I bought a few of these from China. When I bought them last year they were actually $35 a pop, have gone down now. They're Canon branded and they work just like my stock battery, so if they are knockoffs they'reidentical haha. The boxes mine came in had more oriental writing than local ones and a "not for sale in the US" sticker. Beats the stock price of $70-80 each.
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The T2i/550D takes LP-E8 batteries, but there are still a lot of knockoff versions available - generally with pretty good reviews.
 
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WGCProductions said:
Well I was talking about an external battery source rather than replacement batteries. Something like the tekkeon mp3450i. What do you think about that?
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Ah okay, I was responding to Paul's post - hadn't seen yours about the external battery pack. The last time I checked there wasn't a way of connecting external power sources to the T2i, but that may have changed.
 
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WGCProductions said:
Well I was talking about an external battery source rather than replacement batteries. Something like the tekkeon mp3450i. What do you think about that?
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There's no input for an external power supply. It takes 2 seconds to change the battery and they last quite a long time.

The T2i is not design for continuous shooting like that, anyway. It's a good camera for 10 second b-roll shots and 1-2 minute scenes. It will overheat if you push it too far without giving it rest.
 
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A battery grip would be a neater solution than an external power supply and allow you to double your battery life - they can hold two standard batteries or up to six AA cells at any one time. Makes your camera look much more substantial, too!
 
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