Let’s see… your DSLR, a shotgun microphone, Zoom H4N at a minimum. If you really want to simulate shooting with a camcorder you’ll probably need a portable monitor, wireless lavaliere, outboard mic mixer, and an LED light.
Now pick all of that up and track someone moving through the shot.
Yep, you’re definitely going to need a lot more than a single hot shoe mount.
There are several ways to go about it but basically you’re going to mount your DSLR inside a metal cage. You’ll gain a better form factor for holding the camera in your hands, more stability on those hand held shots, and lots of space and mounting brackets for all that additional gear.
It’s worth checking these things out even if you plan to shoot almost everything from a tripod or monopod. And, if you do work mostly from sticks, you’ll want to get something that will accept the quick-release plate from your fluid head.
Check out this round “fig rig” type cage for low shots, dutch tilts, and other interesting hand held shots. The Halo Rig has a flat bottom so you can set it down, comes with a hot shot mount for a shotgun mic, a quick-release mount so you can use it with your tripod. At $149 it’s a pretty good deal.
If you prefer a more square form for your cage you have lots of options.
This rig is from Hague, a European company with a solid reputation for camera support. It’s called the Digital SLR Camframe and for £66.36 (about $105 USD) you get padded handles, extra hot shoe type brackets and a place to mount a quick release for your tripod.
This rig is called the U-Boat Commander as Bruce Dorn, the inventor, thought it looked like the handles on the periscope in those old submarine movies. Mr. Dorn is a Canon Explorer of Light and he offers solid quality information, equipment and training. The U-Boat Commander isn’t the cheapest solution but it’s well built with tons of options – including an interesting follow-focus. That’s the round white thing on the right of the cage in this picture.
RedRockMicro offers an even more advanced set of options including a Captain Stubling package with handles turned at angles that may work better if you’re holding the camera all day long.
And, if you’re interested in taking this even further, you can find numerous additional mounts with handles, shoulder braces, body braces, and other inventions that will help you get better shots while still being able to move with the camera.
Check out the VariZoom MediaRig, for one example.
A few things to consider about all these rigs:
- They take a good bit of practice to learn how to use
- You need regular practice to keep in shape
- Rigs with belt or body supports like the MediaRig should clue you into the reality of holding several pounds of equipment in front of you for long periods of time
- Even the best operator using the best of these rigs will still produce more hand held camera shake than one of the SteadiCam type unit
Still, there are lots of projects that would benefit from being able to move the camera into position faster and take up less room than a full set of sticks. And DSLR’s don’t have enough weight or the right shape to be held and moved with stability.
See why I like working with a tripod or monopod?
But I’d love to get my hands on each of these units for a week or so, just to see how they feel and what kind of footage I could shoot with them.
