Lookin to buy a DSLR shoulder rig...

Hi everyone,

I do a lot of videography at weddings and other large time span events. I have been shooting with stabilizers, sliders, tripods, monopods, etc. for the past two years and finally have enough funds saved up to invest in a really nice, stable, reliable, shoulder rig. I do a lot of mobile shots that some times take a large time span and involve a lot of various, uncut motion. The stabilizer gets too heavy after a while, and I am not a big fan of the handheld shaky shots i've been producing. I need something that is more fluid, smooth, and can hold attachments along with my DSLR.

The rig should have attachments for:
7D DSLR
SmallHD Monitor
Rode VideoMic
Zoom h1/h4n

I won't always be using all these attachments at once, but I want to have options when assembling things together.

Right now I am looking at the Zacuto Scorpion as a main selection, but I have also come across the Zacuto Scorpion shoulder + Zwiss cage combination and the Zacuto Stinger.I have also been looking into the Redrock Micro rigs that are equivalent to that of the Zacuto's. Has anyone had any experience with these?

If anyone has any tips, comments, or general information on a high-end rig setup for capturing video, that would be great.

Budget is under $3,000.

Thanks.

GeminiZ wrote in post #15950216
The stabilizer gets too heavy after a while...

The rig should have attachments for:
7D DSLR
SmallHD Monitor
Rode VideoMic
LED Light

It's going to feel heavier on your shoulder, especially if you're using a counterweight.

My advice - since no one else is chiming in - would be to ditch the SmallHD and pick up a Z-finder. The extra contact will do wonders for stabilization, not to mention make it easier to see (and it has no wires or additional power requirements). Then find a rig that puts the DSLR right in front of your face - not off to the side. There are plenty of great options in the sub $1000 range. So then take whatever budget you have left and get a fast prime or two so you can put that LED light in the garbage where it belongs.

Probably not the response you're looking for but since you're contemplating dropping nearly $3k on a rig I see an opportunity for a major gear overhaul instead of looking for a band aid that's going to (literally) hold all of your stuff together.

joe

I think what I meant to say is that the stabilizer gets too heavy during a certain amount of time holding it with your wrist, which is why you can only use it for a short time span. I feel like a shoulder mount, would be heavy, but the support of it would last a lot longer in terms of duration, during a single shot.

Not really looking into getting rid of my dp4, as it is extremely useful to me(especially with low and high shots). I do have to invest in a good viewfinder for outdoor shooting, but that will come later down the road.

Hmm. Can't really use a prime lens either because the focal length of a lot of my shots include really close and far away movements in a matter of seconds.(sometimes running up to things and doing sweeps that require some quick zoom in/out coordination). Actually, I don't know why I added LED light to that list, because I never even use one. lol.

I am pretty set on buying a rig, but I just wanted to see if anyone had any experience with Zacuto or Red Rock.

Thanks for your feedback.