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EasyRig Convert

jimhare

jimhare

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Ok, I was originally a bit confused with the EasyRig, but last night Paul Moss was kind enough to let me use his on a live shoot we're working on.

Man, what an amazing piece of technology! I put this on and the camera just floated in front of me. Where's the weight?!!!

For hand held, I'm usually good for about 15 minutes before I throw in the towel. Last night I held this thing for over 2 hours like it was nothing, running all over the theater like an idiot. :emote_popcorn:

I was even walking around taking to people with it before the show, just because it was easier than putting it down.

And I could get some really cool, controlled shots from awkward angles that would have been very messy without it.

So there it is, EasyRig is everything they say, and anyone shooting Red hand held would be crazy not to get one. You'll make up the cost in chiropractic bills alone.

And thanks to Paul Moss for letting me use his rig. We're going back for more tonight! My back is ready... :thumbup1:
 
Hey Jim,

I put one on recently and thought the movement actually amplified the hand held feel. Also it places the centre of gravity away from the body and was therefore like operating from a distance.

Any tips from you Easyriggers?

Also what rating Easyrig did you use and what sortof redrig build did you use?

Mike Costelloe
 
Costelloe Michael said:
I put one on recently and thought the movement actually amplified the hand held feel.
Click to expand...

Easyrig is perfect if you aren't walking. If you need to track either use a Steadicam or something like The Running Rig, or just lump it!
 
Easy rig is a very good weight reducer from your arms and very well made. In the far past I have also played around with a camera advanced systems rig which I believe the idea came from. I am still thinking of it but I have designed an extra tool that can work together with the easy rig and provide you with stability while walking or moving around.
Also my future rig for Epic and Scarlet, the ACROBAT, will be able to work with easyrig.
Would you Easy riggers interested about something like this with out braking the bank?
 
Also. The new HR-1 deluxe can work together with the Easy rig. I will just have to make an attachment bracket like the one for low mode only shorter. I will bring this soon.
Ok I will work on it. Should come up with something next month.
Thank you.
Constantine
 
Cail Young said:
Easyrig is perfect if you aren't walking. If you need to track either use a Steadicam or something like The Running Rig, or just lump it!
Click to expand...

I'm really not sure how to react to these sorts of replies. I am never sure whether I am being given advice by a well meaning novice , or someone with experience who thinks it's a lame question.

I have owned and operated features on steadicam. I have also shot a lot of handheld work. I am not going to get into a pointlesss discussion of why not just do it on steadicam, budget/style etc. Any camera operator worth his or her salt will be aware of the need to shoot handheld and the need for movement of the camera, or repositioning if shooting handheld. Let's not get into the possible exeptions where director's like ops to act as human tripods.

My question to Jim, or anyone else who has Easyrig experience, was for his thoughts of the Easyrig specifically and how he deals with movement and the transmission of this movement to the camera.
 
I used it again last night. I found that it didn't restrict my movements, or that I was operating from a distance. I could crouch, sit, bend, walk, pan, tilt, whip, pretty much anything I wanted to do.

I put rods and custom handles on the camera which have a wide spread, making it extremely easy to control.

Here are a few specifics:

1. It is definitely not a steadicam, no question there. It doesn't stabalize or smooth movement in any way, it's just a cord hanging down that connects to the top handle. It's all about making handheld tolerable.

2. It redistributes the weight of the camera which allows it to basically float. You control exactly how much weight it removes through tension of the cord. So if you really want to feel the camera on your shoulder, but take the edge off, adjust it one way. If you want the camera to float in front of you and steer it with two fingers, adjust it the other way.

3. I didn't find it amplified the handheld feel. Again, you can adjust to taste so, if you prefer, you can still have the camera solidly on your body, and just take off the excess weight.

4. It goes on and off in seconds. Put on and adjust the vest, pull the tension cord down and connect it to the top handle, float away. To change tension just lift the camera up or pull down. It adjusts automatically and holds in any position you leave it in. Doesn't get much simpler than that!


Bottom line for me is that I'm not built for handheld, especially with Red. I would have to put the camera down after about 20 minutes at a time. With the EasyRig, I can carry it for two hours straight and still get up the next morning.

That's it, nothing more, nothing less. I had a very good experience with it and got some great shots last night.
 
Thanks Jim for your review of EasyRig. I've been looking into getting this for a while. Just to confirm, are you using the EasyRig 3 and what weight rating did you choose? Thanks.
 
Costelloe Michael said:
Any camera operator worth his or her salt will be aware of the need to shoot handheld and the need for movement of the camera, or repositioning if shooting handheld.
Click to expand...

The easyrig fights you* if you have any bounce in your gait, whereas you can use tilt in your handheld-only rig to counteract that. Of course we can duck-walk and move very smoothly however in a live doco situation that isn't always possible.

*Depending of course on how finely tuned the spring is - perhaps I've just had bad experiences.
 
Hi Yousuf,

I was using Paul's EasyRig so don't know anything about I'm afraid. I was just surprised how well it worked.

Yousuf Abbasi said:
Thanks Jim for your review of EasyRig. I've been looking into getting this for a while. Just to confirm, are you using the EasyRig 3 and what weight rating did you choose? Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
I love my Easyrig. . . just used it tonight, as a matter of fact shooting some practice shots at a camp fire. It's an amazing system, but it isn't a steadycam, that's for sure. I'd be very interested in Constantine's new gizmo, as well.

Thanks.

Stephen "a VERY satisfied Easyrig customer" Pruitt
 
Hello . I have done some work and I have 3 possible rig solutions for making the easy-rig workable with walking - running moves.
One of them is the retrofit HR-1 deluxe but its kind of an overkill .
So there is 2 more solutions with pros and cons to work with the easyrig.
Dont rush to be dissapoimted. both are very nice . Just want to know from you easy riggers which one of the 2 you prefer to work with.
So to those interested I would like them to write me an email and I will provide them with choice of above solutions avaliable so they can decide which ones to go for.
So please step fwd gentlemen.
Thank you
Constantine
 
Also an easyrig (3 cinema, 600N tension) user and convert. For a long time I was checking out the mantis and its superb adjustability, but I, too, am an individual not supremely built for long bouts of handheld on heavier cameras. To me, the easyrig is first and foremost designed for the longevity of the operator. I mean that in both the short term (how long you can operate non-stop without taking a break) and the long term (how many years you can do this sort of thing before your body wants to throw in the towel and say NO MORE).

I have the sneaking suspicion that most of the less-than-satisfied users of the easyrig have been using rigs that take away too much of the camera weight, resulting in a camera that literally floats off your shoulder. This means you are essentially fighting the easyrig to keep some gravitational pull on the camera, and let's be honest, if you're even remotely working to keep the camera from floating away, you can't be 100% focused on the shot at hand. I opted for the 600N tension spring with my Easyrig 3 Cinema, despite having a camera set-up mainly designed for studio use (i.e. heavier, more metal bolted onto the camera, the occasional Cooke 20-100 loaded up front), in part because of the anticipated lighter configurations of the Epic, in part because when doing a lot of handheld I'd still like to make the camera as light and compact as possible. Simply put (and, I believe, recommended by the designer of Easyrig), I think it's better to choose a tension setup that will not compensate fully for the weight of your camera as it's most often configured, thereby leaving *some* weight on your shoulder. This way, using the camera for hours at a time is still essentially effortless (certainly so by comparison, anyway), but you won't be fighting the rig, and you'll also maintain some semblance of the feel of handheld that you're likely accustomed to. If you don't have the time, money or resources to put a lighter tension spring in your easyrig to compensate for a lighter camera, then do your best to weigh it down some more and see if that helps in the overall usability of the rig (I know that probably sounds crazy, I know, but it's really just a temporary fix to keep in mind, not a permanent solution).

All in all, I would consider it a must have for anyone that plans to carry the camera around for any length of time, regardless of size and strength of the individual. Work smart, not hard, right?

Constantine...would be happy to test out anything you have in the works...I love it when great individual inventions play nicely together, especially in the pursuit of great camera work. If you're ever in NYC with your rigs, feel free to drop me a line.

Cheers,
Clint
 
Thanks Clint. What you say above is very true but thats only when in shoulder mode where you have the opportunity to put some of the weight on your shoulder.
But the good thing about hand held with the easy rig is that you can play in different modes and all of them apart of the shoulder mode are away from your shoulder.
Another thing. The reason why the camera fights back is because its hanged down from the camera handle which puts it very far from CG in most camera cases. So you can kind of balance it front to back but thats only usuable in panning, not tilt nor roll axis which are both far from CG.Then you have the cord line that its self is a free float tech nick but it acts according to your body angle and brings the cam weight fwd or sidewise or else. All this together make this not a very stable platform when walking in fact you would probably more stable with a hand held rig balance on your shoulder nicely when walking. But the great thing about this rig is that it does take all the weight from your hands or shoulder living you with edurance. Now that together with a machine that can balance the camera well in 3 axis free float will work together very nice. I ve already said a lot ... but I hope you can get my story.
And there is more to it..
 
Hencz

Hencz

Thomas Hencz said:
We have a total of 5 EasyRigs if you want to come by and test it please feel free to.
Click to expand...

Hi Thomas,

This is good information to have. We get requests all the time for EasyRig rentals. I'll include your company in my list of referrals.
 
Glad you enjoyed it Jim....

Glad you enjoyed it Jim....

Just saw your post Jim......and really glad you enjoyed the Easy-rig experience.
I bought the Easy-rig after a year of serious neck/shoulder & back pain, and spending thousands of dollars on physio.....!
And i have to be truly honest and say that the easy-rig has completely changed how i feel physically after a long day of hand held shooting.
I was shooting a music video 2 weeks ago and the whole day was hand held with the RED ( camera, arri MB20, RED pro primes, hard drives....etc)
At the end of the day i was as fresh as a daisy, after 10hrs of shooting.....
Its no steadicam, and it should not be treated as though it is one.....!

And for everyone who asked my rig is a cinema 3 with the 600N post.
cheers
Paul
 
Jim, you looked like a Ghostbuster on a mission with that thing on your back :ihih:

Nice shoot! I enjoyed it very much.
 
Thanks for the loan Paul, I was really curious about it, so much so that I was considering trying to find one for that very shoot. That may explain why my eyes lit up when you mentioned it!

Yes Pawel, I was called many things that night, Ghostbuster would have to be the most polite! :001_tt2:

Thanks to both of you for being there to shoot with me. The footage looks great!
 
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