ET Handheld Rig

[Rick Darge]

I haven't heard much about it except from the rave reviews of Tonaci. It looks badass.. I also hear that its coming out soon. Red's shoulder system has done the job. The one thing I always wanted in a handheld rig though, was the ability to quickly adjust my counterbalance. Its always been difficult doing that with the current Red system. It seems like ET has solved this hopefully.

discuss

 

[Nathan Garofalos]

I used the hand held rig on Mike Hedge's doc, As The Dust Settles, and it was great. I cant wait to order mine. The only changes I had thought of for the rig have already been fixed. They are working on some pretty cool stuff over at ET, I know I'll be buying a few of their new products shortly.

 

[Rick Darge]

Awesome. Can you compare the ET rig to the Red rig? I imagine the shoulder cushion is 100x better.

 

[Nathan Garofalos]

Yeah, the RED rig isn't nearly as comfortable as the ET rig... You can angle your shoulder pad in different angles, tilt, side to side, and it turns left to right as well. I could have shot with the ET rig all day if I had to, it felt like it was made for my shoulder. The handles extend lengthwise as well which was a really nice too.

 

[Corrado Silveri]

Saw the ET rig at IBC yesterday. Amazing at look, reeealllyy well constructed. I was in a hurry for my return flight, there are some people at the booth, so I wasn't able to put the camera on my shoulder. But it looks badass.

 

[Frank Mirbach]

Talked with Stephen Pizzo about that rig at IBC yesterday for a long time and had it in my hands. I think it is by no doubt the best shoulder rig you can get and in no way comparable to Red´s stuff in terms of quality and usability. Nonetheless, with Red´s base production pack you get a lot for your money and I have it. Wouldn´t order the shoulder stuff again, though and go for ET next time directly. Oh well, I think I´ll end up with both anyway ...

Frank

 

[Matt Uhry]

I've used ET's hand held rig a couple of times. ( Stephen was nice enough to loan out early versions, in return for some feedback )

The short answer is: It's great.

They've created a system that allows you to adjust the angle and rotation of the pad to fit your shoulder while the camera is mounted, it turns out that much more angle and rotation is desirable than you think.

A nice bonus is that it will work well with other camera systems, as long as they use the arri base plate. I'm sure it would be a great rig on an SR3 if anyone still is using one.

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com

 

[Steve Gibby]

I haven't heard much about it except from the rave reviews of Tonaci. It looks badass.. I also hear that its coming out soon. Red's shoulder system has done the job. The one thing I always wanted in a handheld rig though, was the ability to quickly adjust my counterbalance. Its always been difficult doing that with the current Red system. It seems like ET has solved this hopefully.

I've been field testing the ET Shoulder Mount since June. I started a thread on this forum on 7/29/08 with the very first photos of the prototype, and followed that up with a lot of other pics and input on the field use of it. That thread is several pages long and has had 4,831 page views up to today.

Link:
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16930

The ET Shoulder Mount seriously rocks...

 

[Matthew Rogers]

A nice bonus is that it will work well with other camera systems, as long as they use the arri base plate. I'm sure it would be a great rig on an SR3 if anyone still is using one.

So is there way to use it with the RED base plate? Otherwise you'd need to buy the ET bottom plate and dovetail also (around $1500) So unless you can use it it will run $3000-3500 to do a handheld rig.

Matthew

 

[Rick Darge]

I knew there was a pre-existing thread on the subject! Thanks Gibby! I can't wait to get mine. A good portion of my work is handheld..

I've been field testing the ET Shoulder Mount since June. I started a thread on this forum on 7/29/08 with the very first photos of the prototype, and followed that up with a lot of other pics and input on the field use of it. That thread is several pages long and has had 4,831 page views up to today.

Link:
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16930

The ET Shoulder Mount seriously rocks...

 

[Rick Darge]

So is there way to use it with the RED base plate? Otherwise you'd need to buy the ET bottom plate and dovetail also (around $1500) So unless you can use it it will run $3000-3500 to do a handheld rig.

Matthew

Do you need the dovetail? I thought you just needed the baseplate.

 

[Matthew Rogers]

Do you need the dovetail? I thought you just needed the baseplate.

Umm..yeah you need the dovetail. The bottom of ET plate looks similar to the bottom of the RED plate. Don't get me wrong. It's a good system, but $3500 ain't no small chunk of change. Of course, the ET plate will probably also work just fine with the Epic.

Matthew

 

[Zakaree Sandberg]

Umm..yeah you need the dovetail. The bottom of ET plate looks similar to the bottom of the RED plate. Don't get me wrong. It's a good system, but $3500 ain't no small chunk of change. Of course, the ET plate will probably also work just fine with the Epic.

Matthew

from what i have seen and played with you dont have to have the dovetail.. there is a special dovetail built in on the shoulder mount. all you REALLY need is the arri base

 

[SF Geek]

Who said it was $3,500?

 

[Matthew Rogers]

Who said it was $3,500?

I thought I had read that the handheld unit part would be just under $2k and the bottom plate and dovetail are about $1500, so that's $3500 if you don't already have the BP and dovetail.

Matthew

 

[Matthew Rogers]

from what i have seen and played with you dont have to have the dovetail.. there is a special dovetail built in on the shoulder mount. all you REALLY need is the arri base

Yeah, but if you want to mount your RED on a tripod you'll need the dovetail.

Matthew

 

[MikeHedge]

it works great. We used it out at BM.

 

[Martin Weiss]

I did get to play around with it at the IBC, and it is plainly beautifully crafted. Everything you wish to adjust, can be adjusted, and then some more. No tools needed. The pad adjusts to *your* shoulder. This has not only ergonomic benefits, but also means that not all the weight rests on one single point of your shoulder, but is spread along the whole surface. This is especially important when doing handheld pans. If the rig is not adjusted to your personal shoulder angle, it will end up uneven.
It does take a while setting it up, but once you are there, it fits snugly, and minor adjustments for different lenses can be made in seconds.
Swapping from handheld mode to tripod mode takes max 10 seconds, as the mount slides directly into the dovetail.

The rig should be available in about 2 weeks time. (And some more funky&useful gear is in the pipeline.)

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

Yeah, but if you want to mount your RED on a tripod you'll need the dovetail.

Matthew

the red is too good to not be integrated into existing professional tools.

This does the Et baseplate...and for 900 USD you really get what you pay for.

The handheld kit just mounts on the et baseplate...this is pretty cool.

Btw. do you know how much other dovetails cost?
Or how much arri baseplates cost?

Without the ET stuff you cant use the RED in a HIgh End Production.

But RED is for everyone, so with their handheldrig and baseproduction package they did to all the guys a favor.

because not every of the 2500 cameras are used on high end productions.

 

[Florian Stadler]

The ET handheld Rig is absolutely great. The best handheld Rig I have ever used for any camera. The brilliant and unique part is the left to right angle adjustment of the shoulder pad that no other system has. It makes the camera level while your shoulder is relaxed. You can almost let go of the camera it is so well balanced. I can't wait until Stephen is finally ready to sell me one.

It slides right into the Arri 15mm or 19mm base http://www.red.com/store/804013 and does not need a dovetail (in fact it slides where the dovetail would go). Any serious filmmaker will want to have a dovetail on their tripod though to adjust the weight balance according to lens/accessories used...