How heavy is too heavy for handheld?

[Gary Jones]

What sort of weight is considered too much for handheld?

I understand balance is extremely important, and I know about the EasyRig which would probably make life a whole lot easier. But at what point do people just say, not feasable? I assume with all the 3D rigs being used that operators are having to lift some pretty heavy loads nowadays.

 

[Steve Sherrick]

Proper balance is probably more important than anything else. You can take 2 cameras that weigh the same and have two completely different experiences if one of them is not balanced well and has poor ergonomics. ENG operators, especially back in the early days of handheld video carried around huge rigs. Film camera rigs can be large too. So in order to determine if a rig weighs too much is to first make sure that it excels at balance and ergonomics.

 

[Martin Weiss]

Really depends on many factors, incl. take lengths, focal length, stamina of the op, length of day, temperature. Tools like a EasyRig help tremendously.

 

[Bob Gundu]

If you can't let go to focus or change iris... too heavy or not balanced!