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One-Man Band Rig?

jonathan salas

jonathan salas

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Hello Everyone! I am new here but really enjoy the forum so far. I have been using an Fs700/Odyssey7q setup but I am going to upgrade to my first Red in January. I do a ton of shoots on my own and I've heard that Red isn't the greatest for solo shooting but I don't really buy that...

So I was wondering what is the best setup for the one-man band? What setup do you guys use when you go it alone? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
 
I think you need to be a bit more specific for what your needs are. Lots of people travel with their RED for solo shoots, but their expectations may be different. I love shooting on my epic and I'll do whatever necessary to make it work.
 
Thanks for the reply Bob. Your right, I should be a little more specific. Just looking for ideas on what accessories I need to start my rig. I really love to Run N' Gun. I have a Letus Helix I have been using and would like something to compliment that. So I was wondering what your typical shoulder rig / Run N' Gun rig would look like...
 
Most of my shoots are one man band, don't have any huge issues with my Dragon, just means a little preparation before some shoots, others hire an extra person or two.
A lot of time i have my kit 80 percent rigged in my Kata bumblebee, and a peli rigged with laptop, power, reader etc to allow me to offload quickly etc.
It can be done, and can be a lot of fun also :)

Happy New Year when it comes.

Andrew
Keith, Scotland.
 
It's no big deal - Make sure you have enough media and get your download situation in order. Maybe a screw on variable nd. Or a motion mount. Enough batteries to last you. 3 or 4 is usually good if you can charge. I don't find it much different than shooting with anything else. No built in ND can be bothersome tho and I often use screw-ons when solo.
 
RED is great for the solo shoot. I was on a shoot last week and showing a friend the rack focus feature using the Canon mount on my Epic. He was in awe of how great it worked.

Many, many options for setup, but I think more often than not, most RED guys shoot alone or in a solo setup versus always on set shooting the big pictures. Best camera out there.
 
I don't know what is really best out there but for shoulder, I finally went with the RED Gunner. I have so many configs I am working out from going onto the fluid head directly to shoulder and with all of the picatinny rail action, I am very happy with how it is shaping up.

I just got my Bomb EVF from Mark Phelan (Hi Mark! Thanks for the great transaction! everything works perfectly!) so the different configs are nice and lightweight even with a RED Brick on the back.

If you have not seen the info Tonaci Tran put up, here it is (even if a bit dated):
http://tonacitran.com/red-gunner-review/
 
Alan Skinner said:
I just got my Bomb EVF from Mark Phelan (Hi Mark! Thanks for the great transaction! everything works perfectly!) so the different configs are nice and lightweight even with a RED Brick on the back.
Click to expand...

Yay, Alan! I was a bit concerned when the email noted an "exception" to the delivery, guess they missed you the first go-round. I'm also going to take you up on the Napa offer next time I'm in close environs.
 
Do it!

I'll send you home with some nice wine from ye 'olde backyard winery!!

Yeah, was in Oregon for Christmas the first time they stopped by.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled thread entitled: One-Man Band Rig?

:spam:
 
My camera once setup weights 9kg and I'm travelling with 2 Pelicase 1550 weighing each 17kg (including laptop and HD, charger and batteries) and a 6kg tripod (Panther head X15 and a Miller ENG Solo 3 legs)

Pat
 
Patrick Tresch said:
My camera once setup weights 9kg and I'm travelling with 2 Pelicase 1550 weighing each 17kg (including laptop and HD, charger and batteries) and a 6kg tripod (Panther head X15 and a Miller ENG Solo 3 legs)

Pat
Click to expand...

i want some photos of that setup! :)

battistella
 
Check out posts from Mark Toia, he's posted about solo operating and posted pics of his set up over the years, also an incredibly talented shooter.
 
Check out Steve Gibby's posts and look in the EFP/ENG forum section, there might be quite a bit of inspiration there.

Audio is limited (you pretty much need an A-box to take pressure off the 3.5mm jacks, cables can get bothersome, etc.)... Plus the on-camera audio can only be controlled through the menus (no physical knobs), so there's no realistic way to ride levels.

The ergonomics and controls of the base camera are somewhat crappy compared to traditional cameras (certainly traditional EFP cameras), so you need to add extra rigging to make it actually function that way, which adds weight (and cost). Handles with lanc, shoulder pad, etc. Probably also need a cage (or at the very least a top & bottom plate), which also adds weight but is usually necessary to mount all of the added gack on to (plus 15mm LW rails, which you'd need for handles). Most of this is par for any digital-cinema-one-man-band-rig, however the camera itself is quite heavy compared to something like the FS700/7Q (which is like 5lbs combined with batteries). Hell, the batteries are also quite heavy compared to the FS700 (since you need AB or Vmount if you want it powered on for more than 20mins). Also means you might require a heavier duty tripod (which itself is also heavy).

Honestly, your best bet would be to rent one for a gig and see how much you have to fight the camera to get it to fit your needs... Because if that's the case, you'll know pretty quickly that you should be looking elsewhere (like the FS7 -- global shutter, 14stops DR, clean-high-ISO, built-in ND, built-in monitor/evf, built-in shoulder pad, built-in handle with camera control, built-in XLR, physical audio control, built-in 4k, built-in top handle, lighter batteries, raw capable for proper gigs, lighter weight, more affordable lens options -- speed boosters, etc.)

It's not that it can't work, it's that you'll be less efficient (aka slower, probably more fatigued) than if you had a camera that was actually more geared towards single-user operation. Personally, if you couldn't tell, for me a lot of the single-user-ability of the camera comes down to weight -- like if your tripod and camera are ~25lbs+ (which is likely), you basically have to hero everything... think about simple stuff, like a moving a tripod with spreader; you have to do that shimmy-tippy-toe crab-walk thing to move it a few feet, which is slow and cumbersome ... Without an AC (or even a PA) to help you with that remedial stuff (unplugging cables from the camera or picking up the tripod separately for a camera move, sandbag for the spreader if the tripod needs to go up high, etc.) you're basically shooting at half-speed. And that's aside from camera functionality (like the audio quirks I mentioned above).

Bare in mind, I'm playing devil's advocate. It's not *that* bad on the day... It's just one of those things that, unless you're in the thick of it, you can't really identify the inefficiencies. Conversely, I feel a lot of one-man-band REDusers have been using RED so long (since RED has been the unrivalled 4k/raw game for so long), that they have a bit of a blind spot to the massive advantages of other cameras systems currently available (which, for the most part, are all 4k/raw capable now) with respect to one-man-band-ness.

What exactly are you shooting? Do you have to handle audio? Is it fairly controlled environments (studio stuff)? Docs? Music Videos?
 
Last edited:
Mike P. said:
Check out Steve Gibby's posts and look in the EFP/ENG forum section, there might be quite a bit of inspiration there.

Audio is limited (you pretty much need an A-box to take pressure off the 3.5mm jacks, cables can get bothersome, etc.)... Plus the on-camera audio can only be controlled through the menus (no physical knobs), so there's no realistic way to ride levels.

The ergonomics and controls of the base camera are somewhat crappy compared to traditional cameras (certainly traditional EFP cameras), so you need to add extra rigging to make it actually function that way, which adds weight (and cost). Handles with lanc, shoulder pad, etc. Probably also need a cage (or at the very least a top & bottom plate), which also adds weight but is usually necessary to mount all of the added gack on to (plus 15mm LW rails, which you'd need for handles). Most of this is par for any digital-cinema-one-man-band-rig, however the camera itself is quite heavy compared to something like the FS700/7Q (which is like 5lbs combined with batteries). Hell, the batteries are also quite heavy compared to the FS700 (since you need AB or Vmount if you want it powered on for more than 20mins). Also means you might require a heavier duty tripod (which itself is also heavy).

Honestly, your best bet would be to rent one for a gig and see how much you have to fight the camera to get it to fit your needs... Because if that's the case, you'll know pretty quickly that you should be looking elsewhere (like the FS7 -- global shutter, 14stops DR, clean-high-ISO, built-in ND, built-in monitor/evf, built-in shoulder pad, built-in handle with camera control, built-in XLR, physical audio control, built-in 4k, built-in top handle, lighter batteries, raw capable for proper gigs, lighter weight, more affordable lens options -- speed boosters, etc.)

It's not that it can't work, it's that you'll be less efficient (aka slower, probably more fatigued) than if you had a camera that was actually more geared towards single-user operation. Personally, if you couldn't tell, for me a lot of the single-user-ability of the camera comes down to weight -- like if your tripod and camera are ~25lbs+ (which is likely), you basically have to hero everything... think about simple stuff, like a moving a tripod with spreader; you have to do that shimmy-tippy-toe crab-walk thing to move it a few feet, which is slow and cumbersome ... Without an AC (or even a PA) to help you with that remedial stuff (unplugging cables from the camera or picking up the tripod separately for a camera move, sandbag for the spreader if the tripod needs to go up high, etc.) you're basically shooting at half-speed. And that's aside from camera functionality (like the audio quirks I mentioned above).

Bare in mind, I'm playing devil's advocate. It's not *that* bad on the day... It's just one of those things that, unless you're in the thick of it, you can't really identify the inefficiencies. Conversely, I feel a lot of one-man-band REDusers have been using RED so long (since RED has been the unrivalled 4k/raw game for so long), that they have a bit of blind spot to the massive advantages of other cameras systems currently available (which, for the most part, are all 4k/raw capable now) with respect to one-man-band-ness.

What exactly are you shooting? Do you have to handle audio? Is it fairly controlled environments (studio stuff)? Docs? Music Videos?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info Mike. I've thought about the Fs7 breifly but I REALLY love what I see from the dragon. I don't need audio for 90% of what I shoot, mainly music videos. Usually not in controlled environments. I usually have to adapt to different situations on the fly, which most of you guys understand...
 
Yeah, that basically gets rid of a lot of headaches (not having to worry about audio). And, yeah, I think a lot of people prefer the RED look to the Sony look (particularly Dragon).

I'd still suggest renting one for a gig just to see how it handles your shooting style out of the box. Due diligence and all that. You don't want to spend $20k on kit, only to find out it doesn't suit your needs.
 
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