BEST DSLR Stabilizer from selecteed EBAY products???

T

tom1597530

Active member
Hello. I am going to buy a Canon 60D in a few weeks, but I want to use it primary for filmmaking, but the shakiness is very bad-looking and anoying, so I found a few shoulder rigs on the ebay that ship to my country... could you please have a look at them and try to tell me, which one would be THE BEST FOR STABILIZING THE FOOTAGE? Thank you... Links are below...

RIG No. 1 ($74) ... http://www.ebay.com/itm/DSLR-Rig-Sh...614?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a0d65f31e

RIG No. 2 ($78) ... http://www.ebay.com/itm/DSLR-Rig-Sh...501?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c7fec71d

RIG No. 3 ($81) ... http://www.ebay.com/itm/DSLR-Rig-Mo...353?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1d449da1

RIG No. 4 ($90) ... http://www.ebay.com/itm/DSLR-Rig-Mo...831?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item256553d147

RIG No. 5 ($130) ... http://www.ebay.com/itm/DSLR-Rig-Sh...667?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cfa028d03

Thank you for help, I wasn't counting with shipping price - the shipping was set to SLOVAKIA :) Which one of them would stabilize the shaky footage the best?
 
a shoulder rig kind of depends on how much gear youre putting on it. mattebox? follow focus? sound? light? power?
ALL of the ones you linked to are cheap chinese knockoffs of things that typically cost several hundred dollars more. i think one of them is even a cheap knockoff of a cheap original ; )

will they "work"? certainly. the question is how well and for how long.
i guess though, at $80 you could buy 5 for the price of a normal decent one. but why not just buy a decent one to start with?

if you just want a cheap camera platform, you might look into one of these:
http://www.dynamicmotionvideo.com/index2.php#/gallery_sec/1/
i have their original cb105 which is about as bare-bones as you can get. its basically just a piece of steel with a pad. ive had some fun drilling holes in it and bolting a variety of stuff onto it
 
...I see that they now offer stabilizing handles to the CB105. Cool. I think I might actually buy one now.
Click to expand...
yeah. it really is one of the best, no-nonsense, bare-bones options out there. and like i mentioned. its pretty easy to drill holes in it if you want to use it as the base for other components. ive bolted my zacuto baseplate system and even my figrig to it.
 
wgzn said:
a shoulder rig kind of depends on how much gear youre putting on it. mattebox? follow focus? sound? light? power?
ALL of the ones you linked to are cheap chinese knockoffs of things that typically cost several hundred dollars more. i think one of them is even a cheap knockoff of a cheap original ; )

will they "work"? certainly. the question is how well and for how long.
i guess though, at $80 you could buy 5 for the price of a normal decent one. but why not just buy a decent one to start with?

if you just want a cheap camera platform, you might look into one of these:
http://www.dynamicmotionvideo.com/index2.php#/gallery_sec/1/
i have their original cb105 which is about as bare-bones as you can get. its basically just a piece of steel with a pad. ive had some fun drilling holes in it and bolting a variety of stuff onto it
Click to expand...

Thanks but where could I find link to buy it? And also, is it compatibile with Canon 60D and does it stabilize footage well? Have you got any experience of using it with DSLR?
 
as far as i know, the best (if not ONLY) way to get the dynamic motion products is ON their website. their new flash-based website absolutely SUCKS. and getting around it is not very intuitive.
here is a link to their "buy" page:
http://www.dynamicmotionvideo.com/c...tionvideo.com_checkoutpage/Shopping_Cart.html

pretty much EVERYTHING is COMPATIBLE with everything in the realm of pro-sumer cameras and rigs. the only drawback to the original cb105 is that its camera position was fixed. but they have one now that has a quick release plate. and even on my old original one. i just drilled new holes in the bar to add one or get the camera where i needed it.

as far as "does it stabilize footage well?" i think youre mystifying the process more than you need to. all ANY of these things do (at any price, from any manufacturer) is take the bulk of the weight off your hands and put it on your shoulders or torso. a body part less apt to frequent small movements. thats all there is to it.

as far as which one does it better? it has to do with material strength, machining and last BUT NOT LEAST the body dynamics of the user. take for instance a very out of shape guy, if he's prone to breathing heavily he may have a problem with a torso-anchored unit like the cowboy or ikan. and would prefer a shoulder based unit. but a small guy with sleight shoulders may not enjoy the shoulder based model. hed probably spend all day trying to keep the rig level.

so a lot of it depends on you and how you carry yourself and your rig

my advice is to gear up your camera with what you normally use. hold it where you normally hold it. and try to envision where you want things to be both from a comfort and usability standpoint. if you have a heavy rig with a mattebox and follow focus and monitor. youre probably going to want a rig that puts the weight more on your shoulders than your hands and forearms. i tend to like to have my camera near as possible to about my collarbone. so i look for rigs that allow that to happen.

and a lot of this simply begs common sense on the part of the buyer. stronger and more rigid materials are going to cost more. better machining is going to cost more. so dont spend $140 on some no-name chinese thing and expect it to work like one that costs $3000. not to say that quality only comes at high prices. but i have found that if you really look at something (without being drunk on a remarkably low price) you can generally tell a solid product from a wobbly one. look at those links you sent. then go look at the redrock, zacuto or shoot35 stuff. look closely. then you tell me what you think.

the thing about the links you posted is they are $100 units attempting to do the same things that $3000 units do. that just isnt going to happen.
but the cb105 thing is trying to do one thing. take the weight of the camera off your hands and put it on your shoulder AND add counterweight behind you to make it even easier to manage. absolutely brilliant idea. and in my opinion its one of the most under-appreciated (or under-recognized) pieces of gear in the entire industry : )
 
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Thank you very much. I have one last question. Which product from their "buy" site would you recommend me THE MOST? Is it the CB-105?
 
either the cb-105 or ss-302 will do mostly the same thing. the only difference is the 302 has a quick release plate (which is good for several reasons) and screw holes to mount their handles

i say if you can swing the additional money, getting the ss-302 with the additional handles will give you a good exposure to the whole "rig thang" without dropping a ton of initial money. one thing i think i see with the ss-302+handles is:
http://www.dynamicmotionvideo.com/index2.php#/fgallery1/5/
(click on the center pic to enlarge)
that you MAY be able to remove the handles from the crossbar and mount one handle by itself in the center hole at the end of the base rig. that way you can figure out whether you like a single or dual handle approach
 
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Your first four links are exactly the same product.

I actually have that... figured, "what the heck," got it for experimentation and fiddling. After slapping a Manfrotto QR plate upon it and replacing some of the typically Chicom screw hardware, it has worked fine. It can be configured in a number of different ways: single shoulder - double handle, double shoulder - single handle, double shoulder - overhead handle, double-underarm, round-the-neck, and more. FWIW, I don't use a single one of the configurations they use in their advertisements ;) Easy to break down and stow in a backpack or shoulder bag, cheap enough that I don't care what happens to it and don't mind hacking it up to serve whatever purpose.

Granted, I don't use matte boxes, follow foci, or any of the sundry festoonery to which the industry is accustomed - just a GH2 with a Senn G1 lav receiver or Rode VMP slapped onto the top shoe, so if your bent is towards frontal augmentation, perhaps a more professional rail system would better meet your needs.

If you're just a guy with a camera, then it works fine.
 
wgzn said:
either the cb-105 or ss-302 will do mostly the same thing. the only difference is the 302 has a quick release plate (which is good for several reasons) and screw holes to mount their handles

i say if you can swing the additional money, getting the ss-302 with the additional handles will give you a good exposure to the whole "rig thang" without dropping a ton of initial money. one thing i think i see with the ss-302+handles is:
http://www.dynamicmotionvideo.com/index2.php#/fgallery1/5/
(click on the center pic to enlarge)
that you MAY be able to remove the handles from the crossbar and mount one handle by itself in the center hole at the end of the base rig. that way you can figure out whether you like a single or dual handle approach
Click to expand...

Ok so SS-302 + the handles or the cb105?
 
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Just want to add some things for anyone considering going down the cheap shoulder rig path.

The cowboystudio is usually advertised as a videocam support rig but a lot of people buy it for DSLR. A DSLR with a mid range zoom is going to be
heavier than a consumer vidcam. First thing I noticed when putting on my 60D & 17-55mm was how front heavy it was. The Dynamic Motion rig with
some weight over the shoulder is going to help that. The ikan that looks like the CBS but with a handle is good but still needs some weight on the shoulder.

The CBS bracket that goes over the shoulder is a 'one shape fits all' with no padding just some thin rubber. The support arm onto the chest is the same.

My back started to ache and it felt uncomfortable after about 1 MINUTE even though I'm a fit skinny guy.

A handle will help, extra padding and some weight over the shoulder to balance. A Panny or Vidcam might be easier to hold up out front
as the CBS (ikan) style unit is really for lightweight cameras. Each to his own and if you're thick set with your own extra padding you might find it a breeze.

As whats been said before, there's a reason the better shoulder units cost more. Anyone of these units will give you a start but you might end up moving on
and never touching it again. ;-) If you don't need to load up a bunch of gear and want stable & mobile, a loupe pressed up to your face and a vidcam side handle
and/or gun stock handle might get just as good footage.
 
Two of the main things you want in a shoulder mount are balance and adjustability. Make sure you get something that lets you align your eye exactly where you need it to be.

But if by stabilization you want that "walking around the set" or "following someone" steadicam look, you may be disappointed in a shoulder mount, and happier with a gimbal-type stabilizer (the Opteka Steadyvid Pro seems to be the cheapest decent entry to that world). I find that once I start walking with a shoulder mount, it's really tough to get that "floating camera" look.
 
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