FS7: Easirig changed my life... :-)

I own a EasyRig Mini Strong, which is the predecessor of the MiniMax, but with a lower max payload. Will support my minimally rigged FS7, but I rarely use it.

Whenever I have a ARRI gig my first two instructions to the AC are rent Spidergrips, & a beefier EasyRig. Often the EasyRig doesn't get used, but when it's appropriate it's a great tool.

Like others stated, I never film a walking shot while wearing an EasyRig, but never tried it with a gimbal.
 
EasyRigs are for wimps!

j/k, of course. No matter what safeguards or aids you employ, handheld destroys your body over time. Tennis elbow, crunchy shoulder joint, rotator cuff damage, carpel tunnel, vertebra damage, neck strain. An EasyRig diminishes some of that. But your body is still supporting the weight of the camera.

This post is timely for me. I've shot handheld ( concerts, sporting events, reality tv ) for 27 years now and I just got on a cooking competition show where twice a day we shoot 90-minute sessions handheld. Not just shouldering the camera for 90 minutes but record-rolling, composing, riding focus the entire 90, uninterrupted. 20+ hours of handheld each week. F800's with Fuji superwide, microwave transmitter + wireless receiver + dual PAG batts. Some of you know what that is like. Over twice the weight of most fully rigged Fs7's.

I must be daft. If I'm going out anytime soon I'm going out at full throttle and in a spectacular fiery crash of foolishness. But at this point, what else am I going to do for a living? Open a flower shop? ( I stole that line from a movie. ) :D
 
haha hear ya.. there was some good things about 30 min tapes !! the ability to record for long periods has really added to this problem.. and that recording media is now basically free for production.. I hope you have easy rig for your show.. back goes and your toast..
 
I don't know about you guys but I don't like to shoot for more than three days each week as an average. Not that I'm particularly tired but I don't need to work more often financially so why should I? I seldom have longer days than eight hours and most often I spend the better part of that travelling.
 
One thing I do not like with any of the EasyRig Minis (MiniMax/Strong/etc) are the relatively long arms. Believe they were primarily designed for cameras with vestigial EVFs (©Mitch Gross), but are overly long, & clumbersome, on cameras such as the FS7. Might be useful for Gimbals too, however in regular use I find myself banging into a lot more obstacles then when wearing a heavier duty EasyRig with a short arm.

If I used mine more I'd inquire whether it's possible to replace the arm with a shorter one.
 
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Usually - for long outdoors shoot, its a blessing. For indoor shoots, it can be a pain in the ass because you get stuck in every door frame.
 
Bern Caughey said:
One thing I do not like with any of the EasyRig Minis (MiniMax/Strong/etc) are the relatively long arms. Believe they were primarily designed for cameras with vestigial EVFs (©Mitch Gross), but are overly long, & clumbersome, on cameras such as the FS7. Might be useful for Gimbals too, however in regular use I find myself banging into a lot more obstacles then when wearing a heavier duty EasyRig with a short arm.

If I used mine more I'd inquire whether it's possible to replace the arm with a shorter one.
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Pretty sure you can change out the arm.. the longer ones were a fairly recent design I think, specifically for holding gimbals out in front of your body..
 
I was faced with some long Movi shots on the feature I'm presently shooting. The FS7 on a Movi M15 (the largest at the time) is not exactly light. Didn't want to invest a ton into an Easyrig or similar so I found some vest systems people had built online and mad a hybrid of my own. It consisted of a military backpack frame, heavy electrical conduit bent into a hook shape, and an industrial tool retractor (holds tools in a garage overhead so you can grab when needed). I found one rated to hold the weight of an M15 and FS7. Put it all together and tried it out. Made it easier to shoot a long time, but introduced an amount of additional bounce I deemed unacceptable, the M15 just could not soak it up. I ended up handholding the Movi for shots up to 3 minutes long and did not have a problem. The key is to stop and rest every few minutes (I realize when not shooting for yourself you may not have this luxury). Here's an example of a "one shot wonder" we did: [video]https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=Zco6AdZOmIo[/video]
 
mainstreetprod said:
I was faced with some long Movi shots on the feature I'm presently shooting. The FS7 on a Movi M15 (the largest at the time) is not exactly light. Didn't want to invest a ton into an Easyrig or similar so I found some vest systems people had built online and mad a hybrid of my own. It consisted of a military backpack frame, heavy electrical conduit bent into a hook shape, and an industrial tool retractor (holds tools in a garage overhead so you can grab when needed). I found one rated to hold the weight of an M15 and FS7. Put it all together and tried it out. Made it easier to shoot a long time, but introduced an amount of additional bounce I deemed unacceptable, the M15 just could not soak it up. I ended up handholding the Movi for shots up to 3 minutes long and did not have a problem. The key is to stop and rest every few minutes (I realize when not shooting for yourself you may not have this luxury). Here's an example of a "one shot wonder" we did: [video]https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=Zco6AdZOmIo[/video]
Click to expand...

Nothing there. "You must create a channel to upload videos."
 
bengiles said:
I'm 3 days into shooting a couple of commercial spots with my colleague, Nik, directing.

I bought an Easirig, as we have to shoot 15 locations in the next 2 weeks, and we needed to be super agile.

I can't recommend this thing enough - it has transformed the rigged FS7 from an unwieldy back-breaking beast into a lovely floating ergonomic thing.

I still get an organic handheld feel - but it takes away all of the hard work in keeping the camera suspended in front.

I was sceptical about it's value when I first saw one, but after 3 days, I absolutely love this thing. Can't see myself shooting without it now.

Looks stupid, but no change there...

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I know there are some naysayers who poopoo the EZ Rig but take it from a guy who has hand held for 10 hours on end for days...the EZ Rig definitely changed my life, while saving my butt!
Some of ye observe that you are always shooting at eye level. Well...yeah. Same with hand held. And others observed that camera moves where clunky and unsteady. Perhaps, but lets analyze what the EZ Rig really is.
It is NOT a SteadiCam! It is not designed to make liquid dolly type moves. It was designed to make steady handheld shots and to more evenly distribute the weight of the camera to the hips.
One of the coolest things is that it can easily be positioned for a low angle, very useful when shooting someone sitting or the like. If you have the right tension arm, you can shoot in that position all day.
I have an arm that's sprung for 16-22lbs. That allows me to shoulder the camera with the effective weight of about 5 lbs as my FS7 tricked out comes in at about 26 lbs. I had a heavier spring on my first rig (22-32 lbs) for my XDCAM but the camera kept floating off so I exchanged the arm for a lower sprung one and have been very pleased. With the camera touching my shoulder, I am one with the machine without much additional weight.
I too was a skeptic until I borrowed one from a friend of mine. I used it for about two hours and then docked the camera. I needed to pull a quick shot so I just pulled the camera off the tripod and when I shouldered my machine, I thought I was carrying lead weights. I couldn't believe how much heavier my camera felt. I made the shot and quite literally called 16x9 and ordered one. I've never looked back.
For those who are afraid of looking geeky or being diminished as not being a manly operator? I suggest you rent or borrow a rig for a test drive...then get back to me.
EZ Rigs are now part of almost every feature I've seen shooting around Atlanta these days. When you try and shoulder a tricked out Alexa (40-50 Lbs) you will see the real value of an EZ Rig.
And if you practice a nice duck walk, you can in fact make credible looking moves or follow an actor or a reality show participant.
Again, it is NOT a replacement for the SteadiCam but rather a tool that facilitates long term hand held shooting.
 
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