Fig Rig?

Michael Summers

Michael Summers

Well-known member
couldnt search so i started a new topic.

Looking to purchase one of these. any comments on it? tips? does it suck/rock/etc.

i'm also using a Canon Scoopic (16mm) along with my dvx. you thik the fig rig could support it?
 
It's a camera grip that alows you a difference stance and way of holding the camera.
Handy for putting lots of crap on yrou camera and then shooting wihtotu touching the camera (why?)
But it's not really much of a stabilizer for moving camera.

Worth the bucks? not to me, but I dont' shoot like that. Some may/will find it usefull.

- Mikko
 
Sucks/rocks depending on who you listen to. For me, it rocks - but I think I'm doing exactly the kind of work it was designed to facilitate.

To put some perspective on it, however - I've also just bought a compact handheld gimbal stabilizer to compliment the FigRig (Handyman 100 from ABC - £199 in the UK at CKE distribution, folks!) . I'm doing alot of walk/talk with the presenter of the doc I'm making at the moment. Mounted with remote, mic and PAG light the FigRig is PERFECT - flexible, convenient and just easy to work with. For getting smooth motion into my scenery and cutatways - that's a job for the stabilizer.

For me, two hands on either side of a frame seems a natural and intuitive way of pointing an imaging object at the subject - so I don't see why it shouldn't work with the Scoopic. However, one limitation I can see is that you won't have any remote control. If you need hands on aperture ring and focus during shot I think you'd find the Scoopic/FigRig combination too much of a compromise. But what do you intend doing with it? That's more important than what camera you stick in it.
 
pretty sure there's no remote focus for the DVX

there are a couple fo remote zooms

Manfrotto offers one as an accessory to the fig rig but you could use varizoom or whatever

I really dig mine you can get "acceptable" smoothness with it walking and even running to some degree but for filmmic gliding smooth you need some kind of gimbal device.

"Acceptable" isn't bad -- its way better than handheld for me. When you move the camera it has resistance from your other arm like a yoke basically. With a few exceptions I don't think there are many things a figrig can do that a yoke can't. You can grasp the fig rig at any angles is one of the few things, and you can attach more stuff to it.

I like to use it for shots that move in and around things with lots of turns -- this would be completely wrong for a steadicm or gimbal system which cannot turn on a dime and doesn't have the same total control over dutched , constantly changing angles.

Fig Rig is great for early Sam Rami type whip shots or tracking movement aorund a space.

A gimbal can fly like a gliding bird. A fig rig can move like darth vaders spaceships - up and around etc. So if you have a shot following a string around room (see zombie short "Shed" in my signature) then its especially great because you are using both arms with a wider grasp and can rotate your torso and move it around your body like some kind of modern dancer with a a greater degree of control and expression.

Say you want to start on your actor in closeup eating cereal, you then want - in a fluid movement - to follow his spoon down to the table, rotate and get behind the spoon, then shot the cereal bowl from directly above the table looking down, then follow random pieces of ceral across the tale from that same above angle, then as you come to the ceral box, kneel beside the table to shoot the cereal box strait on, all in one take then the fig rig is good for that.

Now having said all of that do I think its a better investment than a handheld gimbal stabilization system -- probably not as an either or unless you really want to do that type of micro visual storytelling a lot -- or unless you are going guerilla and need to put your boom mic , and a light and a couple of lavs all on one unit.

Fig Rig is also ideal for pplaces you can't take a gimbal system like a crowded area. The sled for a steadicam will go all over, but you can tuck the fig righ into you, and again have more control over it, rather than letting the device do most of the work like with a gimble system.
 
Good stuff jdanstan!

But I beg to differ on a couple of points...

jdanstan said:
I like to use it for shots that move in and around things with lots of turns -- this would be completely wrong for a steadicm or gimbal system which cannot turn on a dime and doesn't have the same total control over dutched , constantly changing angles.

...

Fig Rig is also ideal for pplaces you can't take a gimbal system like a crowded area. The sled for a steadicam will go all over, but you can tuck the fig righ into you, and again have more control over it, rather than letting the device do most of the work like with a gimble system.
Click to expand...

Granted there are a couple of places that indeed arn't good for a steadicam (riots, mosh pits...) but a [good] Steadicam operator is always 100% in contol of the rig. And yes a Steadicam will turn on a dime. :happy:


- Mikko
 
fushikato said:
michael,

what kind of remote are you using on the figrig......is it able to control the focus.
Click to expand...

A Manfrotto 521PRO. Yes, it can control either focus or zoom via the rocker - but not on a DVX. I'm using a Z1. It also has a quick autofocus button.
 
thanks jdanstan you pretty much made my decision. i think i'll just wait until i can purchase a merlin, since i want the best budget "film-like gliding" for when i shoot 16mm. wish they could be in stock, i have a shoot every weekend for the next three weeks. im going tot ry and build my own steadicam with the 14$ blueprint. once merlin's back in stock, i think i'll pick one up.
 
mikkowilson said:
...but a [good] Steadicam operator is always 100% in contol of the rig. And yes a Steadicam will turn on a dime. :happy:
- Mikko
Click to expand...


I thought that the basic idea was that it was resistant to motion / counterweighted. I know that a good seatdicam op is always in control but are you saying that you can whip pan with one - wouldn't the bottom of the sled swing out and cause unwanted a reactive motion (what keeps it stable in the first place)

I've had my glidemaster for for a month but have had almost no time to play with it and while I know its not a steadicam its a good two arm system and I'm pretty sure that the manual discouraged abrupt movements.

Obviously I am quoting what I "think" a manual said to a real pro that knows WTF he's talking about.

I'm just asking for clarification so I know where the bar is in terms of reasonable motion when I finally do get to put in those 20 - 40 hours of practice before I get useable footage.

thanks

Jack
 
michael_summers said:
thanks jdanstan you pretty much made my decision. i think i'll just wait until i can purchase a merlin, since i want the best budget "film-like gliding" for when i shoot 16mm. wish they could be in stock, i have a shoot every weekend for the next three weeks. im going tot ry and build my own steadicam with the 14$ blueprint. once merlin's back in stock, i think i'll pick one up.
Click to expand...

check out this book

highly recommended

http://www.dvcamerarigs.com/

it has plans for a homeade one with a gimbal!

the book is $30 or $40 but if you build one of the rigs in it it more than pays for itself -- also has plans for

car mounts
cranes
dollys
etc.
 
Whip Pans with Steadicam

Whip Pans with Steadicam

jdanstan said:
I thought that the basic idea was that it was resistant to motion / counterweighted. I know that a good seatdicam op is always in control but are you saying that you can whip pan with one - wouldn't the bottom of the sled swing out and cause unwanted a reactive motion (what keeps it stable in the first place)
Click to expand...

Jack,
Yeah, it is resistant to motion, and yes it does take a good bit of "oomph" to start (and then stop!) a whip pan. And an incorrectly balanced sled will in deed cause you to loose tilt (and horizon if it's really bad).

But if a sled is in proper dynamic balance, it will pan perfectly flat and alow the operator to do whip pans without trouble. In fact, thanks to the bearings in the gimble, a Steadicam whip can be *very* fast.

Whip pans have almost become one of the "trademarks" of Steadicam shots, they are used a lot in conjunction with the "flowing with the action" type shots. - Ever watch ER? It's full of them. :thumbsup:

For more information on dynamic balance, there's a good Primer on the topic (along with a lot of other good reading) here: http://www.steadicam-ops.com/soamanual.shtml


Also, "Glidemaster"?

- Mikko
 
FYI -- The DVX100B has ports for remote zoom like the A, but also has a separate port for focus just like the HVX.
 
Tainted said:
FYI -- The DVX100B has ports for remote zoom like the A, but also has a separate port for focus just like the HVX.
Click to expand...

And remote controls with zoom, focus and iris for the DVX100B and the HVX200 are already available from Varizoom (check VZ-PZFI Rock-PZFI).

Lutnik
 
michael_summers said:
thanks jdanstan you pretty much made my decision. i think i'll just wait until i can purchase a merlin, since i want the best budget "film-like gliding" for when i shoot 16mm. wish they could be in stock, i have a shoot every weekend for the next three weeks. im going tot ry and build my own steadicam with the 14$ blueprint. once merlin's back in stock, i think i'll pick one up.
Click to expand...

Ahhh Michael, BHPhoto had some but they sold within a day, I was lucky Mikko chucked me an email which I saw quickly after. On experience as soon as you see one you have to grab it, maybe thats thier evil plan heh kidding. That very same day I found a stockists in Japan that had 3 left after recieving 10 the day prior, was going to buy even with the $1300 USD price tag (yeah thats what the one supplier in Japan is charging - ripoff). WIth Shipping and buying from BHPhoto I managed to save $400 USD, should get it this week. Will tell you how I go, I promise you if I can master this in the few weeks before I need to actually use it anyone can.
 
hah, i was in raptures at how quickly b&h sold out. didnt get a chance to pick one up. however, i did start building a home made little monopod/counterweight... thingy for a shoot this weekend, so i'll let you know how that goes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top