cameronchapman
New member
Just wanted to share how I created my knock-off fig rig, which worked beautifully this past weekend on a music video shoot.
Here's a pic:
So, basic parts and price breakdown:
Hula Hoop: $6 (Walmart)
Simpson Tie: $3 (Home Depot, like this one)
Giottos MH621 Quick Release Adapter with Short Sliding Plate camera mount: $31 (Amazon)
Duct Tape: $2 (didn't use anywhere close to a full roll, though)
I cut about 2' out of the hula hoop, since it was way too big to use comfortable. Then I drilled out the ends of the Simpson tie so that the hula hoop fit snuggly into it. It took a bit of finessing and adjusting, but I put the hula hoop in about as far as it would go without warping it too much. The original plan was to zip-tie the quick release adapter in place, but with the zip ties the plate wouldn't slide in and out, so I ended up using duct tape to secure it. At some point I'm going to take all that tape off, and drill a hole in the Simpson tie to mount the quick release. But this works for the moment. I taped the ends of the hula hoop to keep the glitter garland from coming out. And I taped around the Simpson tie because it was sharp and I kept scratching myself with it.
Of course, you could paint the whole thing to have it look much more professional, but the guys in the band seemed to get a kick out of my hot pink, glittery camera rig (I kept telling them it's equal parts duct tape and glitter, just like me). So for now, I'm going to leave it as-is...
Either way, for around $40 (and you could use a much cheaper quick release or take one off an old tripod if you happen to have one), you get a really usable fig rig knock-off.
Here's a pic:
So, basic parts and price breakdown:
Hula Hoop: $6 (Walmart)
Simpson Tie: $3 (Home Depot, like this one)
Giottos MH621 Quick Release Adapter with Short Sliding Plate camera mount: $31 (Amazon)
Duct Tape: $2 (didn't use anywhere close to a full roll, though)
I cut about 2' out of the hula hoop, since it was way too big to use comfortable. Then I drilled out the ends of the Simpson tie so that the hula hoop fit snuggly into it. It took a bit of finessing and adjusting, but I put the hula hoop in about as far as it would go without warping it too much. The original plan was to zip-tie the quick release adapter in place, but with the zip ties the plate wouldn't slide in and out, so I ended up using duct tape to secure it. At some point I'm going to take all that tape off, and drill a hole in the Simpson tie to mount the quick release. But this works for the moment. I taped the ends of the hula hoop to keep the glitter garland from coming out. And I taped around the Simpson tie because it was sharp and I kept scratching myself with it.
Of course, you could paint the whole thing to have it look much more professional, but the guys in the band seemed to get a kick out of my hot pink, glittery camera rig (I kept telling them it's equal parts duct tape and glitter, just like me). So for now, I'm going to leave it as-is...
Either way, for around $40 (and you could use a much cheaper quick release or take one off an old tripod if you happen to have one), you get a really usable fig rig knock-off.