My DIY shoulder mount

J

jptmedia

Member
Hey guys, after much debate and searching I sold off my old SD camera and purchased a T2i. I realized way before I bought the camera that I'd need a shoulder mount for it, so this is what I made for under $10 and a little bit of research.

diyshouldermount.jpg


I plan on making a kind of "cage" to go around it. That way I can mount an LED, sound device, and mic. I also plan on adding BMX grips to the handles. I wanna make it look semi professional while also staying dirt cheap.

Its made almost entirely out of PVC. The only things that are metal on it is baseplate and the weight.

Thanks to everyone else who has posted their DIY rigs, it helped me out a lot.
 
I is my opinion that shoulder pads can be a curse and a blessing..

Packdown size is increased

Mass is increased

They can interfere with panning/tilting on the shoulder

Its a DSLR - mass does not need spreading in the same way that it does for an ENG camera

Just some thoughts

With this rig I think a bit of pipe insulation would do - $2

S
 
morgan_moore said:
I is my opinion that shoulder pads can be a curse and a blessing..

Packdown size is increased

Mass is increased

They can interfere with panning/tilting on the shoulder

Its a DSLR - mass does not need spreading in the same way that it does for an ENG camera

Just some thoughts

With this rig I think a bit of pipe insulation would do - $2

S
Click to expand...

Yea, I was planning on adding curved electrical conduit as the "shoulder piece". But that would make it more cumbersome to remove quickly and would make it harder to pack flat. The way I have it now I can remove the handles so its pretty flat and easy to throw under a seat or in a bag.

I'll definitely be adding padding of some kind, since the PVC bare is a bit uncomfortable.
 
i got some seatbelt pads like this at the dollar store

350__1_Black-3A-Racing-Hand-Covers.gif


nice padding and they can velcro on and off, i just cut sticking for the weird racing logo and so they are just plain black.
 
@jonE5: Great idea, thanks. I'll go pick up two of them soon.

Received my memory card this afternoon. Will shoot some test footage with my rig and post it later.
 
jptmedia said:
Hey guys, after much debate and searching I sold off my old SD camera and purchased a T2i. I realized way before I bought the camera that I'd need a shoulder mount for it, so this is what I made for under $10 and a little bit of research.

diyshouldermount.jpg


I plan on making a kind of "cage" to go around it. That way I can mount an LED, sound device, and mic. I also plan on adding BMX grips to the handles. I wanna make it look semi professional while also staying dirt cheap.

Its made almost entirely out of PVC. The only things that are metal on it is baseplate and the weight.

Thanks to everyone else who has posted their DIY rigs, it helped me out a lot.
Click to expand...

Good job. What's the material you used and how much weight?
There have been some comments about the 2 handle rigs becoming a little unbalanced when you take one hand off to focus. Any problems with that issue?
Being a custom rig you can always configure a center grip as well.
I like to see rigs like this that cost 10 bucks so you can spend your cash on stuff you can't make like more lenses.
 
As far as materials go its almost all 1/2 PVC pipe. The baseplate is some kind of small metal pieces I found at homedepot. I think its called strap steel, normally used to "laminate" wood together. I had it all lying around from a previous project several months ago. Without the weight it currently weighs about 3 lbs. I changed out the weight shown for a 5 lb. So with the weight it weighs roughly 8 lbs. Fully configured it probably runs about 10 lbs. I personally prefer a semi heavy rig. I have a terrible "shake" in my hands, so all the weight keeps it steady. Plus its pretty well balanced, it only feels about 4-5 lbs. when its on my shoulder.

All my accesories in the front pretty much balance out the rig so when I remove my hand I can focus and it stays pretty stable. I added a "cage" sort of thing last night so my mic is no longer on the camera, its off to the side. I'll be attaching a sound recorder to the "cage" as well. Then I'm planning on getting one of the chinese 126 LED lights to go on it, that way I'll be pretty much set for any kind of gig.

The rig is configured for the "run 'n gun" type of shooting I normally do. Coming from a Canon XL series background this kind of rig suites my style. I'll post an updated picture once I recieve my sound recorder.
 
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