My latest GH2 shoulder rig

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alexmeadeint

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More pics can be found here: Flickr

Weight:
Rig: 5lb 8oz
With Camera (no Lens), Mic and H4N Recorder: 7lb 1oz


Items:
Lumix GH2: Panasonic
14-140mm M4/3 Lens: Panasonic
62mm Lens Protector: Panasonic
20mm M4/3 Pancake Lens:Panasonic
46mm Lens Protector: Panasonic
Variable ND Filter, Step Up Rings: Light Craft Workshop
Rods, handles, side clamp, friction arms, shoulder support: CPM Filmtools
Videomic Pro: Rode
D Focus v3: Jag 35
Zip Tie Focus Gear: Half Inch Rails
DSLR Baseplate, DSLR Mini Tripod Platform, 15mm Support Arms: Redrock Micro
577 Rapid Connect Adaptor: Manfrotto
H4n Handy Recorder: Zoom
Windscreen: Redhead Windscreens


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Wow looks sweet!

This is the second great rig I've seen that merges Redrock Micro with CPM Filmtools together.
I wonder if thats what I should do for my firs rig hmmm...
Oh how much would you say the parts cost you? Not including the mic/recorder/camera/lens/follow focus/filters of course, but just the rails supports?
 
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Thanks Boncrek,
The Redrock parts shown go about $500 and I highly recommend them.
Unfortunately cannot say the same for CPM. The parts shown are from Cubed Cage 3 kit and shoulder addon about $700 total. I bought this in good faith that "carbon" plastic would give me a super light and durable rig at an affordable price, however within the first week both bases and a handle clamp cracked. What you see here is whatever I could salvage for my $700 lesson in camera rigs. Will be replacing these soon when I can afford it. Their rods seem decent although not exact lengths, handle grips are brittle and will crack easy if overtightened, shoulder support is really good, top handle grip spins freely which is horrible and definitely cant recommend their Cubed Cage. They do have a lifetime replacement warranty though.
 
Problem with lifetime replacement warranties is that after about your third defective [whatever] in a row, you just want a refund.
 
alexmeadeint said:
Thanks Boncrek,
The Redrock parts shown go about $500 and I highly recommend them.
Unfortunately cannot say the same for CPM. The parts shown are from Cubed Cage 3 kit and shoulder addon about $700 total. I bought this in good faith that "carbon" plastic would give me a super light and durable rig at an affordable price, however within the first week both bases and a handle clamp cracked. What you see here is whatever I could salvage for my $700 lesson in camera rigs. Will be replacing these soon when I can afford it. Their rods seem decent although not exact lengths, handle grips are brittle and will crack easy if overtightened, shoulder support is really good, top handle grip spins freely which is horrible and definitely cant recommend their Cubed Cage. They do have a lifetime replacement warranty though.
Click to expand...

Oh really?

I was looking forward to a CPM rig for those very reasons...

Thanks for giving me a first hand account of the CPM rig.
My good friend and neighbhour Darren Jambredz Scott owns a CPM rig and from my experience with it was decent. It didn't show the cracks you speak off though.

Would you describe the redrock gear heavy or manageable?
 
The Redrock Nano series seems to fit the camera well and unlike CPM feels very solid. I pulled out the scale and this is what I get:

The Redrock base plate with tripod platform shown here is 6 oz

CPM Cubed base plate by itself: 1lb 8oz

If I had known this stuff before my choice would of been a little easier.
Your friends may well have found a decent rig and I still think CPM is a good company. My evaluation is limited only by my experience with what I listed above. Some Redrock stuff is a rip off but if you look at things like the CPM handle that cracked on me the first week, for only $10 extra I could of bought a Redrock handle made of aluminum and never had to worry about it.
Here's a pic of where the cracks on my Cubed base plate have been occurring and a handle washer that was already cracked when it arrived.
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Don't think the support looks as cheap as its closest competitor the Indi focus however I don't like how the gears are exposed.
There is a small amount of play on the gears but just like many reviews it comes with the cheaper price. The disk marker (allen key) comes off to flip the gear box so you can reach primes like the 20mm, I leave it flipped because Im lazy and have the rod space.
You'll need to order it through Jag 35 after navigating their crappy website and clicking "pre order", it took mine about 10 days before it shipped.
DO NOT buy the lens gears, they are such a pain in the a$$ to put on, look ridiculous and wont fit on the 20mm. I've seen many cheap follow focus solutions out there like a focus lever but one thing Ive noticed with the Panasonic lenses (especially the 20mm) is they need an almost 360 degree rotation to get its full focus band, cant do that with a lever on a rig. With this setup I have full focus on the 14-140 and the 20mm is just shy of reaching it (using a modded medium zip gear). I'm considering replacing the gear wheel on the follow focus with a thin rubber wheel if I can find one. Friction focus seems like it might be a better alternative and these lenses don't require a lot of force to turn.
 
The caps in question where molded from ABS and on a flat surface would have worked fine, but the rubber tends to flex. Enough that they crack. They are now molded from Nylon, the same as our knobs and do not crack, so replacements are sent in the new material. The Cubed Plate is an interesting one in that it has to do with the gate location and what's refered to as 'knit lines' in the part, this is where the flow fronts of the material meet and are considered the weakest link in the part, unfortunatly time is what allows this gremlin to come out. We have since modified the mold to three gate locations in order to shift the knit line and eliminate this weak area. Replacements also have a crush sleeve in the side knob area.

Just about 100% of our tooling has gone through several revisions, each time making the gear better and stronger, mostly based on customer feedback. When we did the gate re-work on the cubed plates we also modified the mold to have a battery access door. Again based on customer feedback. If we did not beleive the gear able to hold up we would not have a lifetime warrantee, trust me we don't have the warrantee because we intend to send out multiples of the same part over and over again. Its because we don't have too. With some situations it takes time for problems to present themselves, we identify the root cause and implement the corrective action and drive on. Our gear does evolve based on this excellent customer feedback and I love it as a business model.

Thanks, Steve
 
Reiterating what I mentioned above, I still think CPM is a good company and my opinions both good and bad are only limited to the experience with parts mentioned. It sounds like they are getting the kinks worked now. Whenever something broke they did an excellent job of getting replacement parts out quickly. Their level of customer service has certainly exceeded my expectations.
 
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