Transporting a Redrock Micro Rail Style Rig

A

Art Andrews

New member
I see a lot of threads about transporting your cameras, and it seems the default recommendation is a Pelican style case.

We are using a Redrock Micro microshoulder Mount rig which is holding:

Canon-Vixia HF S21
2 wireless mic receivers
H4N
LED light

Do all of you who use a similar rail style rig completely disassemble it for transportation or is there a way to leave it partially/mostly assembled and transport it safely? I don't mind taking some of the components off, but I would hate to have to completely break it down every time we transport it. Any thoughts of experience with this would be greatly appreciated.
 
For me Personally, My ger is thrown and tossed around, I strip everything down except my Baseplate, rods, and tripod plate. Just insures me safety nothing will get damaged in transport.


PRP
 
I typically break down my rigs and store everything in hard cases/Pelican cases.

I am looking into an alternative solution, however, where the rig could be stored and transported when fully built. This would be for a situation when there are company moves on the shoot, and I need to more or less work out of just one or two cases instead of five, and when breaking down the rig is a time sink and impractical.

Here is a case I'm looking at right now to store my fully-built rig (which measures roughly 24" long by 17" tall by 17" wide):

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...Case_IM3075_00002_iM3075_Storm_Trak_Case.html

The only issue would be the weight. It would be roughly 80 pounds with the rig inside of it, but it would also be a catchall solution.

Don't know if that helps, but I'm going through a similar situation as you, so I thought I'd post it. Breaking down and building the rig every day adds up over time, and it's also harder on the components.
 
Man, I couldn't imagine building/striking my DSLR rig every time I switch a location. The night before a shoot, all I do is put on the lens I think I'll begin with, make sure all my lens gears are tight and straight, and go. My shoulder mount and front handles get removed and that's it.

I found a really big wheeled case - it's lightweight but tough, was probably a 4x5 camera field setup. Maybe 16" deep x 24" x 30". I set up the dividers so my rig is perfectly nested (I wrapped some foam blocks in black cordura and hot-glued velcro to them). I have some stacked trays with foam inserts for 4 lenses. When I pull the rig out, all I have to do is slide the FF into position and lock it on the tripod. There's a space for 4x4 filters, a tool bag, shoulder-mount handles. Guys, it's like a freaking dream to shoot this way. Your camera's always protected, even to move to a different room - drop it in and roll. The only assembly I do is for shoulder mount or if I need the big french flag.

The case was $150 from eBay; eBay doesn't have a section for wheeled cases, so I searched terms like "roller", "wheels", etc. I've gotten pretty obsessed with storage lately. Cool Lights big roller case could be a contender as well - I use it to pack quad biax flos; it's a really nice case and might be deep enough for rigs. I think it's $175.

DSC_0004.jpg
 
Thanks for the responses, guys! I have a pelican 1650 that my flashes go in (I do a bit of still photography as well) and although that seems big, I am going to give that a try and see how it does.
 
Art,

A little trick I use when packing up my shoulder mount is compressing. Presumably you have some sort of bogen sliding bracket on your shoulder mount? So your camera can easily pop off and on?

Rather then taking off anything, consider sliding the cross bar on the unit as close to the shoulder pad as possible, and then flip up the handgrips so that they are parallel to the rails. This gets the unit pretty small. If you plan on expanding, padded dividers is the way to go. However, if you plan on sticking with this setup and want the best solution possible, a company like Omega Cases will laser cut foam for you. I love this solution because it's pretty easy for me to see if I've left anything behind :thumbsup:
 
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