I have spent the last few days working on the content for my presentation at the HDSLR conference at the Montreal Final Cut Pro user group.
We have a lot of great sponsors who sent us gear to test and I would like to thank them: Lozeau (camera store in Montreal who loan us a lot of stuff), Zacuto (for a Marksman and Sharp shooter) and Shape (Sumo shoulder rig).
We spent the whole Sunday playing with various rigs and HDSLR camera. Our goal was to test every single camera and rig. We were supposed to test the Nikon D300s and D90 but couldn’t because of a small error when we picked up the gear at the store but we should put our hand on them at the conference.
Here is a quick video showing some of the gear we had. In the upcoming weeks, I will post a review of each rig and camera we tested.
Welcome to the last section of the part 2 of the Gorilla rigs review. Due to technical issues with one of my 5DMrkII, this review will not contain the video I had planned to shoot for it (sorry!).
Meet the Tactical Shooter
The Tactical shooter is the big daddy of the Gorilla set. With it, you can create a Quick Draw (review) or a Rapid Fire (review) according to the needs of the moment.
Read the rest of this entry »
As people are receiving their Z-Finder, reviews are popping everywhere on the net. The first one coming (that I am aware of) from M. Bloom and now there is one more from Mitch. As you could have guessed if you have been following my Gorilla rigs review, I am going to review it too. Actually, if it was not of some technical issues with the UPS custom broker department who evaluated my Z-finder at over 900$, I should have received mine first! So, to all of you who think that Z-gear is too expensive, know that the UPS guys think they worth more than twice as much! Read the rest of this entry »
This is the second post in the part 2 review of the Zacuto Gorilla rigs. You can look at the review of the Rapid Fire here.
Meet the Quick Draw
The first time I saw the Quick draw in the Zacuto promo video, the thing that came to my mind was “WTF?”. I couldn’t figure out how someone was supposed to use a rig without having both hands on the camera. Also, having the points of contact far apart (compared to the Rapid Fire and Tactical shooter), would make it less stable. Read the rest of this entry »
In this second part of the review, we are going to look at what are the differences between the various rigs, how they affect their uses and what are their strong points.
To save you from reading a long posts, I have spread this part in three articles.
Meet the Rapid Fire
The main strength of the Rapid Fire is that you, as a photographer, don’t need to learn a new way to hold your camera. You still have the left hand on the lens and the other holding the right side of the camera. The Rapid Fire simply adds another point of contact.
If you need to travel light and shoot fast, this is the rig to get. While it is the least stable of the bunch (more on this in the next part of the review), it is the smallest and most compact. Also, by keeping both hands on the camera, you can easily adjust exposure or start/stop recording quickly which results in saving of precious CF card space.
Adjusting the rig
It is so simple, I wont even do a video for this! Just tug the gunstock at the junction of the pectoral and shoulder muscle. Loosen the gunstock adjustment lever a bit and find a comfortable angle while keeping both hands on the camera. Twist the lever and you are set.
Using the rig
The biggest mistake I made when I first got the rig was to assume that pushing the gunstock against my shoulder would be enough to keep it stable. The problem was that I would move my arm while panning or reframing a shot. The movement of the arm would move the shoulder/pectoral muscles which in turn moved the camera. The solution took some times to get used to: instead of moving the camera using your arm, move your whole upper body. All of the action should come from a rotation of the hips, not the arms. This might be obvious to videographers but trust me, it is something totally new for a photographer!
Film like a ninja
Most people who see me shooting in public with this rig think that I am just a photographer using an “original” support device. It is very convenient when the subject might change its behavior if he knew he was being filmed. I have noticed that people are now used to be photographed, but as soon as you say that you are filming, they suddenly change their body language. This rig might help you to solve this issue. It is also useful in places where you can take pictures but not film.
Note
I think that most of the stability problems of this rig are going to be fixed once I get my view z-finder. I will update the post once I receive it to report on the results.
Now that I have a tactical shooter, I can finally do a full review of the three Gorilla gunstock models offered by Zacuto: The Rapid Fire, The Quickdraw and The Tactical shooter (which is a combo of the two). Hopefully, by the end of the review you will be able to figure out if you want a Gorilla rig and most importantly, which one will fit your needs.
This review is going to be spread over a few posts because I want to cover the product in details and answer any potential questions you might have. Also, I want to use some exterior footage and recently the weather has not been collaborating at all.
The review is going to be spread over 3 articles:
- Overall design (today)
- Which kit is the best for me?
- Stability test
Zacuto announced a very minimal rig system today: the DSLR Gorilla kits. The idea is simple: staying as light and compact as possible. This is, of course, in direct reaction to the line of light weight rig from Red Rock Micro. Who said that competition is not good?
Personally, I think removing the follow focus is a good idea. I never figured out why Red Rock put one on such a small rig.
Enough reading, lets take a look at the promo clip.
I have to admit, they managed to convinced me! I have been carrying my full cine rig in the woods for a few weekends to shoot my friends doing bouldering and it was no fun. By the time we found a boulder and I finished setting up the camera on the tripod, my friend were already climbing and I missed the start of the problem (and sometimes the whole sequence). And do not get me started on the logistics of carrying tripod + head + rails + follow focus + camera in the woods! A rig like this would be super easy to carry around and I would be ready to shoot before they even put their shoes on.
Of course this is one expensive gorilla! After all, we are talking about Zacuto stuff here and you will have to pull at least 550$ off your wallet to get the bare minimum. Add to this another 400$ for the Z-finder and you might have to have a conversation with the wife.
By the way, the Z-finder is NOT included in the packages contrary to what the pictures show. Some people are going to have a nasty surprise.
Now the question: which one should I pick?
