Easyrig

[Stephen Press]

Have you guys seen an Easyrig in action?

 

http://www.easyrig.se/

 

I saw one on the sidelines of a game today.

I spoke to the OB director after and he said the operator is marketing it as a cheaper alternative to SteadiCam so they were trying it out.

I have doubts. It may be good for standing still for a long time... maybe, but talk about make you seasick when it moves. I can?t see how anyone could honestly call it an alternative to SteadiCam but has any of you used one and what was it like?

[RobVanGelder]

Yes, used one and we have one here at the rental company.

 

It is NOT a cheap alternative for Steadicam, it helps to get the weight of your shoulders and transfer to your lower back and hips.

You can have a longer shooting time when wearing this rig and do a lot of handheld work, but the moment you walk it is similar, maybe a little bit less jerky as in handheld, only your arms will get less tired after a while.

 

We use it mainly for lifting the Arricam in handheld mode,

 

Now if you have a smooth floor and you are on rollerskates......

 

 

Anyway, you can not make nice pans without a bit of shake and walk in Don Juan, you can make a kind of jib-movement if the strength of the rig is enough, because it makes your camera "weightless".

[Colin Donahue]

I know two camera operators that have this rig in LA and they both use it because they have back problems. They have never mentioned anything about its use as a steadicam.

 

Colin Donahue

[Jason Torbitt]

This thing is being used a lot for live productions. As stated, it isn't a cheap alternative to steadicam, it's just a method of taking the weight of the handheld camera off the operator. Anyone who has seen the pictures coming from a camera in this brace will agree it looks just the same as a normal handheld camera - just the operator will be slightly more comfortable when operating, supposedly

[JamieSilverstein]

We have one on Rescue Me. I call it the question mark, because thats what it looks like. I am not a great big fan of it because even though it takes the weight off the shoulder, it compromises your ability to pan and tilt. No its not an alternative to Steadicam, its an alternative to a painful shoulder and back if those muscles ache when doing hand held. The other operator, whose back is not quite as healthy as mine loves to use it, generally more so towards the end of a the day.

[Charles Papert]

I did a feature with another version of this concept made by Walter Klassen that uses the backmounted harness and replaces the Steadicam mounting arm with a bracket to hold an overhead gallows with a tension cable (he calls it the Suspender). While it made carrying a Platinum with 1000' mags comfortable, it was difficult to prevent the frame from tipping up and down when standing still, and almost impossible when walking. This was due to the attachment point of the cable being so far above the center of gravity of the camera. Larry McC has made up a yoke that aids in tilt with this system but I never got around to it. There is some sort of future in this type of system, haven't quite figured out how to make it work for me yet.