Focus - Institute of Videography

ReviewAt the event I achieved far morestable images than I could havedone without any grip equipmentwhich was a relief, given that mypictures were being thrown ontolarge screens, which highlightedevery wobble.I did find the system tiring touse. The weight is still very muchto the front end and given that Ineeded to keep the LCD screen afocal length away from my eyes,I ended up thinking that I wastrying to turn my EX1 intosomething it wasn’t. Perhaps theonly solution is to, well, use ashoulder mount camera for thatkind of work.I didn’t have the kit longenough to really test it fully, soasked Andy Lunn of Media73 forhis opinion. Given that he usesthe Canon XL1H, which sits onyour shoulder perfectly well, whydid he add RedRockMicro? “Several reasons really,”he explained, “The first is I don'tfeel the shoulder mount quite sitsright on the XL1H; it doesn’toffer enough support, especiallyfor the hands. I found that with amatt box, filters, and supportbars, the camera digs into yourhand and becomes painful to useduring long shoots. The camerais already front heavy. I alsoshoot occasionally with a 35mmadapter which in the case of theXLH1 means you need offsetsand risers. This actually coversup the camera’s own shouldermount deeming it pointless. Andlastly by using the shouldermount you can use fore-grips.These enable a better and morestable working platform, takingthe pain out of long shoot andgiving you more creativeoptions.”Andy also came up with somenew uses. Rather than dismountthe camera from the Micro, hesimply attaches the whole thingto the tripod, and as such canstill use the hand grips to makepans and tilts more stable. Healso uses the Micro for ultra-lowshots by placing it on the ground,which means that the hand gripscan be adjusted to give controlover the shot angle; a use that Ihave to say didn’t occur to meand I doubt it was a use thatRedRock had in mind when theydesigned it. But you can see thepoint. Getting ultra low rocksteady shots can be difficult.Let’s be clear. This is aprofessional, very well made andvery coherent effect system.There is plenty of space to addlights, wireless kit, batteries,follow focus units, flags, filters orwhatever you might need. AsSimon says, “Redrock Micro kit isakin to either Lego or Meccano,you can build the kit in differentconfigurations and addcomponents to customise to yourheart’s content.” If you areconsidering developing your ownconfiguration, you could doworse than contact Simon todiscuss your needs.So, what else is out there?AlternativesAt half the price of the Micro andwith an interesting-lookingdesign, maybe I should haveconsidered the Anton BauerStasis Flex system? True,customer reviews range from badto appalling; all seeming to endwith ‘this product is useless’ andtrue that their product video alsoirritates me (have a look at bothhere http://bit.ly/c2M4aF).Maybe I should have tested it,but their UK re-sellers don’tanswer calls or emails, so Icouldn’t.Vortex Media were not a lotmore helpful. As an EX1 user, Iam a big fan of Doug Jensen whoruns Vortex and wouldrecommend his Field Guides forspecific cameras. In pictures, hisshoulder brace system looks likean elegantly minimal curve.However, some users report itbeing somewhat springy, and it’svery thin on your shoulder whichmeans that it doesn’t help youwith your horizons. It lacksadditional attaching plates. Butmore to the point, when Icontacted them, Vortex Mediasaid that they actively don’t wantme to review it, as they don’tsupply to Europe and have noplans to do so. It seems likerather a large market to ignore,but there it is.Westside AV to therescueHowever, all was not lost. Whileresearching Vortex Media’s bracesystem I came across a suppliercalled WestsideAV. They providean integrated system thatresembles Vortex Media’s, ratherthan the separate crate used bythe RedRock Micro. Would theyagree to send a system? Yesthey were happy to do so. Dothey supply to the UK? Yes, theysaid they supply to shooters allover the world, even Europe.When the system arrived Iwas completely mystified withwhat I was looking at. Itcomprised of beautifully milledand anodised parts, technicaldrawings, a screwdriver, an allenkey, screws, Velcro stickers...what on earth was I going to dowith all of that? There is noproduct name as such and thesystem doesn’t come with glossybrochures or step by stepinstructions. My sub-Ikea skillswere tested to the limit.Luckily there are pictures ontheir website and it’s logicalenough to construct once you getgoing. There’s a sturdy plate thatfastens onto the camera itselfand is designed to stay there.Your QR plate then attachesto that. You then fasten the sideplate to the sturdy plate and theshoulder brace www.iov.com Focus Magazine August 2010 19