Here is a Lanparte shoulder pad added to Gini Rig ... I wish the green knobs were red :-) Shoulder pad is great I think thats the part Gini should work on ...

@Gabel

the knobs on the shoulder are not same size (they are smaller) also knobs from the raiser can't be removed ...

Would a GH2 with a 20mm 1.7f Prime lens work fine on a Gini Rig? I'm concerned about seeing some of the rig in frame because of the short lens.

I wanted to give a little feedback on my experience with GINI. I bought a rig about 1 to 1.5 years ago from him as you can see into the photo. At the time it cost me about $ 400/500 and it was and to certain extent even now a very good value. It was between GINI and CPM at the time for me and I just saw the gini. When I received it, it was very solid but as you can see on the photo one of the cage coating was not good. Thinking about the overhaul value and the hassle of communicating and high cost of shipping if I had to send it back I decided to just go along.

In fact with time the main problem was not the coating but the extra-long screws/locking system. It was really cumbersome as they each got in the way of each other when you were tightening or loosening them. In the end it was better to not disassemble it at all. I thought that is why perhaps I got it at this price range and I thought it was ok and I could deal with it.

Time passed by and at the end of last year I was looking into a follow focus. After doing my research I found that GINI looked like look like the best value option (bear with me that many brands are not available to my country so my choice is a little limited). So I wrote to him and wanted a rig and as I had a lot of pieces already, if he could just take one or two pieces out of one of his rig that I had identified. I got a mail two days afterward that told me to send the photos and What I wanted. IT was around Christmas so I waited start of January. Since then everything had changed in terms of rig and prices/packages. After looking at it I asked for a puing-A type of rig with some part (rod) I did not need as a photo and what price I could get as it was selling (reserve) about $ 350. I also send him photo of my rig and told him to make sure that (1) I got a good not unfinished product like the coating problem (2) If I could buy/get some standard screws because of problem with the longer ones. I got an answer 10 days after (had to send a reminder after one week). And the answer was, he could only get me a puing-A for $ 347. I am not the arguing/complaining guy but this really pissed me off. More so when I saw auction of it with reserve met at about $ 300. Again I am not the ranting guy but in terms of after sale/customer service it is not good at all.

So I thought it would be good to tell about my experience so that everybody has a little perspective about gini rigs. Yes, the value to money is fantastic but if you have any problem it is going to be very very painful. If tomorrow you get problem with even little things like screws etc it is going to be a pain in the ass, or you will be forced to buy complete rigs with high shipping cost.

The last part might seem a bit ambiguous because in the end there is a strong possibility that I will have to buy from him. Unfortunately I don’t have many choices that ship to my country, if else I would not have done any business with him. I have seen so much better handling of customers even from small company on ebay. The guy might not be 100% at fault because he does not speak English well, but in the end the result is the same for the buyer, very bad service.

Here comes my latest Gini configuration:

Also test with "double" shoulder pads :-)

How does the Gini rig baseplate work with the GH2, Canon FD lenses, follow focus and matte box work? Does fit nicely?

@artiswar - nice rig. can I ask where you got the lcd sun shade from? Thanks!

@feha

How are you liking the Gini apple baseplate vs. the smaller one?

@feha - really good to know, I wanted it just because it looks awesome, thanks.

I'm having kind of a bad experiance with Gini-2011 on eBay right now. I was selling my Zacuto v3 baseplate and he bid on it. He must want it for R&D. I contacted him to see if we could work out a trade since I was going to buy some of his gear anyway with the money from the baseplate sale. He agreed to the trade. Since then I pulled the auction and contacted him 3 times with no response. I'd like to ship the the baseplate to him ASAP and him ship the Gini ASAP. Just wish he would respond already.

@headofmush

Yep, thay produce good products, and service is usually good.
But dealing with them is nightmare, as well as their price policy and marketing approaches.

Just FYI gini has 2 user names on ebay:

gini-2011 and gini778

He (they?) sell different setups under gini778: GH1/2 cages, rigs and even single parts. Same high quality, same weird pricing and also same customer service (if any :P )

Sadly shiping price to germany went up 30$ to 105 $ for the basic pro10! making shiping cost nearly as expensive as the rig (150$) itself.still good rig but defnitlty get all parts you need in one deal cause asking for combine shiping ain t easy and shiping is expensive.luckly i got mine in january paid 70$ for shiping.shiping is fast got mine 2 days after gini droped it at ups in korea.