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Shoulder Rigs - ProAim RIG-277 / indiRAILSpro XVsm
  • ronmenronmen

    Does anyone have any experience with the ProAim stuff or the indiRails products? What is the quality like?

    I'm looking to put together a straight-through shoulder rig for my GH2 that has the same footprint as a traditional shoulder cam (think VariCam). I want to be able to build it with a mic pre-amp and a couple of radio receivers on the back and a matte box on the front to go straight from my shoulder to sticks. I'm using Canon FD lenses which are fairly heavy so I will probably need to counterweight at the back with either weights or eventually a power system. Oh yeah, and I want to keep the cost down which puts the Lanparte and other big names out of range for me. I was hoping to keep the cost below $300 (I already have the matte box and don't need follow focus). Any advice? ( I know - dangerous question on a forum, hah).

  • 7 Replies sorted by
  • kavadnikavadni

    A friend has bought a base plate and 2 rods from DVCity a couple of week ago. He was buying it to fit to an older Tiffen brand matte box system .. he had kept it when selling most of a previous setup.

    It didn't work with the Tiffen mattebox system .. too loose on the rails .. so he thought bugger it and bought a Proaim Matte Box .. the mounting block holes on the Proaim Matte Box were too tight for both the proaim baseplate and the rods he had just bought.

    It's been fixed with a 12.5mm wooden doweling wrapped in sandpaper and some gentle spinning.

    It's not to bad .. it's solid .. I can only compare to Lanparte and Red Rock Micro .. the tolerances are not as good as those two and not as pretty .. may require a bit of spit, polish to make it work

  • ronmenronmen

    Thanks for the input Kavandi. 'Just saw an ad from Filmtools with pricing on the Manfrotto Sympla stuff. It looks like a great system - but way too expensive for me.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Considering your choices. ProAim is considered not a good stuff, unfortunately. OF course you must always look at specific item, but complains exist.

    As for Indisystem, I still have their Ultra Compact rig, and currently do not recommend it. Get any good Chinese rig, they are all made better, and top manufacturers, like Lanparte or Tilta are ligh years ahead of Indisystem.

  • ronmenronmen

    Thanks for the advice Vitaliy - oh , and thanks for the Varavon Loupe EX - got it yesterday - very nice quality.

  • RatLabProductionsRatLabProductions

    I have the proaim 6" cage and like it very much for the price. Sure it isn't as refined as a lot of systems 3x the price but for my needs for occasional freelance work it hits the right spot. I have rigged it out with front handles, rear pad and cheese plate base. I'm still making a counterweight system for it but considering how light the GH2 is I don't find arm strain an issue.

    rig 1.JPG
    2592 x 1936 - 2M
    rig 2.JPG
    2592 x 1936 - 2M
  • ronmenronmen

    That looks pretty functional Rat - how long are those main rods?

  • RatLabProductionsRatLabProductions

    Don't have it near me to measure (I'm at work) but they were the ones that came with the 6" proaim cage. I am planning on using the side rods with a slight offset attachment so I can have a little more length up front and be able to quick detach the shoulder portion for low angle or if I'm using a tripod only. I did have to put a few washers between the cheeseplate and rod attachement to get clearance on the underside.

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