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Hardware Review: Indian Camera Shoulder Support from Cine City
Welcome to the DOJO!
I talked about this yesterday, but as a low budget and guerilla filmmaking I am always out on the prowl for the absolute best prices online for film and video equipment. If you’re reading this website then you know exactly what I’m talking about — we make the kind of films where sometimes even FREE is too expensive.
Well, as I also mentioned yesterday, I decided to go ahead and take a chance on some of the famous (or would that be infamous?) low budget filmmaking equipment from India. We’ve all seen them online with a ton of different eBay users names — IDs like DVACCESSORY, DV-SHOP23, 23FILTERS, CINE-CITY and about 10 other various. And we’ve all looked over their listings for matte boxes, follow focus systems, rod supports and the incredibly tempting Steadicam clones. I’m sure you’ve loaded up their items on eBay, or on their website www.TheCineCity.com, and wondered just how good some of that equipment could really be, given the low prices.
After receiving two orders so far, I’m here to say the equipment has been surprisingly well built and designed. As thoroughly impressed as I was yesterday with the Cine City Matte Box from India, today I am equally impressed with their Indian Camera Shoulder Support system. There are a few different versions of their shoulder support available, I ordered the one with two handles and the double support rod attached to a belt. I figured it I was going to take a chance, then I might as well take a chance on the fully loaded version…besides, I picked it up for about $110 plus shipping. I’ve seen them as regular auctions for as low as $95 plus shipping, but sometimes auctions end up going higher than the “Buy Now” price.
The Cine City Camera Shoulder Support system arrived here about a week after I placed my order. Very impressive because the shipping charge was very low and the package arrived here faster than a lot of the B&H orders I place AND pay higher shipping on! Six day shipping from India to Los Angeles for $20 is amazing. The box was well-packed and nicely padded. I’d been worried after reading some feedback online that packages weren’t that strong, but the two I’ve received so far were really solid. If anything, the Camera Shoulder Support was a bit over-packed — I had to bust out my Spyderco knife to tear through the tape.
Anyway, the unit comes in about 5 pieces and is very quick and easy to put together. I am very unmechanical and it took me 2-3 minutes to get the Camera Shoulder Support put together. Looking at the unit I was a bit worried about it being a little too lightweight at first. However, when I loaded up my Canon HV20, I found my fears to be misplaced. The Shoulder Support feels really good and is easy to use. I plan on mounting a battery-pack on one of the rear support pads, as well as the receiver for my wireless lav mics.
I do want to give a little bit of a warning to other “Big Guys” like myself (you know who you are). The belt for the support rods is made for smaller people — keep in mind that I’m a little over 6′1″ and 310 pounds. It might be a bit of a tight fit to wear over one shoulder, but I’ve taken to wearing it like a belt across my mid section, which actually gives me better support and maneuverability than the over-the-shoulder set up. I can make it work over the shoulder, but I just feel more comfortable with it around my stomach area. If you watch my video review, you’ll see what I mean.
After running around our cul-de-sac like an idiot for about 30 minutes this morning, filming cats and my neighbors leaving for work, I am very impressed with the usability of the Cine City Camera Shoulder Support. It’s not as good as a steadicam vest and rig, but having a shoulder rig for my Canon HV20 set up is awesome indeed. I can’t wait to get to use the Indian Camera Shoulder Support on my next shoot.
If you’re looking for a great camera shoulder support system and you’re on a tight budget, the Cine City Camera Shoulder Support is an excellent option.
I’ll be back tomorrow with some cool new filmmaking stuff…yes, “stuff” is the technical term for it. Until then, keep shooting!
-Mat N., the Film Sensei
http://www.filmsensei.com
Thank you for your U-Tube remarks on the Matte Box issue. I am dangerously close to springing for on for my Canon GL2. Coalinga CA. is 200 miles from anywhere!
If you require stock footage of oil rigs in a rural setting, Jerulsalem hills or small town ambiance, let me know. We can do some sort of stock footage swap, or the like.
Regards,
Glenn
September 29th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Hi Mat,
Great review, great website, a lot of information. I’m a new comer in the video world and have been researching about glidecam / steadicam. Have you purchased the Flycam from Cinecity? One question; once we have glidecam/steadycam, i don’t think we need this should support anymore, correct? But then if we use 35mm adapter, it’s gona be very difficult to use it with glidecam. So is that why we still need a shoulder support like this?
December 15th, 2008 at 12:38 am
Manny:
Thanks for the note. I haven’t been able to get ahold of the Flycam from Cinecity yet. Like a lot of people I’ve been unsure about sending a big chunk of money out for a piece of equipment I’ve seen no real, independent third-party reviews for. You see a lot of video on the units which were obviously done by CineCity or its resellers, but nothing impartial.
If you’ve planned your shots and done proper blocking (and have a skilled operator), the Steadicam should do everything you need done, even while running a 35mm adapter rig. It might be a bit easier to get some of the shots with a shoulder support, but you don’t really need both — aside from a shoulder mount being a bit easier to run for longer periods of time.
I hope that helps!
-Mat Nastos, the Film Sensei
http://www.FilmSensei.com
December 16th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Mat,
Thanks for the review. Have you seen the cine-city rail and follow focus system? I am thinking of one for my new canon 5d mk II but would like to hear any experiences anyone has had with the more expensive cine-city gear.
any ideas of where to look?
thanks,
Stephen
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:29 am
Stephen:
Thanks for the comment. The footage I’ve seen from those Canon 5D mk II cameras has been really spiffy — there’s a neat music video with a making of that looks cool.
In regards to the more expensive Cine City equipment in general and the follow focus in specific, I haven’t had a chance to try any of it out yet. If I can find anyone in the area with pieces I can check out, I’ll definitely do a thorough review. Until then I have to say “who knows.” I have seen a couple of mentions of the follow focus on places like HV20.com, and I believe they were decent (for the price), but I haven’t been able to track any of the threads down. Do a search on the HV20 site or on a place like DVXUser and you may come up with some first hand reviews.
The problem I’ve run in to with the Cine City stuff is the lack of reviews online. Like I mentioned above, you see a lot of reviews and demos which are obviously put together by the guys in India, but nothing impartial at all. Hopefully someone will get some reviews up in the future.
Thanks again and take care!
- Mat Nastos, Film Sensei
http://www.FilmSensei.com
January 4th, 2009 at 2:19 pm