Mike Jones Digital Basin
cinematic media rinse cycle

Handheld without the motion sickness

Cinema technology delivers a constant air of innovation, of radical changes and re-invention. But this perception is largely a façade. While there may be ongoing evolution, the truth is that a camera today is still largely the same as a camera has always been, a tripod is a tripod, a dolly is a dolly, a microphone is a microphone. True examples of 'out of the box' thinking is remarkably rare. The Manfrotto FigRig may be just such a product.

The FigRig is named after its inventor, seminal filmmaker Mike Figgis, and is, in very broad strokes, a camera support - a means of allowing for smoother camera movements and camera stability. But the FigRig is very far from being another version of a shoulder brace, just looking at it will tell you that it's something quite different altogether. The FigRig is essentially a Steering Wheel into which rests the camera and control of movement comes much like steering a car; two hands, in parallel, extended from the body.

Small-form cameras such as the various HDV models from Sony, Canon and the HVX from Panasonic are all highly portable but the trade off for compact size is a lack of shoulder mount operation. Shoulder mount cameras gain fluid stable motion by using the whole frame of your body as a support. Handheld cameras, without the physical size to rest on a shoulder, are forced into a far less stable and less fluid position resting in the unsupported naked hand.



Read the rest of this review here.

Posted at 12:00AM May 19, 2008 by Mike Jones in video  |  Comments[1]