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Hello everyone, this is Ron with Houston Professional Photography.
As you know from the previous video I uploaded yesterday,
I informed everyone that we had received the SenCity Stabilizer Rig,
which is a DV rig which is used for digital video cameras,
as well as DSLRs for stabilization out in the field,
whether it be your running gun scenarios or like I have it here on a tripod.
And what I'm going to be doing today is I'm going to break this system down
to its core components and go over each component with you guys
so that you'll get an idea of exactly what this baseline kit comes with,
from the shoulder support to the base plate,
the matte box as well as the handles, the rods, the grip,
and what I've done to attach it here to this tripod.
Now the tripod that I have attached to today, I would not recommend a tripod this light,
because depending on how heavy your rig may be,
that might be a high liability of leaving your camera on such a small tripod.
But that's what I had here at home today since I wasn't at the studio,
so I decided I was going to shoot the video from home.
Anyway, so what I'm going to be doing next is I'm going to break down the rig itself
into its core components, like I said before,
and we'll go over each one of the components, how they're assembled,
what materials they're made of,
and what my personal feelings are about the construction as well as the durability
and the usefulness of a rig of this type.
Now as for me guys, the handles I would say would be one of the most important things
that I would consider for a running gun type of support rig,
meaning that you want something that's going to feel comfortable in your hands,
it's not going to feel flimsy,
you're going to feel comfortable with your equipment on it,
or if you're sitting to stand down for some period of time,
that you know that this is not going to give way and your camera is going to fall
and thousands of dollars worth of equipment is going to be laying in the mud somewhere.
Hopefully you won't be shooting that close to the mud,
but you kind of get my point.
Now the construction of this is very, very well done.
The rod assembly for where your rods go through here
is almost like a machine type of metal that I would say
that kind of reminds me of like how guns would be manufactured.
The support release here is just a little bolt
and your rods go through, they lock down,
basically screw that into place, locks them into place.
This is just right now, just from what I've done, this is very, very stable
and I haven't even tightened it all the way down.
As far as the handles, the grip, strong rubber,
reminds me of like a motorcycle hand grip bicycle, something along that line.
So I would give, I would say, you know, say one out of five,
I would give this easily a five, you know, because it is very well constructed
and I think that this will serve you a long time,
maybe even in some cases outlast your cameras.
Next component, guys, to the kit that I received that we're going to discuss
is the matte box itself.
The matte box is manufactured of what looks to be
and feels like a very well formed hard rugged plastic.
The rear section is where you would, where you have your ring system
which allows you to replace,
let's pop one out here, your different size rings
and it comes with a number of these different rings
that you can use to, you know, fit the different size lenses
that you may have for your camera
and they just literally just pop right back in there
and you would just attach this, well,
usually you would just attach this to the back
and screw that back into place.
Like so, it seats very well, there's no loose areas,
it doesn't feel cheap in any kind of way.
The component here is where your rods go through
and the one thing I don't like about this is the small little lever
that you can possibly see here
and I just think this is a little flimsy,
I think this could have been better done, you know,
for securing this onto the rod system itself
but, you know, that's just one of my little pet peeves
but, you know, overall I think everything else related to it is very nice.
The flags, for those that are curious,
these are metal, you can hear that all the way around
and they secure by these little bolts, you know,
very simple to attach, you know,
to a point that it's not even worth really going through
a step-by-step instruction as to how to do this
because once you see one, you'll know automatically how to place it on.
Now, you have your 4x4 filter trays,
you have one that rotates,
you've got to rotate all the way around
and they just pop right out, they're secured in by these little side tabs here.
Let's see if I can get one to come out for you.
Let me just unscrew that.
And these just pop right out.
And these will fit your standard filters
and just like many of them, they have the little spring-loaded thing here.
Screw that down a little bit.
That comes up.
You can pull that, tighten it up, whichever you like
but as you see here, these are designed and constructed
just like almost any other kit that you would find out there on the market.
I mean, I've looked at a number of different matte box setups
and I was finding prices that were starting around $600,
going up to easily $8, $9, $1200 for just the matte box itself.
I'm not saying that, you know, those matte boxes maybe in some form or fashion
could be better constructed or they have, you know,
more features like a swing out or something like that
but for the majority of what we shoot, and I'm sure a number of you guys as well,
you know, this will be more than enough to do what a matte box is supposed to do
and that is to reduce lens flare, plus it looks very professional.
Now it comes with two plates.
It'll come with a 4x3 and a 16x9 plate that just basically just screws in there.
I don't know how well you guys can see those screws inside
but you can just, with any simple screwdriver, you can take this thing apart,
put it back together, you know, hopefully you never have to do that on the field
but it is that easy to put together and when I assembled this,
literally it took just minutes to put the whole kit together
and like I said, this is very, very well constructed.
I don't have another one here with me to compare
but you know, I've tested and worked with a number of different matte boxes
and I would honestly say this one is just as well constructed
as any of the others that I've seen out on the market.
Okay guys, what you're looking at now is the base plate or the shoulder rest
and as you can see here, this is very well constructed.
The padding is ultra, ultra thick, soft, form fitting.
This comes with a unique feature which is this little swing out arm
which basically rests on your stomach or your chest or whichever it may be
when you would have this in shooting, when you're in a shooting position
and I think that that adds an extra bit of stability.
You know, maybe even a fourth point of contact.
So this is again very rugged.
You know, I mean once it's locked in place, it's locked in place.
You know, I mean it'll probably won't sit up because of the angle
but you kind of get the idea of what I'm saying.
This base plate part here where your rods go through is heavy duty metal.
Your screws, they all lock right into place.
You know, I like this system.
The only thing that I think it could use in another maybe future version of it
would be some way to add a counterweight if you felt like you needed it
but I think their manufacturing idea was that this would compensate for the counterweight
which gives you that extra bit of stability when you're out running around
or running and gunning and like, you know, how we normally use these systems.
The bolt here on the side, very nice, you know.
And I mean I can look at this and I could, you know, as I just start thinking
usually when I get, you know, parts in or, you know, equipment in for the studio
the first thing I always think about is, you know, what if one of these little pieces pop off?
So how difficult is it going to be for me to replace it?
How difficult would it be for me to just go maybe to a hardware store
and find a piece that I could replace it with?
And from what I'm seeing, the majority of these screws, for the size that they are
they're, you know, Allen, you know, tool screws.
You could get these at almost any hardware store, especially store
or either just, you know, order, like I usually do, extra parts which is almost everything
so I keep it in my bag just in case, you know, worst case scenario, you have it.
But like I said, this, guys, is a really, really nice shoulder rest.
You know, I mean, I haven't tested it really out in the field.
I will be doing that probably later this week and I'll get you guys some behind the scenes video
of myself or whomever is actually shooting the video and, you know, you can see
and we'll interview them a little bit and they'll tell you how long they've had it on
and, you know, how they feel about it and, you know, we just kind of go from there.
But overall, again, I emphasize for the price range of this kit,
I don't think you can find anything that's going to be as advanced
and is well constructed for the amount of money that you're spending.
Okay, guys, now we're down to the meat and potatoes of the system.
If the rods themselves are not well manufactured or the base plate or the connection plate,
then I personally feel that my cameras or equipment may be at risk.
And again, this is a extremely well manufactured piece.
And I'll show you this up close.
I will be adding some stills to kind of show you guys a little bit closer up view of this,
but this is all solid metal.
Now, because of the type of camera that I'm using, I'm actually using on this rig as to start out,
I'm using the Sony NEX VG10.
And I had to use the spacers, if you can see these down here, which they also provide for you.
So depending on if you have a low body camera or, you know, you have a full size DSLR,
you know, with a battery pack, you know, you can space these accordingly
so that you have enough room for your camera.
And then it will still line up with your matte box or whatever other accessories that you may be using this for.
So again, as I said, this, for the price range, under $1,000, you get the matte box,
you get the rod system, you get the adjustable shoulder brace, you get the durable handles.
And I mean, of course, you know, if you're shooting with a DSLR, you may want to add a follow focus
or something along that line.
Another thing that I will be adding from them is they're over the camera cage system,
which is basically a handle system that allows you to just pick the camera up and the entire rig up
and kind of walk around with it and also for those low angle shots and things like that.
And I will be putting some links to their website as well as links to individual parts that I see that I may add to this.
And as I add these new parts to my rig, I will do a new video and show you guys where we are as far as that goes.
And if you have any questions or concerns or anything that you're curious about when it comes to this system itself,
feel free to drop me an email or, you know, leave me a message on, you know, any of the forms that you follow me on,
you know, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, you know, wherever it may be, Vimeo.
And I will respond to it as soon as possible and with as much information as I can possibly gain.
But again, you can just shoot off an email to the company itself and they have been very, very responsive.
I mean, we shoot off an email to them with a question and within the hour, you know, it's not an automated email.
They would come back and say, OK, I understand what you're asking and this is the solution or this is what this is manufactured of
or this is the, you know, whatever it may be.
And I love that when it comes to working with a company that it's a real person at the other end of the email,
the other end of the phone and they're willing to respond to you and they're not so busy that they forget that each customer
is just as important as the 10 that they serve right before, you know, and that's kind of how I run my business.
But anyway, again, guys, feel free to contact me.
Don't forget to subscribe, comment, and I will see you guys in the next video.
Thank you.
