A Nerd Convergence

I’m committed to DSLR film making. It’s not that I think it’s the best way, or the only way. It’s actually kind of a shitty way to make movies. A beautiful image gets compressed into a chincy little h.264 file, you often have to do sync sound, it’s CMOS and rolling shutter can be a total headache. On the other hand, it’s affordable, and it’s pretty.

So until the 5D mkIII rolls out, I’m sticking with my 7D, and have decided to upgrade my kit. I’ve been lusting, for about a year now, for a decent rig, but as many of you know, the entry price barrier on many of these things (zacuto and redrock) is really quite intimidating. Paying more for the system that holds my camera than the camera itself is not a premise that sits well with me. So for months I’ve been sort of resigned to just making do with a pvc based shoulder mount and looking like an idiot while doing run and gun. With my baby boy keeping me up nights, and my shooting schedule filling up (thank you summer!), I’ve been spending nights trying to figure out how to get started. But where? How can I even think about a follow focus when there’s two thousand dollars standing between me and a sick set of zacuto rails?

Enter Gini Rig. As far as I can tell, Gini Rig is out of South Korea, and is essentially a super awesome Zacuto knockoff company. And like Canal street in New York, you can expect to pay much, much less for your fakey than you do for the real thing. Unlike Canal street, however, Gini Rigs seem to provide a quality product. I’ve only had my rig for a day now, but it is really holding up to the testing I’m putting it through. I got the DSL-17 Magic, and I’m in love.

The aluminum is really solid, and not too heavy. It’s definitely seems a little heavier than the Zacuto rigs I’m used to working with, but it’s not killing me. The tightening clamps are extremely well constructed and are screw based, and don’t really show any sign that they will loosen or slide in the future, which is a concern with some of the other cheapy rigs out there. The screw turns a tube clamp instead of screwing directly against the rail, which minimalizes slippage, and most importantly keeps your rails nice and shiny and smooth.

One thing I’m not super huge fan of is the articulating arm that comes with this kit–it’s a semi bastardized version of an israeli arm, and lacks the total freedom and control of a traditional israeli arm. I’ll be upgrading this soon I imagine.

I had a lot of trouble finding Gini’s website, but came across their ebay store easily enough. I would strongly recommend ordering off the website, as when I ordered from ebay, I got shorted teh counterbalance. Now if I want the counterbalance it’s another $75, which seems strange since the rest of the rig cost only $299.

I’ll be shooting with this very soon and I’ll update with any changes if I fall out of love with this thing.

Meantime, I need to find a follow focus, and EVF, and a mattebox without going broke. Any suggestions anyone?