GEAR
MINI TESTS
VOCAS HANDHELD RIG £2385/$2989 vocas.com
SPECIFICATIONS Bar system: 15mm, 500mm/19.7in length Shoulder pad: Adjustable, removeable Counterweight: 1kg/2.2lb Cameramounting points: 2 Material: Aluminium Grips: 2 leather-covered Gear ratio: 1:1 Follow focus knob: 57mm/2.2in Filter size: 4x4in Maximumfilters: 2, 1 rotatable Weight: 3.273kg/7.21lb have an external EVF or a monitor as it’s just too close to your eyes to see the camera’s LCD screen. The system is totally flexible and adjustable to accept all sorts of different cameras. The downside of this is that it takes a fair time to get it rigged up properly, and this will change for different lens and camera combinations. But it’s worth the fiddling around, as when it’s all rigged up and balanced, it feels much lighter than its real 3.273kg/7.21lb weight. The strain on your shoulders is hardly noticeable, and the handgrips and follow focus are easy to use and responsive. Get the balance right and everything adjusted as you like it, and it’s surprising how steady you can keep the camera. With built-in image stabilisation, it’s solid and while no replacement for a motorised stabiliser, it is surprisingly effective. And you can focus your camera properly, unlike when it’s on a gimbal. The MFC-3 follow focus has a gear ratio of 1:1 and has no built-in play, so your focusing is precise. The ratio makes it ideal for lenses with a small focus throw such as most mirrorless or DSLR AF lenses. It works on lenses with a focus barrel diameter of 40- 110mm. At the front end is the matte box with flag for keeping out flare. It takes full-size 4in filters; one can be rotated. It’s a professional kit that will give great service for years and improve the quality of your work. AD. PROMOVIEMAKER RATING: 8/10 Well designed and built, works very well but a bit pricey Pros: It oozes quality and works for most small cameras Cons: Not ideal for mirrorless without an external monitor
It’s always easy to tell when filmmaking kit has been designed by professionals with real experience in making gear for people who actually use it every day, rather than just assembling off-the-shelf parts that will just about do the job. In the case of every bit of Vocas kit we’ve ever tested here at Pro Moviemaker , it’s always been well thought-out, built to last and packed with features real filmmakers appreciate. And once again, that’s the case with this Handheld Rig. It’s actually made of up of Vocas’ Handheld Kit pro Type P at £1050/ $1316, which has the rails, shoulder support, counterweight, leather- covered handgrips and adjustable camera clamp. Then add on the MFC- 3 DSLR follow focus kit at £514/$644 and the MB-256 Matte Box kit for £821/$1029. That’s a grand total of a not inconsiderable £2385/$2989. But like many things, when it comes to quality you get what you pay for. What the rig does is turn a mirrorless camera or a DSLR into a fully workable, professional shoulder rig fitted with a top-quality matte box
to take full-size pro filters. And the geared follow focus, which fitted right onto our Samyang Xeen cine lens, also comes with an adjustable ring to fit it to lenses without geared rings. It’s adjustable for resistance and really helps you nail focus. Of course it works best on fully manual, geared cine lenses but we also tried it on fly-by-wire AF lenses and it made the manual focus experience far more predictable. The rig is designed to be used when shooting with compact cameras using an external viewfinder or LCD screen at the front of a cinema camera. For a mirrorless or DSLR, really you need to
ABOVE The handgrips are leather and
offer decent cushioning
BELOW When
balanced, the rig feels much lighter than its actual weight
“The rig turns amirrorless camera or a DSLR into a fully workable, professional shoulder rig”
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AUTUMN 2019 PRO MOVIEMAKER
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