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Hello everyone! Since I am new here I thought I will start of with a review. Still in hope, that this is the right place to post something like this. But I do get an incredible amount of information from this side so I thought maybe someone is interessted in a low budged shoulder rig. I certainly have been and I could not find a lot on this anywhere so I thought why not give something back. If it's the wrong place please just let me know or delete it or so :/ Let’s get to the review already. The rig I am talking about: http://www.proaimshop.com/pas/CAMTREE-Camera-Shoulder-Mount-Kit-201.html General Since I live in Austria it is not that easy to test a lot of different quality video gear and I have been looking for a shouldermount/cage for quite a while. A friend of mine has imported quite some stuff from the US and all over the world, so his stuff was/is my reference. He owns some wooden camera stuff (which I guess is some kind of standard) and quite some manfrotto things among diverse other brands. The most important feature for me was, that the system has to be versatile and offer a lot of flexibility. Processing Everything is made of black aluminum which looks and feels great and has the perfect amount of weight to it (thus still keeping everything light weight enough to carry it around for a while). Processing is seamless for the most parts. The only thing I found are the edges of the cage brackets are a little sharp on some parts (I used sandpaper to get rid of them, now everything is smooth again). I had no issues with loose parts or loosening screws so far and I don’t think there will be any problems anytime soon. Accessoires and packaging The number of accessories that come with this set is incredible. In fact there are so many, that I didn’t even knew what to do with every part when I first saw it. It is equipped with 9 15mm rods (!!) with gives you a lot of possibilities to mount stuff together. You can have a look at everything that is shipped via the link below. And everything has its own space in the amazing box the ship it in so nothing gets a scratch or anything the like. In fact there are so many accessories that I was able to make two rigs out of everything! One small handheld and a larger shoulder mounted rig. You can mount literally a hundred different things to the cage up to a point where you can’t really carry it anymore because it is just too heavy ;) Ease of use and long term work experiences I had more than just one chance to use my rig now and there are many ups and some minor downs to it. Proaimshop.com is very thoughtful with every request you send them and the really have always a solution to a problem you might face. The First thing I didn’t like about the kit is the shoulder pad itself that comes as standard with the kit. It is not really soft and very small and it can not offer you a lot of stress relief on your arms. Another thing I didn’t like (or need) was the quick release system. I already use one system and mixing different systems together is counterproductive. With all that being said here is the great thing about proaimshop.com: I wrote them that I don’t need the quick release system and if I could get some extra handles instead and it was no problem at all. I had to ge the shoulder pad with a different shipment tough because I didn’t know that I would not like it. So I would suggest to get a different shoulder pad on your first order. (I have and love this one: http://www.proaimshop.com/New_Images/DSLR_Rigs/CAMTREE-HUNT-Quick-Mount-DSLR-camera-Rig-(CH-QM-SR)-Pad.jpg) Now to the ease of use part: the rig is thought through and this makes it easy to adapt to any situation while shooting. The thumbscrews make it easy to tighten everything up or make the rig smaller if you need to (I would suggest some iron washers tough because the plastic things that come with it tend to break if you tighten the screws to strong). Besides the breaking plastic washers I have not a single scratch or anything on my rig and it has been through some serious video shoots! EDIT: The cage is tall enough for a 5D MK3 plus battery grip so you should easily fit every DSLR out there =) Summary This kit is just amazingly versatile and for its price it is unbeatable! I can really recommend everything from proaimshop I bought so far (which you can find in the link section below) even when compared to wooden camera or manfrotto stuff. The customer service is amazing as well and shipping is surprisingly fast. All in all it’s just an amazing product with only very little minus points. If you have any specific questions please feel free to ask! I will try to answer everything. I purposefully did not attach any foots because the pictures on their side are really representative and everything looks like on their pictures. If you however want a picture of a special part or something the like I can make pictures and send them to you! LINKS The rig I was talking about: http://www.proaimshop.com/pas/CAMTREE-Camera-Shoulder-Mount-Kit-201.html Crane (I love it - it is like the aviator travel jib or kessler pocket jib) http://www.proaimshop.com/pas/Camtree-Scout-Video-Camera-DSLR-Jib-Crane-with-Tripod-Stand-CSJT.html Flycam (you couldn’t want anything more from it) http://www.proaimshop.com/pas/FLYCAM-3000-Handheld-Video-Stabilizer-with-Free-Plastic-Quick-Release-Plate.html Cheap and good enough slider http://www.proaimshop.com/pas/CAMTREE-3ft-Linear-Camera-Slider-C-S3-4010-with-Level-Feet.html Thanks =) ps: since, as mentioned above, I am from Austria my english may not be perfect, please connive at it :) also this is my very first review so you may forgive me that as well ;) I am not payed by proaimshop.com or anyone else to write this, it really is just my opinion and I understand that there might be some people who do not like pro aim stuff.

So I just got my extreme 17 rig from http://www.ginirigs-usa.com/75-new-extreme-17-follow-focus-weight.html and I couldn't be happier! I have heard many good and bad things about gini so did my research about them before ordering. Found they had a new site and brought of there (one listed above) and was surprised that it came in just 3 days from Korea. So it came all in one small box all seperatley packaged as you can see from the photo below. [img]http://www.eoshd.com/comments/uploads/inline/20669/500ee1ccbf502_photo1.jpg[/img] Wasnt quite sure how it went together but just checked a photo out from the site and after a while I got it together. The quality of the parts is just insaine. I have used and owned a few other rigs in my time but nothing even comes close to how good this is made. And the best thing was, this is the cheapest rig I have ever brought! I have another rig at the moment but was very curious about Gini so I got this one. I think i am happy to say I will be selling my other rig now because it doesnt compare at all. [img]http://www.eoshd.com/comments/uploads/inline/20669/500ee3b3bfb0f_photo.jpg[/img] I payed $399 for the extreme 17 in their sale and $85 postage. Pretty steep postage but for under $500 this is the best thing I have brought. Anyone else had any experiences with them?

Andrew's review from a while back: [url="http://www.eoshd.com/content/639/rewo-gh2-cage-full-review"]http://www.eoshd.com...age-full-review[/url] If anyone is interested: [url="http://www.ebay.com/itm/ReWo-V2-0-Professional-Grade-Cage-for-GH2-Rare-and-no-longer-in-production-/200808264756#ht_617wt_1367"]http://www.ebay.com/...6#ht_617wt_1367[/url]

I had this cage made for me by Berkey System. It uses mostly off the shelf parts except for the custom top plate and a modified baseplate that allows for the use of a Arca Swiss styled mounting system for the camera. The main drive behind this was that I wanted a cage that would allow me to easily remove the camera and use my GH2 for Photography work as well as videography work, or so that I could use the bare camera in a more discreet way if need be. To accomplish all of that, there were some compromises, but overall I'm happy with it because it checks the following boxes: [list] [*][font=inherit][size=3] Camera secured at both mounting screw and hotshoe to prevent flex and rocking when using a follow focus.[/size][/font] [*][font=inherit][size=3] Ability to quickly and easily remove the camera from the cage incorporating an Arca Swiss clamp inside the cage which would also solve my next wish:[/size][/font] [*][font=inherit][size=3] Absolutely no camera twisting! I hate camera twisting![/size][/font] [*][font=inherit][size=3] Easy access to all camera controls, ports, battery door, etc while camera is mounted in the cage.[/size][/font] [*][font=inherit][size=3] All holes spaced to the ARRI and RED standard to allow use of professional quality accessories.[/size][/font] [*][font=inherit][size=3] A built in rail block that mounts the cage at the correct height above the rails and prevent the camera and the cage from rotating on the rail block. Have I mentioned I hate camera rotation?[/size][/font] [*][font=inherit][size=3] A cage that will allow me to upgrade my camera without having to buy a new cage.[/size][/font] [/list] What do you guys think? [attachment=270:P1050052.JPG] There's more pics and more thorough write up on my blog: http://tvpglabs.com/2012/06/08/my-new-upgradeable-gh2-cage-from-berkey-system/