I bought one of these a couple of months ago and after a bunch of modifications, consider it an excellent core to build upon. I personally prefer hanging batteries low and behind my shoulder to help with balance and to bring the center of gravity closer to my shoulder. I mounted my monitor off the left arm, again to get the center of gravity down. I also added a grip with a strap on the right arm so I can relax my hand between takes and often during takes while still maintaining control of the rig. In particular I like the arm offset which gets your lifting point in close to your body. And in my case the Arca mount option with the base plate allows me to use a long Arca plate and further offset the camera away from my head. At least with something small like the BMCC (full frame), everything stays out of my ear without throwing off the balance. Like I say, the core concept is a great place to start, but it took a lot of add-ons to build my ideal final rig.
True. You really need to find the sweet spot. Im still looking for a good way to mount my monitor in front of me. And need something to balance it out properly
@@kingmuhu Since this rig includes a quarter/20 mounting point on the arms (with guide holes), I mount right there in front of me. And to make re-rigging easier for a move to sticks, I have started using SmallRig magic arms with their HawkLock connectors. This way I can quickly disconnect the monitor which is attached at the side (I have a cage on the monitor) and I already have a mount screwed in place underneath making it easy to position in a different orientation. Saves a lot of time screwing and unscrewing arms every time.
First review of this rig on TH-cam that mentions the missing VCT combability! Thanks! I am waiting for Tilta to finally update their normal size rig, which has been on the market for many many years. Hopefully the take this rig as the basis, and fix the VCT problem etc.
Thanks for your review. I have had this shoulder rig for almost a year. It's quite good for smaller hybrid cameras, but it not well suited for heavier cine cameras. Tilta is probably targeting this for smaller cameras. If you can wait, this product frequently goes on sale often on Tilta's website and B&H Photo. I generally like the design and light weight, but it has design flaws that bug me. The cons for me: (1) no way to use with a VCT-14 quick release plate or mount to tripod (camera ops often switch between the two) (2) the handles tend to slip upwards no matter how hard I tighten the single cinch bolt (fearing it will break or strip threads) (3) single front 15mm rod would serve me better on the left side (why not have mounts for two 15mm rods on both sides?) (4) the receiver area for quick release plates does not securely hold any of my Manfrotto plates (I sent it back to Tilta for adjustment, but I still had to shim it) (5) the case requires breaking down rig and won't accommodate other handles (like Tilta's own remote control handles or the Arri quick release as shown in the video) (6) foam grips are rather cheap quality compared to other Tilta hand grips I own (7) shoulder and back rest pads are not very comfy (maybe they have updated this since I got mine) (8) Overall length locking screw is inaccessible for where I want to position my camera, so I have to compromise camera mounting position. Although I'm critical of many design flaws, I do think it's a decent shoulder rig. Tilta often revises products, so maybe version 2 of this will address some of these issues.
Very well thought out kit. The back shoulder pad has to be great. Smart. I prefer the monitor to be very low. I wanna look down-ish. Easy on the neck and you can see where you are walking too.
To select a shoulder rig is a very personal thing so this might be correct for some. But that monitor looks too close (canon sell a longer lead) and too high. The inability to move to sticks is a challenge. Very little mention of using focus.. if you dont have a puller those bars might be a little low. No screenshade. No clarity on adding a matte box or whatever you need to use a camera with no ND. No mention of rebalancing which one needs to do if moving to a small prime or 70-200. Or needs a lens support (anamorphic im looking at you). Mainly i see the with the rigs red buttons to move the handles around. To see a careful explaination of the quick release would help.
It arrived to me in Moscow yesterday, on January 4. The moment I opened the bulletproof protective case and started pulling out all the things out of it, this shoulder rig impressed me with all its finesse and thoughtfulness. The back and shoulder cushions are so soft and body-friendly so to speak that you won’t have any pain on your shoulder and get rid of any additional drag on your arms when you’re tilting your camera forward. What the professional author of this nice video forgot to show is mounting an external monitor in the left handle extender, which is very nice done on the 1/4” thread, and the second very, very important thing is that shoulder cushion is not of the same height on both sides. It was done deliberately to replicate the shape of your right shoulder, which rises from the right to the left to your neck to avoid any discomfort on your shoulder. All is A++. Why no +++? Well, compatibility VCT-14 baseplate as the author said rightly so will be a space for the future work of genius Chinese Tilta engineers. It’s not compatible yet. Gentlemen from Tilta, many thanks or shiye-shiye for this excellent product.
Great review! I bought one for my Canon C70 with v-mount rig that sits in a Bright Tangerine cage with Arri Dovetail plate and used it on a feature where I wanted to switch between shoulder and tripod so I was hoping to find a good way of attaching some kind of quick release to mount it to the tripod. Its a great rig but unfortunately the only real way I could find to mount this to the tripod was to attach my Kondor Blue dovetail plate to the top and then spin the included Tilta arca swiss sideways and mount that plate underneath. What would be amazing is a way of being able to slide that Tilta plate along the dovetail part of the rig so I can then secure the tripod plate into the bottom directly rather than having to mount the Arca Swiss plate sideways which is not good for weight distribution. I remember seeing if it did slide along but there was a notch on the plate that stopped me from being able to slide it down, probably to do with the Manfrotto dovetail plate. Aside from that, I've not got many other flaws in it for the price but it does seem like its not designed around slightly larger setups than a mirrorless option.
After using these rigs for many years I got myself an Easyrig. It was first then I realized how bad these shouldermounts are for your back in the long run. Now I can imagine ever going back to junk like this.
Great review. Not as affordable but also good is the Chrosziel one and the different Wooden Camera solutions, some of which I use and like. Vocas is also interesting, altough my experience is limited there. All more expensive than the Tilta, so not sure if it's worth it.
Great video but no one ever addresses zoom/start stop. I have a great Zacuto rig on my Panasonic DVX 200 but no method of zoom or start stop which makes a shoulder rig useless. Any ideas?
We must have very different ideas of comfortable? I find that neither the shoulder pad, nor the back pad hit me right. Overall, I think it's a good rig, but in order to be useful it requires some modification.
How come they do a rig like this and have only one rod at the front. I mean if you want a lens support or mattbox etc. how do you do that. Even a follow focus could easily be dangling with only one support.
![ILLSLICK - WINTER IS COMING [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dwTMeM1zIhQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I bought one of these a couple of months ago and after a bunch of modifications, consider it an excellent core to build upon. I personally prefer hanging batteries low and behind my shoulder to help with balance and to bring the center of gravity closer to my shoulder. I mounted my monitor off the left arm, again to get the center of gravity down. I also added a grip with a strap on the right arm so I can relax my hand between takes and often during takes while still maintaining control of the rig. In particular I like the arm offset which gets your lifting point in close to your body. And in my case the Arca mount option with the base plate allows me to use a long Arca plate and further offset the camera away from my head. At least with something small like the BMCC (full frame), everything stays out of my ear without throwing off the balance. Like I say, the core concept is a great place to start, but it took a lot of add-ons to build my ideal final rig.
@waveland, could you please post a link to the photo of your configuration?
True. You really need to find the sweet spot. Im still looking for a good way to mount my monitor in front of me. And need something to balance it out properly
@@kingmuhu Since this rig includes a quarter/20 mounting point on the arms (with guide holes), I mount right there in front of me. And to make re-rigging easier for a move to sticks, I have started using SmallRig magic arms with their HawkLock connectors. This way I can quickly disconnect the monitor which is attached at the side (I have a cage on the monitor) and I already have a mount screwed in place underneath making it easy to position in a different orientation. Saves a lot of time screwing and unscrewing arms every time.
I’m just 😅😅😅😅
First review of this rig on TH-cam that mentions the missing VCT combability! Thanks!
I am waiting for Tilta to finally update their normal size rig, which has been on the market for many many years. Hopefully the take this rig as the basis, and fix the VCT problem etc.
Hey! I appreciate it :) thanks for watching!
Thanks for your review. I have had this shoulder rig for almost a year. It's quite good for smaller hybrid cameras, but it not well suited for heavier cine cameras. Tilta is probably targeting this for smaller cameras. If you can wait, this product frequently goes on sale often on Tilta's website and B&H Photo. I generally like the design and light weight, but it has design flaws that bug me.
The cons for me:
(1) no way to use with a VCT-14 quick release plate or mount to tripod (camera ops often switch between the two)
(2) the handles tend to slip upwards no matter how hard I tighten the single cinch bolt (fearing it will break or strip threads)
(3) single front 15mm rod would serve me better on the left side (why not have mounts for two 15mm rods on both sides?)
(4) the receiver area for quick release plates does not securely hold any of my Manfrotto plates (I sent it back to Tilta for adjustment, but I still had to shim it)
(5) the case requires breaking down rig and won't accommodate other handles (like Tilta's own remote control handles or the Arri quick release as shown in the video)
(6) foam grips are rather cheap quality compared to other Tilta hand grips I own
(7) shoulder and back rest pads are not very comfy (maybe they have updated this since I got mine)
(8) Overall length locking screw is inaccessible for where I want to position my camera, so I have to compromise camera mounting position.
Although I'm critical of many design flaws, I do think it's a decent shoulder rig. Tilta often revises products, so maybe version 2 of this will address some of these issues.
Very well thought out kit. The back shoulder pad has to be great. Smart. I prefer the monitor to be very low. I wanna look down-ish. Easy on the neck and you can see where you are walking too.
There are anti-twist 1/4x20 threaded holes on the arm that I use for a friction arm that puts the monitor down low.
To select a shoulder rig is a very personal thing so this might be correct for some. But that monitor looks too close (canon sell a longer lead) and too high. The inability to move to sticks is a challenge. Very little mention of using focus.. if you dont have a puller those bars might be a little low. No screenshade. No clarity on adding a matte box or whatever you need to use a camera with no ND. No mention of rebalancing which one needs to do if moving to a small prime or 70-200. Or needs a lens support (anamorphic im looking at you). Mainly i see the with the rigs red buttons to move the handles around. To see a careful explaination of the quick release would help.
Very good considerations.
It arrived to me in Moscow yesterday, on January 4.
The moment I opened the bulletproof protective case and started pulling out all the things out of it, this shoulder rig impressed me with all its finesse and thoughtfulness. The back and shoulder cushions are so soft and body-friendly so to speak that you won’t have any pain on your shoulder and get rid of any additional drag on your arms when you’re tilting your camera forward.
What the professional author of this nice video forgot to show is mounting an external monitor in the left handle extender, which is very nice done on the 1/4” thread, and the second very, very important thing is that shoulder cushion is not of the same height on both sides. It was done deliberately to replicate the shape of your right shoulder, which rises from the right to the left to your neck to avoid any discomfort on your shoulder.
All is A++. Why no +++? Well, compatibility VCT-14 baseplate as the author said rightly so will be a space for the future work of genius Chinese Tilta engineers. It’s not compatible yet.
Gentlemen from Tilta, many thanks or shiye-shiye for this excellent product.
Nice rig and review. It's a good price too. Great callouts on the pros/cons of the system. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for watching!
Great review! I bought one for my Canon C70 with v-mount rig that sits in a Bright Tangerine cage with Arri Dovetail plate and used it on a feature where I wanted to switch between shoulder and tripod so I was hoping to find a good way of attaching some kind of quick release to mount it to the tripod.
Its a great rig but unfortunately the only real way I could find to mount this to the tripod was to attach my Kondor Blue dovetail plate to the top and then spin the included Tilta arca swiss sideways and mount that plate underneath. What would be amazing is a way of being able to slide that Tilta plate along the dovetail part of the rig so I can then secure the tripod plate into the bottom directly rather than having to mount the Arca Swiss plate sideways which is not good for weight distribution. I remember seeing if it did slide along but there was a notch on the plate that stopped me from being able to slide it down, probably to do with the Manfrotto dovetail plate.
Aside from that, I've not got many other flaws in it for the price but it does seem like its not designed around slightly larger setups than a mirrorless option.
After using these rigs for many years I got myself an Easyrig. It was first then I realized how bad these shouldermounts are for your back in the long run. Now I can imagine ever going back to junk like this.
Have you tried the Ergorig? Sort of a happy medium.
@@CameraGraham Yeah, once. Easyrig with the Stabil arm just beats anything else.
Great review. Not as affordable but also good is the Chrosziel one and the different Wooden Camera solutions, some of which I use and like. Vocas is also interesting, altough my experience is limited there. All more expensive than the Tilta, so not sure if it's worth it.
Thanks for watching!
Great video but no one ever addresses zoom/start stop. I have a great Zacuto rig on my Panasonic DVX 200 but no method of zoom or start stop which makes a shoulder rig useless. Any ideas?
I just got mine and I'm trying to figure out how to mount it on a tripod...
We must have very different ideas of comfortable? I find that neither the shoulder pad, nor the back pad hit me right. Overall, I think it's a good rig, but in order to be useful it requires some modification.
Can you add two 15mm rods for mattbox?
Shape had the back shoulder pad for ages 😉
Hey! I didn't know this. Thank you for letting me know -- I'll give one a try.
@@CameraGraham also the polar pro shoulder kit has one.
How come they do a rig like this and have only one rod at the front. I mean if you want a lens support or mattbox etc. how do you do that. Even a follow focus could easily be dangling with only one support.
I’m not sure about that design decision! You could use a clip on-matte box?
What is the brand or name of that magic arm for you monitor please ?
Hi there! Just is a 7-inch articulating arm from Wooden Camera.
Awesome...✌
What monitor arm is that?
I have asked too :)
Just a Wooden Camera 7-inch articulating arm :)
It's not new anymore.i had it last year