SWEDISH CHAMELEON: RIGS THAT DEMAND A SECOND LOOK

Cameras

I’m obsessed with shoulder rigs for DSLRs. Ever since I started shooting with a stills camera I’ve wanted to turn my camera into something that closely resembled the smaller cameras I used to shoot with, like EX1s. This, of course, is impossible. The only way to really get the camera to work for handheld work is to build it up on rails and get it on your shoulder, or at least wedged against your shoulder. Everyone’s familiar with the term ‘Run n’ Gun’ and there are some decent lightweight solutions out there for shooting with a viewfinder. All good. But that’s not how I shoot. I shoot with a monitor, a big ass battery, a zoom, and a proper shotgun mic. Hence the obsession. That’s a lot of gear to put on a rig and it really takes a lot of time to get all the bits in the right place, balanced, accessible, comfortable and efficient. I’ve used Cambo, Redrock, Zacuto and JAG35 gear and all of those solutions have essentially built around the principle of the shoulder mounted ENG camera. Right now I have a Zacuto double barrel rig which I’m gradually refining to match how I need it to perform, but it still needs work. Recently though I came across a system that worked brilliantly.

The Swedish Chameleon range of rigs are built by a pair of obsessed Swedes who’ve spent a small fortune on bushings, connectors, testing tolerances, proper systems for clamping, all that good engineering gear. I saw the images online when these first surfaced and dismissed them as just another solution that I wouldn’t really care about. However, I met the guys in London at BVE and had a chance to run the rule over the rigs in the flesh. And I was highly impressed. There are so many compromises to be overcome when shooting with DSLRs and these guys have spent a lot of time working around them. No review I could ever write would be able to explain how right the rigs feel when you operate with them. Everything is exactly where you want it, there’s a built in camera trigger, the handles are in the right place, there’s a control for zooming, there’s a control for focus meaning you can zoom and focus simultaneously… and that’s very very satisfying. The FlyingV is perfect for event filming and the SC2 Large solves one of the biggest problems for DSLR shoulder work – weight distribution – by devolving the whole task to a belt that sits around your waist and actually doesn’t make you look like an idiot. That leaves your hands free for operating, once again you can easily operate the zoom and the focus. It’s all made to be easily tightened and to a very high spec. There’s a few different flavours of rig you can get your teeth stuck into and it’s worth having a look to see what might work for you. The follow focus doesn’t require a gear as it uses a band to drive the rings and this may not be to everyone’s liking, but it actually works beautifully in practice. If you have geared lenses the bands feature teeth that slot in as required. They also give you a peli case with your rig, which is nice. Actually, it’s very nice.

I would never ever recommend anyone buy a shoulder rig until they’ve actually tried it. Never. There are so many around now and they all have their problems, without exception. This solution solves so many of the problems I’ve come to just accept it was a real pleasure to try it out.

SC2 Large: €1720

Flying V: €1770

Try before you buy. Buy Swedish!

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Jared Abrams is a cinematographer based in Hollywood, California. After many years as a professional camera assistant he switched over to still photography. About two years ago a new Canon camera changed the way the world sees both motion and still photography. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time.