this rig has been with me on the biggest shoots of my career it's helped me land dream jobs and the work I've shot with it has racked up millions of views although I tweak it for different projects like keeping a low profile for running gun or building it out a little bit further for client gigs this setup is my foundation so I want to break down my camera rig and share why this setup is the one I trust the most [Music] let's start with the heart of the setup my camera I've been a Sony shooter
for the past 7 years and it was a really good reason for it their cameras fit my shooting style I mainly work running gun where I'm a solo shooter or with a very small crew and that means I need a camera that's light fast and won't fail on me when I only get one shot I feel really fortunate that I got mine for free after winning an editing competition but I was ready to buy this camera as soon as it came out let me tell you why I keep dreaming of owning Cinema cameras or anamorphic
lenses to create epic looks but after shooting on black magic and working with red footage I realized that these cameras slow me down it's not a bad thing and I love the flexibility of footage it's just that my project turnarounds are usually a couple weeks instead of a couple months Cinema cameras require more patience whether it's on set or in post and it just doesn't really make sense for my workflow most of the time so having an affordable camera that carries amazing low light capabilities industry-leading autofocus and 10bit color depth feels like a camera that's
literally made for me that's why I keep shooting on Sony and so far there's no reason for me to switch to another camera for almost as long as I've shot on Sony I've been using the same lens the entire time I found that the 28 to 75 mm range covers most of my needs it's wide enough for establishing shots and can get close enough for more intimate ones I've got a couple prime lenses that I'll use for very specific situations but I always find myself shooting on this one 95% of the time a zoom lens
lets me save time from swapping lenses and moving my setup around or getting right in people's face and the only reason I would replace this is if it breaks or it gets stolen knock on wood ah why did I say that I shouldn't have said that when I first shot with just the camera and lens I noticed something was a little off when I would bring the footage over to the edit some of the shots were a little bit out of focus when I would manually rack focus and the Shadows were super grainy even though
everything looked totally fine on set so what was going on you see it turns out a tiny LCD screen makes it really tough to know what's in Focus or to expose the shots correctly when the image is grayer than my grandma's hair and that's when I knew that an external monitor would be my next upgrade I chose the atos Ninja V for a few clear reasons first it lets me record in formats like prores and prores raw second its 5in size is perfect big enough to see all the details and small enough for my running
gun style I used to work with the 7in version the Shogun Inferno but it felt more suitable for Studio shoots the last reason is that it can load custom Luts and output the graded image to other displays this means that the director or producer can see a properly graded image instead of a flat one this is now a more common feature but it wasn't when I got the ninja I've gotten a lot of mileage out of this monitor but I'm considering swapping over to one that doesn't have external recording capabilities to save power otherwise monitors
have been such a reliable choice for all my projects while we're on the topic of monitors you know that awkward moment when the director or the producer wants you to play back the shot and then they're huddle up next to you breathing down your neck as they judge what you shot if I can smell your breath then you're way too close that is where the newest addition to my rig comes in the cine view Master 4K ax soon was kind enough to sponsor this video and send this over for me to test out and man
do I love using it now just a reminder that I only collaborate with brands that I truly believe in unless I'm doing an honest product review if I'm promoting it it means that I genuinely enjoy using it and I believe that it can bring value to you guys too I've already used axon's C view SE on the biggest shoot of my career so I knew that their Master 4K was worth trying out I've been testing this device on various Shoots for the past couple months and it has made shooting on set more enjoyable for everyone
with super low latency of less than 25 milliseconds a transmission range of 2 and 1/2 km and my favorite feature where it can transmit to up to five devices simultaneously this has quickly become a core part of my rig it looks so cool it's like a little rocket ship transmitting up to five devices means that your director producer hair and makeup script supervisor and actor or something don't have to huddle around one monitor to see what's going on they can professionally monitor everything right on their own phone I'm literally using it right now to see
if everything's in focus and if I'm framed correctly it's great so thank you again so much aun for sponsoring this video because I was so busy building up my camera rig I didn't realize that I was also building up some serious wrist pain throwing everything onto a shoe Mount felt like a personal torture device and mounting it onto sticks made me feel as Nimble as a turtle that's where this half cage from small rig comes in the backbone of all my gear in fact every module in my setup is from small rig because they've consistently
delivered quality at a great price the reason I went with a half cage is to reduce weight and size there weren't a lot of options out since I got it right when the A7 S3 came out but I've been surprised with how well it supports everything it doesn't bow or Flex or do any sketchy signs of struggling I love it when tools just work I'm also a fan of unexpected features that I use all the time like this magnetic tool on the bottom of the cage I got this top handle the same time that I
got the cage because trying to hold a rigged out camera without one gets her shots more wobbly than Jello remember bad wrists a top handle makes it effortless to get low angle shots and to carry the rig between shoots without breaking a sweat soon I added a side handle when I realize how often I would shoot handheld at chest or eye level this not only keeps the frame steady but also makes the talent look a little bit more pleasant on camera both of the handles are really comfortable to hold and makes the rig feel a
lot more ergonomic to handle [Music] around so there's not much to say about the mat box other than it works I chose the most durable and lightweight option which usually means that it's made out of carbon fiber I also wanted one that didn't need rails to attach so that I could keep my rig compact although it has a filter tray I haven't needed to use it since I almost always shoot on this 1/8 black Pro Mist filter from Tiffin that screws right onto the lens it's a solid choice for blocking out lens flares but most
importantly making your rig look more impressive to clients come on that's the real reason we get ma boxes that's just a camera but now it's a cinema [Music] camera I went with a base plate that kept with a theme of being low profile and compact in hindsight the Arca Swiss option would probably be a little bit smarter because it would have let me detach my camera from the rig faster for gimbal work since my half cage is already Arcus withs compatible but considering how it's twice the price I'm happy with my decision there are cheaper
options out there but I decided to just stay in small riged ecosystem since my entire setup is practically sponsored by them it's not not officially not yet small rake please reply to my [Music] email I went with these 6-in rails it's it's just long enough to mount all the essentials while keeping the rig tight and compact since my Mbox attaches directly to the lens and I have no plans to use a follow Focus longer rails would have just been dead weight maybe it wouldn't have really mattered because it's made out of carbon fiber should have
thought that through no no it's clean it's minimal it looks great and so far it's been great at keeping everything sturdy so there's no flexing or Bo and most importantly no headaches acept for my regret of getting longer rails the rail blocks are also from small rig and it's how my vmount battery holder and the C view 4K are attached to the rig now the reason that I even got a base plate and rods was to mount a vmount battery now let me know in the comments which part of your rig is your favorite because
this is mine I was so sick of carrying different batteries where I'd have to stop take off my backpack Dismount the camera swap the battery check my monitor's battery swap that out too put my backpack on and then do it all over again in about an hour a vmount battery has saved me from this painful routine now one us BC cable Powers my camera another power cable feeds the transmitter and a DTaP cable runs straight to the monitor's battery Eliminator instead of guessing or juggling battery levels I just check one number and I know exactly
when to swap it out my favorite thing about these small rig batteries is how you can plug everything directly right into them these guys can be fast charged via USBC and has eliminated any stress I used to feel about battery levels if there's one thing I've learned from riging out this camera is that the best camera setup isn't just about the best specs and gear it's about making you feel excited to pick up the camera and shoot because that is what makes you a better filmmaker
