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Zacuto C-Shooter: Taking the Canon C-Series Camera off the Tripod
The practicality of a camera often dictates whether it is the best option for the film shoot. A shoulder mounted ENG style camera may not be the best choice for shooting a spelunking adventure, just as a small form factor camera wouldn’t be optimal for that interview with the CEO. The Canon C-Series Cinema EOS cameras, the C100, C300, & C500, create dynamic images, but the design doesn’t offer much flexibility in the run-and-gun shooting environment. Handheld rigs are a popular way to make your camera more versatile. The Zacuto C-Shooter shoulder rig takes the C-Series camera off your tripod, out of your hands, and makes it a shoulder mounted camera.
The basic structure of the C-Shooter is the Zacuto C-Series base plate on 12” rods. The base plate slides forward and back to accommodate different lenses on your C-Series Camera as well as other accessories. On the back of the 12” rods is a shoulder pad along with a 3.5 pound weight to counterbalance the camera. Under the base plate are two holes for additional rods that run perpendicular to the 12” base plate rods. With these perpendicular rods you can add even more accessories, like an additional small monitor. On the front of the rig there is a Grip Relocator. You can take the removable grip that comes with Canon C100 and C300, an additional accessory for the C500, and move it to the front of the structure. This gives additional balance, comfort, and control to the C-Shooter. With a 24” cable you can extend the grip to almost anywhere on the C-Shooter. This makes the removable grip functional for trigger on/off controls, lens aperture, and other programmable features for the Canon C-Series cameras.
Here at Crews Control we have seen the percentage of shoots for the C-Series camera, especially the Canon C300, climb from about 3% of our total shoots to around 11%. The Zacuto C-Shooter takes the Canon C-Series camera from a great shallow depth of field camera to make a field production option, making it a better camera for more shoots. The C-Shooter also changes your whole camera package to a shoulder mounted rig. Has your Chicago camera crew used this equipment? Have you used the Zacuto C-Shooter for your Canon C-Series Cameras? If so, share your thoughts with us.
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