I am using this rig with my Canon 7d. FancierStudio products are not commonly reviewed by many DSLR enthusiast sites, so i had to base my purchase decision on the two reviews thats here on amazon. I did not receive any product documentation and the website has very little information and a "chat with us" feature that doesnt seem to work. I couldnt find a phone number either. The link to its facebook site required me to login (I have stopped using facebook since I dont trust their privacy policy). Everything works as described, basically. I couldnt vouch very much for the rig itself because i have not used it in this capacity yet. The mattebox is on the cheapy side (plastic) and the blue handles are a kind of sticky silicone rubber that i dont know if i quite like. My biggest criticism is that the follow focus mechanism doesnt seem to have an adjustment for taller cameras like the 1d or if you use a battery grip. It appears that it would have been a simple adjustment to raise the bracket for this adjustment, but i cant see a simple way do this, so i have to remove the battery grip. The new 5D appears to be coming with a battery grip so i dont know if this would work with that camera. The other thing is that the rails (rods are on the short side. I can barely fit the mattebox and with the Canon 70-200 2.8L II lens. And this is another thing, they have made an adjustment so that i can use the mattebox with the battery grip but not with the followfocus.UPDATE: APRIL 10, 2012 DONT BUY
After using this item for a few weeks i now have a reduced opinion of the unit and i think its overpriced. There are quite a few similar units on the market and many are cheaper and allow you just to buy the part that you want. The only part of it that is worthwhile really is the follow focus. And 300+$ is too much to pay for a cheap follow focus and a simple rig. The mattebox part is completely worthless i agree with cheesycam () about this mattebox. It cannot accommodate my 70-200 and there are other issues. The Rig is average for a cheap rig. I dont use rigs that much but i would have preferred something that would allow me to put other items on the rig (mic, monitor etc). As of today i regret buying this unit, and will probably junk it and buy something better, maybe use it for parts. The other thing is that this company spends no effort on customer service.
I am using this rig for my Sony NEX-3 camera and Sony Z1U camcorder! The build quality is great with the matte box being all plastic and the frame being metal. Managed to mount it on a tripod and the shoulder mount works well. Does require a lot of tightening and set up time would be around 25min max. I've provided pictures above of my set up for reference. The follow focus has a long enough cord to fit pretty much all lens sizes. The white ring around the follow focus allows me to make measurement markings on it using a sharpe marker and cleans off nicely. Over all nice set for the pro and beginner.
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The pictures are very accurate to what this thing looks and feels like. I was originally worried it would be light, or that the rails would be some sort of plastic, but its not. This rig has a nice quality feel to it. rails are aluminum I believe, very solid. The follow focus is very solid. I am very happy with this rig. I am 6'1 200lbs and this thing feels great in my hands.A couple things to note. The barn doors are plastic, as well as the hinges for it, its fine for now, but I could imagine them drooping over time, or losing their grip. Metal would be better. Make sure you add weights to the back to balance out the rig otherwise it will be very front heavy.This product is interestingly useful. I find many things already mentioned by others to be the case, however, with some simple adjustments, I was able to make it work better for me than standard configuration. The device is designed for you to hold the handles a bit away from the shoulder so you view the LCD of your camera. With no counter balance weight (behind you) for the shoulder pad, it's really not too steady, and when you take one hand off e.g for focus adjustments on your camera, you balance is tilted. So, my solution was to rearrange things.
1. I put a viewfinder on my Canon Mk III DSLR
2. Shortened the Rod distance between the shoulder pad and the handles so me eye can reach the viewfinder.
3. Tilted the rod connecting the rig to the shoulder pad,,45 degree downward versus straight horizontal.
4. Removed the right hand handle and placed in front of the rig (on the left rail inverted, So the handle is centered just below the Matte/front end of the Camera lens)
This now means I have three major points of contacts for stability...the front handle, the viewfinder and then the shoulder mount. The left handle is not needed for this setup. You hold the front handle with your right hand which is now centered relative to the body of the camera, the shoulder pad is on the right shoulder as well. You pull back tight on the handle while shooting so your forehead on the viewfinder and shoulder against the shoulder pad affords more stability. Your left hand is free to be used for focusing and available as a 4th point of contact.
If I have the time, will post a picture for this configuration but it's probably the most brilliant way to use this rig. It makes it more versatile and actually functional more so than it's original/intended design. Don't expect to walk and shoot with this rig. A lens with an image stabilizer will still be your best bet.
Overall, for me, with this new configuration and the nice follow focus which appears to work well with my Zeiss 50mm Makro lens , and the relatively low cost ...this is a 4 Star. I would give it a 5 if they had included an attachable counter weight for the shoulder pad. Again, don't expect smooth shot if you going to be walking with this unit...I would suggest a Glidecam or something like that to walk/move and shoot versus a rig like this....I needed a rig for my new Canon 7D for film production, and was shocked at the price when I came across this. This is no Redrock, but for a rig like this for around $300, I'm pretty impressed.
The follow focus is probably the best thing in the set. The handles and base plate are not bad at all; I hate the shoulder pad on the other hand. It works if you absolutely have to use it. I'm going to most likely modify the one I have or purchase a separate one.
The great thing is it's a 15mm rails setup. Reading in a previous review that the rails were a little short I pulled some 12" 15mm rails from an old rig I had. It's much better, and I ordered some additional rails for about $29 on ebay. You can customize these rigs in just about anyway you see fit. If there is something you don't like about it, you can always get a few clamps, arms, and rails to change it. I would encourage anyone that purchases this rig to look into customizing it; it's cheap, fun, and you can really build something nice.
*No instructions in any of the boxes* Also I attached a Canon 50mm 1.8 which doesn't get right up to the mattebox, but it's just fine, no problem with the image. The mattebox is very cheap though, clearly the cheapest thing out of the set.
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