Customer Reviews

Opteka Hands-Free Camcorder Shoulder Support

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Length:: 4:05 Mins

The Opteka "Hands-Free Camcorder Shoulder Support" is a good solution for those looking for an alternative to using a tripod or holding up a video camera for long periods of time. Here are my observations:

Pros -
+ Works As Expected; this does work exactly as it should for holding your camcorder at a usable height
+ Inexpensive; a really good value
+ Easy to Use; no issues using this by yourself
+ Comfortable; you can keep this on for hours

Cons -
- No Instructions; I had to use the pictures on the box to figure out how it should be assembled
- Plastic Parts; while I didn't have anything fail yet, mostly plastic gadgets make me nervous when they are supporting my expensive video gear

Overall, I am fairly pleased with this and plan on using it at my kid's school sporting events. A good value, despite the few negative issues.

Recommended!

CFH

I tested this thing out with my Sony EX1, which is an ~8 pound camera. The way it balanced my unwieldy rig was amazing. The padding wasn't great but I could wrap it easily enough. I was about to buy a second when I managed to break off the elevating mount (the part directly attaching to the cameras in the picture) with almost zero force. I am very gentle with my gear and this simply should not have happened. The part, as it turns out, was 100% plastic-- the kind of plastic that breaks like hardened clay. And while nothing else has broken, the rest is plastic, too. Should an all-metal version of this mount come out, I'll buy it in a heartbeat-- this one nearly cost me a $6000 camera.

Shoulder supported camcorders are smoother and require less energy to stabilize. The torso makes for a great pivot. The Opteka kind of makes a shoulder support system for cams that are without. I film cycling races with a Canon XHA1. It's not shoulder supported like the XL1 or 2 models.
Often I'm in tight spots with large crowds and have to maneuver to change lenses, tapes etc. Being able to do so without a dismount was impossible with the Steadybrace (abdomen support model). I don't have anything bad to say about Steadybrace. They have great customer support, and the brace is a good one to use but...my needs changed a bit.
I can operate easier now with the Opteka. The Opteka can- on the fly, be adjusted to aim higher or lower without over doing it with your back or fatiguing your shoulders. I can take both hands off the rig to change a lens or tape without dismounting because the camera rig is snug and secure to my torso. The Opteka is slim and simple. It appears to be made of thick, strong plastic. I don't know about their customer support since I haven't had to contact them. There doesn't appear to be a need for the Varizoom rocker that I had mounted to the Steadybrace as of yet. Since my hands aren't holding the support anymore, I can use both hands to zoom and focus now. I'll probably still use the Steadybrace for some events but I'm excited about using the Opteka for the simple design and not having to take the rig on and off. A big plus is this - I can also use the eyepiece or the LCD viewfinder without strain. Last but not least, cost. The Opteka is extremely affordable for what it does.
Update October:
I took this rig on a shoot. We were filming at some airports around the nation. Of course it wasnt practical in the plane but trying to get it set up once we landed was a task. I ended up just not using it into the second stop. What i did notice was that the device always wanted to lean to the right and cause you some unwanted tilt. Got some back pain from over correcting. Not sure I am going to use this a whole lot.

This thing was very good until it started to break. It's plastic and poorly designed. Make sure you don't put anything heavier than 1 ounce on it.

Thought I would give this a try because of the price, and i thought I would be getting a decent harness, after putting together and placing my cam on it, I was happy with it until i was taking it apart and the extension broke in half! the part directly under the cam actually broke while I was unscrewing it! If you do purchase this, be very careful because it is made of cheap plastic, and can break with a strong twist, I guess I took for granted what kind of material it was made out of, but it's ok, if you are looking for something cheap and you don't have a really heavy cam.

A very good budget option, this camera supporter is easy to use, a bit difficult to assemble (Since no instructions are included) but is a very useful tool.

I've used this on pretty much all my shoots by recommendation of a friend and this gizmo makes all the difference when using rack focus by yourself! It takes on the entire weight of the camera so you have the use of both hands to make adjustments while filming! When shooting with others they always ask where they can get one but I don't know anymore! Someone needs to start making these again!

EVERYBODY resells this exact same contraption, so shop for the best price, and see the reviews under the Cowboy version. This is the king erector set of body-camera attachment concepts. I have two. I merge them to create more mutations. You will likely love it. Is there need to say more?

-- Well, apparently...

When you get it, open it up fully, tighten the main knob, then unscrew everything that's not part of the main X. Don't try to figure out what they intended the user to do. Examine the pieces and get a sense of the shapes, possible ways to connect them, and the limits of the materials. Check for bubbles or cracks in the plastic, flex it, check it. Go get your box of extra 1/4" knobby bolts, extenders, etc. Then connect the pieces together in different ways, including upside down, and ask yourself what you can use it for. You'll come up with more than one thing to try, in time. Try them. If your imagination isn't firing, you can always dress it up with pink fuzzy slipper shavings, a tin-foil antenna and a shredded Hermes scarf, and make a traditional African sloth-hanger out of it. Don't expect it to be stronger than steel, to support a huge camera or to jack up pickup trucks. Mine are plenty strong, but maybe some of the units are made in a different factory, even though they are all shaped the same? Pre-flight check your gear!

I shudder to imagine any beloved equipment hurtling towards a concrete floor, but, amigo, whenever you let an expensive camera out of your grippy mitts, to wave it about at the end of a plastic branch, don't you anticipate all the ways it can get destroyed, all the points of failure in the next few minutes? as surely as you cross the street with your eyes open? It's basic defensive videography. This contraption weighs barely over a pound, be realistic. Please don't look for trouble. Gravity is a terrible thing. The way I use it is I screw down a 2 lb Sony + WideAngle + Mic on a tongue-shaped piece opened to the left, and a 126 LED light array on another support piece, fanned out to the right, so they balance each other, and the viewfinder or LCD are where I want them. The padded shoulder "hook" grabs my shoulder nicely, and the strap can be set up so I can "let go" and everything stays in place. If the camera were heavier I'd surely run a safety line through the pieces in case something happened. You can make some extra holes and get some 1/4" bolts to add different ways for things to be connected, including at right angles. There's that vertical hole with a screw-in tightener at the X junction, that can spawn a whole 'nother Jungle Jim to mount mics or whatever on. IMHO, it's a very useful and cost-effective contraption. And because I'm fundamentally a decent person, I wish for you nothing less than to get one, cheap, and to make joyful use of it. Or let the sloths have it.

The long tongue seems the best place to mount a camera, but the bolt is tooooooo long. The provided raiser puts the camera way too high (good for using the viewfinder, but if using a side mounted LCD screen, it's just too high. Mounted directly on the shoulder support it's just too close and caused eye strain.
And unless your shoulders are pretty square, it tilts a little to the side - even the product photo shows the guy leaning to the left - try doing that for a long time while shooting! Also seems to point slightly upward so that I have to lean forward to shoot straight - again, not something you want to do for a long shoot.

I decided to try some mods to mine to make it more comfortable - a small ball mount on the tongue would allow adjustment to the side tilt as well as the forward tilt while holding the camera far enough from the face to make it more comfortable.

It's a good idea and a great price. But needs work. Unless your a tinkerer, you may not like it.

I'm an amateur ghost hunter and I LOVE the hands free usefulness of this product. I can mount 2 cameras on it and still run meters or evp's, or whatever I need at the time.