Thanks for the links Joe! You're right, you do pay an outrageous price for the name brand rigs so I am open to alternatives assuming the quality is still good.
But my basic issue comes down to this - I haven't found many pictures of rigs that can support all the gear I've mentioned and go from tripod to shoulder mount very easily.
I started looking into using DSLRs for ENG work and found lots of microphone related issues - as you know, in ENG work you can't assume you are going to be able to mic everyone with lavs and so on in advance, your on-camera mic has to be sufficient on its own if need be.
Bottom line - what I found is that unless you plug your external mic into some kind of pre-amp before connecting it to your camera body you are going to get a lot of noise -
but where does a pre-amp like that fit on the rig? I tried it myself under the camera but found it too unstable, the camera was slipping and sliding no matter how tight I thought I had screwed it to the pre-amp. I later found a speciality plate that is supposed to address this and make everything tight but I haven't had a chance to try it.
So right now I am just on the lookout for rig configurations that can handle all the gear and go from tripod to shoulder - once I have a basic plan then I think there would be many manufacturers that could supply the parts - but I need that configuration first and right now I don't see it in my minds eye.
Steve Crow
Crow Digital Media
http://www.CrowDigitalMedia.com
