BY BRANDON PETERSON
As a Director of Photography for ECG Productions in Marietta, Georgia, I am always on the hunt for great gear. During my internet search for rig offerings, I came across a company called CPM Camera Rigs. They are a small operation with some very talented engineers who have a lot of great machining and molding equipment and expertise. Their rig designs allow for the most expandable configurations on the market. In one conversation I had with Steve Moore, the owner of CPM, he described their unique designs best when he said “Our rigs are like tinker toys.” I like that Steve is very involved with his customers. He is eager to help and to receive feedback in order to make the best products possible.
The first order I placed with CPM was the DSLR Cubed Shoulder Rig. This is the base for what has now become my monster, one-man band, ENG style rig. After assembling my rig and tinkering with it, I immediately became aware of the endless expandability options. There are many holes in which 1/4″-20 threads can be inserted so that you can easily screw in a multitude of attachments. The rigs come with several 1/4″-20 threads already installed and you can always buy more inserts and install them yourself. Or, you can do like I did and screw in 1/4″-20 bolts from the bottom so you have male threads protruding upward in order to thread devices onto them. It’s really nice how CPM rigs are so easy to modify and to assemble and disassemble.Perhaps most importantly, all of the parts are lightweight and durable and even come with a lifetime guarantee.
My goal was to create a rig that has many points of contact with my body so that it can be as steady as possible and be worn for long periods of time. In my search for perfection, I began purchasing various components to add to the functionality and I/O options of the rig. I added bottom rails, a follow focus, a matte box, a low noise preamp with XLR inputs, a 9 inch HD monitor, a shotgun mic, an LED video light, a counterweight, and a 2 system lavalier microphone receiver. Due to the ingenious design of the CPM rig, I am able to attach many devices to it, which boosts my capabilities and productivity. Even with all of these devices attached, it is still very light and manueverable. With so many surfaces to attach things to, I am able to go handheld for about 4 hours before I have to do battery swaps.
I have found that once you start building a CPM rig, you will want to keep tweaking it and adding different functionality to it. Whenever I feel like my rig has reached it’s maximum potential, I always think of something cool to add to it or a new way to configure it. The possibilities truly are limitless.
The latest thing that Steve is helping me with is a chest pad for my rig. Steve sent me a prototype of the chest pad that works so well that I can actually support the rig without the use of my hands, which comes in handy when I need to reach into my pocket to do a battery swap. The chest pad is still in the preproduction phase, but will hit the market once it’s ready. Steve is currently working on a unique hinge feature for the chest pad that will make the rig more balanced when set on a flat surface.
Overall, my experience with this rig has been incredible. It has allowed me to achieve things that would normally take several people and has helped me take my career to new heights. The rig is great for reality TV shooting since it is very run and gun and yields such great looking results. Another bonus is that it is a huge attention grabber and conversation starter, which ends up being a great way to meet new clients and network. ECG Productions is currently in the process of assembling more of these rigs for future reality TV shows that we have in the works.
