Thanks Seth

This is Seth Hagenstein with the Ergocine Lion prototype in the field.  As you can see it is really carrying a heavy load, his main criticism was that it lacked padding for this shoulder.  In the day with my Aaton I would be forced to stick foam under my shirt to deal with the discomfort, so the production model (shipping at the end of June) will come with a choice of 1/8" solid leather padding or 1/2" leather and cotton batten padding.  He also suggested that I round the edges in that area which I will do.

He also asked for a rear mounting plate which I will offer as a attachment.  

As for access to the battery compartment of the rig, this is a little tricky, I am going to shave down the space behind the plate so that it is flush. That should help say if you want to use a over size battery, aside from that the design idea is that you would slide the plate froward on the rods to access the battery.  

When it come to quickly removing the Lion for tripod work (with the Zacuto studio plate), the body will have female screw in rods receivers, so you can place it on the tripod twist the rods and take the body off.  The Lion works best with the Arri plate that has front and back locks, where you can just loosen the back lock downs and out it comes. 

I just want to say that really appreciate his suggestions, this sort of constructive, insightful feedback form operators is the most critical element in developing this product.

First Lion Delivered

I just dropped off a finished prototype to Jon Yi he is going to do some world traveling with the rig.  We now have the the C300 monitor, controls and XLR I/O fully integrated and it is solid.  There is also a removable counter weight imbedded under the cheese plate if you end up using heavy glass.  In this configuration Jon is going to remove the counter weight.  The production model will also be cut to allow the camera to be position back another 2 inches, the further back the better.
For audio, video and power cables the Lion has pass throughs on the horizontal axis and I am going to add one on the vertical axis.  
The rig has many mounting points and more can be added after the fact anywhere on the body in any hole size. 
I am also going to be producing the Lion and Grip in Black Walnut which finishes to a near black, with a black anodized cheese plate and black rods.
The production model will be ready to go by the last week of June, I am working on getting a e-marketing site up ASAP.

some pictures:

If you absolutely positively must use your C300 handle.

If you absolutely positively must use your C300 handle.  I ran this by one of my trusted advisors, he said it works but it is not as solid as he would like it and he prefers the comfort of the Ergocine - BCG.

Shape HAC300

Plus two 90 degree brackets to mount it to your 15mm rods. 

Zacuto

Redrockmicro

The Latest on the Honorary Aaton Shoulder Cat and Ergocine - Lion

Now Shipping

I went down to Jersey City to demo the two Ergocine rigs for Matt Workman and Jon Yi,  Matt's girlfriend, Diana Levine was there and she took some great pictures.

More pictures and Matt's post.

Please note by next week I will have some pictures with configuration that allows you to use the C300 monitor with the control panel and XLR inputs.  This will be done by mounting a cold shoe at the end of a noga arm.  This is the piece plus a 1/4" 20 female to female.

http://woodencamera.com/hot-shoe

I am going to do a 10 unit run of both models before I put up an emarketing site so if you are interested email me ergocine@gmail.com for pricing.

Ergocine - Honorary Aaton Shoulder Cat (for the Canon 7D, 5D & Panasonic Lumix GH2) 

This set up is using my preferred set up where the operator has both eyes open, can see what he shooting and where he is going.

Ergocine - Lion (for the Canon C300, Red Scratlet & Epic)

Cat in the Woods

This is my dear friend Shawn Strong out doing some pick ups for a music video with the Ergocine - Honorary Aaton Shoulder Cat.  One thing that I loved about my Aaton was that you could literally hug the camera and work from the hip, the Shoulder Cat allows to work the same way.  

Also I wanted people to see that when it comes to carrying your camera a balanced self contained rig make things easy, also the balanced rig allows of user friendly tripod operation. 

People have been emailing me wanting to try the Shoulder Cat but they do not have a EVF, Shawn is operating with a inexpensive LCD ($200.00 range) and it works great.  I actually prefer this configuration, where you see what you are shooting, you see the lens barrel and you can see the world.

Ergocine - BCG (Black Cherry Grip)

UPDATE 7/12/13 - This is the present and final incarnation of BWG (Black Walnut Grip) still available in Black Cherry.  See details on Prices Page

From 4/15/12 - I have finished the Ergocine - BCG (Black Cherry Grip) and it is ready for purchase in limited numbers.  Email me ergocine@gmail.com for availability and pricing.  The fount (knuckle) is milled from a template created from a clay mould of my hand.  The back (palm) is hand sculpted and both side are finished to a polish.  My hand is in between a large and medium men's glove, so far it fits all the hands I have tested.

If you are interested email me ergocine@gmail.com.

Ergocine Lion - for the Epic & C300.

see our final working configuration for the Epic












The Ergocine Lion, which works for the Epic, C300 and hopefully any box that they might happen to throw at us.   The design is based around a detachable camera base plate with 15mm rods used alone for tripod work. For hand held the body slides in the back tightens up and is ready for shooting.
This will also allow for the use of other Ergocine backs as they become come available and 15mm third party base plates.

Add your plate and you are tripod ready.

These pictures where taken at CINEMA-VISION (Phone:(212) 620-8191), Jackie and Derek run the most user friendly rental house in the city.