I'm slowly turning into a VariZoom fanboy...

If you've been following my blog (and who doesn't!) you'll recall I Frankenstein'ed together a camera rod system myself a few months ago to use with my VariZoom shoulder rig. It worked well but it weighed a ton and I realized that I needed something more compact and also something that I didn't have to remove from the shoulder rig first to use on a tripod or slider. I have a very nice Genustech follow focus unit that fits my new set of Rokinon lenses like a glove, but sadly it usually got left behind in the camera bag simply because I didn't have time to put it on the rod system I had on the camera during shoots.



The solution was a 15mm rod holder that was also a camera plate. I scanned the B&H website and eventually found exactly this - VariZoom's VZ-DVRODS (no seriously, that is what they call it!) camera rod system. It is a lightweight camera plate with two position-adjustable 15mm rod clamps. Simple but effective.



The system comes with two 7" 15mm carbon fiber rods, although I replaced mine with shorter 3" Lanparte rods - no reason to have a set of 7" rods sticking way out in front of the longest lens I use when the only thing I want to use it with is a follow focus. The VariZoom plate is now a permanent part of my primary NEX-FS100 rig and I can move it to any of my tripods, shoulder rig or Steadicam post thanks to a Libec quick release adapter. 



This is a great addition to my camera rig and I should have done this a long time ago. With a proper lens and a good follow focus unit it is so much easier to pull focus effects on the go.

Sadly this is unobtainable in South Africa and you'll have to order yours from the US directly. Check out www.varizoom.com