My daughter’s ballet class danced at my church’s Good Friday service, I was able to put the crane in a few places during rehearsal to edit into the actual performance.

Here are my initial thoughts on the Backpacker after shooting with a Canon 7D with an 18mm-55mm stock lens (came with my T2i).

- Stronger/heavier/more robust than I expected. I guess in my mind I had an idea that something called the “Backpacker” would be lightweight. As far as cranes/jibs go it’s very light, but it’s not nearly as flimsy as I expected it to be. I’d call this a pleasant surprise.

- A *little* wobbly. Part of this is my tripod, but there’s also some wobble where the arm connects to the plate. It looks like it might be able to be tightened a bit, but the metal is already bent a bit and I don’t want to stress it further.

- The jib is VERY easy to use. After about 30 minutes I was able to get very comfortable with it and get some great shots. It’s very smooth.

- The 3 feet you get from the tripod gives more movement that I expected, but I’ll still be getting the extension kit ASAP.

All in all, I’m incredibly impressed with the Backpacker for the price. More to come!

They survive solely with the help of volunteers and it was our pleasure to be able to help out in a small way.

The Easom Halo Cage

Philip Bloom and Some Goofball

I originally saw the cage in a Tweet from Philip Bloom and thought it looked awesome. About a week later I was at a workshop with Philip (I can call him Philip now that I’ve got a goofy looking picture with him) and he had a ton of his gear there and I got to pick up and feel the Halo cage. It’s really a remarkable piece of equipment.  So after feeling Sir Bloom’s, I placed my order.

Ever since I started shooting with DSLRs I’ve had the same problems everyone else has had, how do you get everything you need to fit together?  As DSLR shooters know, you’ve got to supplement the camera with all kinds of gear in order to make it function as a traditional video camera would.  This includes things like external audio recorders, LCD monitors, rail supports, and the list goes on and on.

From the beginning I tried a ton of different home-grown options and using pieces of gear I had around the office, trying to make it work.  I spent many hours at Home Depot, trying to build braces and connectors that I could use to hang the equipment from.  Many of these ideas worked, but they all looked like garbage.  I finally got to a point where I just had a basic Redrock rail system, and ended up doing things like keeping the external audio recorder in my vest pocket and stuff like that.  It was always cumbersome.

There have been several cage options that have come out prior to the Easom line, but frankly none of them looked like good solutions to me.  I never wanted one with grips, I just don’t like shooting without at least either a shoulder support or a monopod so I didn’t care about having a cage with side grips I could use to try and shoot handheld.  The other options either didn’t look like they could hold enough gear or just looked boxy and unattractive.  When I saw the Halo Cage if felt like everything I’d wanted in a cage had been pulled out of my head and formed into reality.

I’ll do a quick overview of what the cage is, but will focus mostly on how I’ve come to use it and what I think about it after shooting a few gigs with it.  The Halo is basically two ribs, three rail pairs, and a top handle grip.  Honestly for the cost of it I was expecting it to arrive in a larger box than it did, but the collapsibility is something that I’ve come to love.  When apart the pieces are very manageable and I can fit the entire thing into my camera backpack, something that’s of critical importance to me as I’m often shooting in remote areas and have to literally carry all of my gear on my back.

When disassembled the cage easily fits into my camera backback

When assembled the thing is a beast, but super light.  The carbon fiber rods are so light I’d swear they’re filled with helium.  The cage adds stability for attachments, adds some protection to the camera, makes it incredibly easy to carry, and adds very minimal weight.  It’s all the accessories that add the weight, in fact when it’s just the cage I actually like the balance of the camera better than the camera alone (when I’ve got a larger lens on like the 24-70mm).

So what have I done with it?  I’ve tried to make it as modular as possible, so that I can change it quickly when on a shoot for a variety of situations.  To this end I’ve built what I’d called my “Studio Kit” setup, this would be everything and the kitchen sink that I’d ever want attached to the camera, and a “Handheld Kit” which would be the lightest possible setup (other than just pulling out the camera) for times when I’d want to jump to a monopod.

On the rearmost rib I’ve attached the biggest pieces of the “Studio Kit” gear.  Here I’ve got the external audio recorder and the 7″ LCD monitor.  When I’m in an interview type of setup, where the camera isn’t going to be moving much, I really like having the long articulating arm under the monitor.  This allows me to easily move the monitor around to show the director or the client the shot.  If I’m going to be handheld with the LCD, I’ll mount it with a smaller connection so that it’s closer to the rib and not as likely to flap around.

Rear of Easom Halo Cage - With "Studio Kit" Gear

In this setup I’m able to very quickly remove this rear rib with all the heavy stuff attached and have a lighter rig to throw on the monopod.  I’ve still got the wireless mic receiver on the side rails, but if I want to remove it I can in all of 3 seconds.

Easom Halo Side Rails

The fact that you can make this cage very modular and easily transformed based on the shooting requirements is something I didn’t expect, but have been thrilled with.  And having the top grip has been such an incredible helpful thing while shooting, makes grabbing the camera so much easier and less awkward to carry.

Really the main challenge I had with the cage was trying to work out the best way to attach things to it.  I tried using pieces of gear I’ve got in the office, and eventually ran to Home Depot for a few things.  I realized that what would have been really nice from Easom would be to sell an attachment kit as an optional accessory.  This would have things in it like male-male screws so you could mount things like audio recorders and mic receivers with female threads easily to the rig.  It could also have a couple of cold show mounts that would easily attach to the cage.

For my recorder I grabbed some thumb screws from Home Depot and use them, but will replace them with some male-male connectors when I find some.

Thumb Screws

I did have a cold shoe mount lying around, that I attached to the rig with a nut and bolt.  It’s not a great connection, but will work for now.  I’d love to have another 1-2 cold shoe mounts on the rig, just in case.  ATTENTION EASOM OPTICS: I WANT TO GIVE YOU MORE MONEY!  PUT TOGETHER AN ACCESSORY MOUNTING PARTS KIT AND I WILL BUY IT.  :)

BOTTOM LINE

If you can’t tell yet, I’m very pleased with this cage. It’s working out better for me than I thought it would, and frankly it makes the camera look more impressive and that’s not insignificant with some clients that still can’t wrap their heads around DSLR shooting.

The carbon rods it comes with are too long for me, at least the 15″ and the 12″ ones.  I’m going to eventually either replace them with shorter ones or cut these to be a bit more compact.  But that’s a fairly small issue for me right now.

Pros
- Compact-able: Can be broken down and fit inside my camera backpack
- Strong: Will support just about anything you want to attach to it
- Light: The weight will come from the accessories attached, not so much from the cage
- Modular: Can be configured in limitless formats, can be easily tailored to different needs
- Attractive: This is subjective, but I think this cage looks more impressive than any others I’ve seen

Cons
- It isn’t cheap: I hesitate to say it’s “expensive” as I do feel it’s a good value, but it will set you back a bit.
- No easy connection options: This is probably because I’m not a handyman, but I’d have really appreciated some ready to go connections in an accessory kit like cold shoe mounts and male-male connections that could be used with female threaded gear.

Of all the DSLR gear I’ve purchased, I’d easily say this is one of my favorite pieces.  Big thumbs up from me, the people I spoke with at Easom when ordering were wonderful, I can’t recommend them or the Easom Halo Cage highly enough.

Finally, one of the main reasons I wanted to write this review was than when I was searching for reviews before buying I just didn’t see a lot of them out there.  So if you’re looking at this and trying to decide if it will work for you, please feel free to ask me a question.  I’d be happy to answer it if I can and help you decide if this cage works for you.

Shot on location at Pine Cove – The Woods Camp in Tyler, Tx.
Music – “No Life Without You” by Joseph LoDuca

Pretty neat idea, taking heat that was just being “thrown away” and repurposing it.

For the install I mounted my Canon T2i on the hood of the vent, pointing up to the panels.  I had my Sony Z7U locked down getting another angle and I roamed with my 7D rig on a monopod.  My partner-in-arms Bruce was shooting with a Panasonic P2 camera, I can’t recall the exact model.

From what I saw upon transferring the footage, the T2i might have gotten the best stuff.  One thing that’s great about these DSLRs is that they can be put just about anywhere, and in this case I was able to mount it in a place that would have been difficult if not impossible with the larger Sony and Panasonic cameras.

Bruce did have his little GoProHD and got some pretty slick shots from behind the grates as they were being put in.

This was a pretty wild shoot, the install had to take place overnight so the restaurant wouldn’t be down during business hours.  So we started rolling at about 11:30 PM and I left the premises at 4PM the next day.  I wanted to take a hose to all my gear after being in the greasy kitchen all night.

So, at one time we actually had 5 cameras running between the two of us for an equipment install in a restaurant kitchen.  Overkill?  Maybe so, but I’m really glad I decided to pull the T2i out of the bag and mount it on that hood, that little guy ended up being worth his weight.  Next time I’ll just mount everything around the hood and sleep in a booth during the install.

Look forward to seeing you around!

Bryan