When I bought a Canon 60D at the beginning of 2011, I quickly realized I was going to need some sort of mounting rig, as well as handheld support. DSLR cameras are simply not designed to move the way traditional video cameras do, and the controls, especially camera start/stop, are inconvenient at best. So a rail and cage system for mounting accessories, as well as a shoulder mount that faciliates handheld shooting are pretty much necessities if you’re using it as your “A” camera on shoots.
If you’ve researched mounting rigs, rails, and shoulder supports, you probably know that the quality of design and prices vary wildly. Zacuto’s offerings are widely acknowledged as the industry’s finest, but the price tag on their gear seems ridiculously overpriced to this veteran shooter. There are lesser priced offerings from Redrock Micro, Cinevate, Letus and others, but they too seem overpriced to me, especially when you consider the materials and their relatively low-tech design. That’s where CPM Filmtools comes in. They appear to be plastics company that somehow created a side business of making DSLR support gear. Their rigs differ from their competitors in that they use injected molded components. According to their website, their rail rods are made from carbon fiber, and their cages, plates and mounting components are made from carbon filled polycarbonate. The idea is that this provides strength but at lighter weights than metal based systems. CPM also makes and/or packages lots of other gear as well, like a follow focus, monitor support gear etc.
Keep in mind that many professional tripods and camera bodies (video and still) are made from carbon fiber and carbon filled polycarbonate. So these are common materials that have stood up to years of rigorous professional use in our industry. The CPM Filmtools DSLR Flyer is a combination rail mount, cage system and shoulder mount designed for use with HDSLR cameras. The package lists for $499 less shipping and includes:
Four 12″ Carbon Rails
Two 4″ carbon Rails
Two Side Grips
One Quick Release system
A small Uni Strut
A Belly Pan
An Offset Z Bracket
A Shoulder Mount Kit
A Counter Weight Kit
Buying online was quick and easy, the order shipped within 24 hours and it was delivered in 2 days. Customer service was prompt and my email questions were answered within an hour or two during business hours. So far so good on that front. So how does the CPM Filmtools DSLR Flyer rig rate?
Well…it’s a mixed bag. It is indeed light and strong. But it’s certainly not as rigid as a metal system. And while the system works, I can’t help but think that the folks that designed it don’t actually use it in professional environments, which may not be all bad considering their market. As a video professional with almost 28 years of experience, I’ve come to expect a certain level of quality to pro gear. But the line between “pro” and “consumer” started blurring a long time ago…and today, consumer gear in the hands of a professional can produce excellent results. Overall, the CPM Flyer rig is a good product, but there are some issues with the model we received that keep it from getting high marks.
The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was the really cheap quick release mounts that came with our unit. I immediately got on B&H Photo’s website and ordered two Giotto quick release systems to replace the CPM versions….and a visit to the CPM website a couple months later revealed they now offer the Giottos as an option. So I must not have been the only customer that thought the CPM quick release plates were inferior. So that’s one problem the CPM guys have fixed.
The carbon fiber rods on the system are indeed very strong and incredibly light, but when you try to slide the mounting brackets on and off, the rubber-like plastic on the rod bracket has a tendency to sort of stick. It just doesn’t slide easily the way a metal rail system does. My other major complaint is the knob screws. They’re hard to turn since they have rubbery knobs and they don’t seem to ever tighten to the point of keeping things in place. As an example, our system came with two hand grips that attach to a small rod clamp. The clamp has a 1/4 20 threaded mount on one side to screw the grips into, and another mount on the opposite side to attach to the rods. But no matter how much we tighten the knobs, the rod clamp always loosens and allows the handgrip to slide out of position. The only way to get the rod clamp tight is with a pair of pliers, which sort of defeats the purpose of thumb screws. I actually broke one of the rod clamps trying to tighten it. That’s something that likely won’t happen with metal rod clamps and rods.
The plates and brackets do stay in place using the CPM thumb screws, but like the rod clamps above, they don’t slide easily for adjustment, even if you remove the knob screws. In CPM’s defense, when I emailed CPM about problem, they did send me completely new rods (made differently) and new rod clamps for the grips. But the rod clamps appeared to be identical to the originals…and unfortunately, didn’t slide on or off the new rods any better. So I don’t think the problem is with their rods, which are nicely made, it’s with the clamps. One thing that helped was brushing a little ground graphite onto the rods, but it’s not a permanent solution.
My other complaint is the system came with no instructions. All the parts are shrink wrapped onto a flat piece of cardboard, and while the box and packing is very professional, it literally took me about 2 hours of experimenting (while looking at photos on the website) to figure out how to put the thing together. What you quickly realize is that you can configure the DSLR Flyer system in a bunch of different ways. I ended up configuring it much differently than the lone example photo on the website, and while it’s relatively easy to put the thing together, it would be a huge timesaver if you could look at some sample configurations on their website. I did notice this evening that they’ve added some tutorial videos to the site, which is helpful, but some simple instructions or sample photos are much needed.
A very nice touch with the DSLR Flyer is a counter weight kit that attaches to the back of the rig to help balance the system when shooting hand-held. But again, the mounting bracket is extremely difficult to slide on and off the carbon fiber rails. It almost feels like the 15mm holes on the brackets are too small.
Overall the system works well enough, but I’ve spent hours messing with the configuration trying to find a sweet spot that works for both hand-held and shoulder mounted shooting. You can get the system on and off a tripod pretty quickly if you want to transition from tripod to shoulder, but I’ve never found a way to balance the rig and camera on the tripod AND balance it for hand-held shooting. It seems that if you balance it for hand-held shooting, it’s back-heavy when mounted to the tripod. Balance it on the tripod and it becomes front-heavy for hand-held shooting. Theoretically you could just loosen one of the plates or brackets and slide components back and forth to re-balance, but the brackets and mounts are so “sticky” on the rails that it becomes a huge pain in the rear. Of course I could complain about the poor ergonomics and balance of a lot of DSLR rigs. In fact, many of them look just plain goofy. I have to admit the CPM rig IS a nice looking rig. The cage is a little odd looking, but aren’t they all? The best cages I’ve seen are small and fit snugly around the camera and have cutouts for battery, SD card slots, controls etc.
One other issue we’ve had is that the belly plate that holds the tripod mount doesn’t slide cleanly onto our Miller tripod head. The bottom of the CPM plate rubs up against the knob that tighens and holds the tripod plate in place. Perhaps this is an issue with the Miller tripod, but Miller products are quite popular in the video production world so it could be that the CPM plate was never tested with their products. It appears they’ve targeted their products at the mid-range shooter who’s probably using less expensive tripod systems from companies like Manfrotto, so again…not an indictment, just a fact.
Overall, I think the guys at CPM want to make a quality product and they’ve done a nice job of producing a system that is affordable, strong, lightweight and versatile. If they can fix the bracket and rod mount problems, and get their knob screws to actually hold things in place, they’d have a fantastic DSLR solution at a modest price. But as it stands now, it’s a mid-range solution that mostly works but has some issues. With a system like Zacuto, you’re not paying for materials and workmanship (although they’re top-notch), you’re paying for something that’s been field tested by experienced professionals and then tweaked to work without a lot of fuss from the end-user. That explains the big difference in price between the mid-range products and theirs. So if you’re on a budget and want a lightweight, strong rail and shoulder-mount system and can live with the problems listed, then this is a good solution. But if you make your living shooting video using DSLR cameras, there are more mature (albeit more expensive) solutions available. Bottom line, we use it quite a bit, but we don’t use the hand grips with their rod clamps because they just don’t work. I replaced them with a set from Proaim that work very well with the CPM rig. The rest of the CPM rig is solid though and gets the job done.