SO, WHAT’S A BARE BONES AUTOMOTIVE VIDEO RIG?

A simple car shoot video rig is ideally compact, lightweight, and easy to use. It’s also hopefully not too expensive. After all, it’s your vision and message that will determine the success of any film more than anything else.

Whatever rig you choose, you don’t really want to compromise much on quality – for the camera, the lens, monitor or the audio mic.

If you have the budget, you could always hire a steadicam operator, an ARRI Mini, the latest Leica Cinema zoom lens, and the best audio team available.

However, for about 40,000 dollars less, you could still do the job of making a great short film in a week. I’ve done it. This rig works great if you want to make a documentary film of a Safari Rally team, which is what I most love to do.

Canon 5D Mk IV camera body
Variable ND filter
Canon 35mm f2 IS lens
Canon 24-105 f4 IS lens
Rode on-camera microphone
Simple rig
Marshall monitor with sun shield
Headphones
Detachable shoulder mount