Visia Productions: Hague MMC has arrived! First Impressions

With the convincing of Tim, I purchased two Hague Mini-Motion Camera stabilizers for our upcoming gig. I purchased it directly from www.b-hague.co.uk and to my surprise I received it in less than 4 business days from the UK. I paid about $120 each MMC and it came well packaged and secured.

This is how the MMC was packed:

One more step in the unpacking:

Here is the Hague MMC up close. It is actually a lot simpler than I thought. I'll admit I'm a bit disappointed in what it is made of and the price they charge..

Here is where the magic happens - the swivel and camera mount that is opposite the counter balances - washers...

***First thoughts***

After unpacking the Hague MMC, I was unimpressed with what I paid $120 each for. I shouldn't knock it too much as shipping alone was $60 for both units. After quickly getting past the initial thoughts, I decided to try it out. Putting the unit together was basically self explanatory - screw stuff in once mounted. The instruction sheet was basic enough, basically being general to accommodate all camera types in that it said to just guess and check until you get it balanced right. It took me about 30 minutes to balance everything out until I was happy (enough) with it's stability but really think that this stabilizer is for lighter cameras vs. a DSLR Canon T1i that I used for my test. I suppose I can add more washers to counter balance the weight which won't be expensive to add.

The joint in which all is balanced is very loose. When I say loose, I mean the swivel motion - it is super fluid, which makes sense due to the nature of balancing. There were a few times were the handle ball actually popped out of the swivel. It does "pop" back in with slight pressure but at extreme angles it will fall off. This should definitely be taken into consideration with your expensive cameras only being help on by a small joint.

I don't have much to compare it to other than handheld filming and a DIY steadycam. This MMC is much easier to manage than the DIY steadycam due to its light weight making it very maneuverable for longer periods of time. Because of its compact design, you can closer to objects as well as lower as it doesn't get in its own way.

I did get a chance to use the MMC and also did a few video tests comparing three options:

1. Handheld
2. DIY Steadycam
3. Hague MMC

Overall opinions - with a bit of practice and a quick read through the instructions, the Hague MMC worked very well. You will have to guide it with the second hand to ensure it won't rock too much and of course to guide the direction in which you want the camera to point. Other than that, I made sharp turns, stepped over cables, and climbed and descended stairs and felt like I had great results!

It is not the sexiest piece of equipment in the world, but it does make a big difference.

Videos will be added shortly...

1. Handheld