The ‘ShoulderLander’ – Shoulder Support for a Canon XH-A1

I have searched far and wide on the internet to find a shoulder support for my new XH-A1. I dislike hand-held cameras with no shoulder support. I tried finding one to purchase, but none allowed me to still connect to a tripod.

So I made my own, ‘The ShoulderLander’

The Shoulderlander prototype is made up of an aluminium bar about 35cm x 5cm, a bit of foam on the bottom, a hand made (longer) tripod bolt

My paglight C6 battery for my on camera light kit sits nicely above the shoulderlander as a counterweight, if needed. I just use two big elastic rubber bands to hold it on. Works a treat, but when attached, wont allow access to the battery apartment.

If I was to do another, I would probably use a 4cm wide piece of aluminium and have it maybe 3mm thick instead of 6mm. Then I could bend the end to fit around my shoulder if needed.

The hardest part of building this was making the tripod bolt. (1.4-20) as you can’t buy them from hardware stores.

I really can’t believe not one camera manufacturer (apart from Sony, who make the ridiculously priced VCTFXA) make a shoulder support THAT also allows connection to a tripod.

I’m new to these ‘handheld’ cams, and really believe if you are using them with manual settings, you need a 3rd arm (ie shoulder pad) so you are not getting ‘wobblyshot’ when you make adjustments.