RigWheels Cloud Mount Makes Gimbal Car Mounting Quick And Easy

Camera Mounts

by Tim FokApril 1^st, 2016

RigWheels has announced a new car mount product that we’ll see more of at NAB next month. The Cloud Mount is a customizable camera vibration isolation system that is designed to cut car rig setups down to just minutes. 

Conventional car mount rigging can take hours. Unconventional measures can be dangerous.

RigWheels looks to bring convenience to those quick few car shots, without the constraints of working with a slow & heavy rig—or the confines & safety issues of hanging out of a car window/trunk.

Car Mount Rigging Made Easy

The RigWheels Cloud Mount is simply a scalable magnetic platform, adjustable wire cage, and top plate; it works in conjunction with existing gimbal stabilizers like the DJI Ronin and Freefly Movi.

The magnetics are powerful (payloads below) and coated with rubber to reduce the chance of damaging your car’s paint or body work.

The flexible wire cage is the core, taking the strain of movement, alleviating this from your gimbal—and, naturally, your camera motion.

Both the thickness and length of the wires can be adjusted according to the requirements of your rig.

The RigWheels Cloud Mount will be available in 3 sizes:

• 8-Magnet DSLR Package (suitable up to 400lbs pulling force)
• 12-Magnet Mid-size Package (suitable  up to 600lbs pulling force)
• 16-Magnet Pro-Package (suitable up to 800lbs pulling force)

There are a few options for mounting on the vehicle. The Cloud Mount in its entirety comes with the magnetic platform, but it’s also available without this section. You could also bolt on a few receiving spigots if you want to utilize the shock mounting aspect on more conventional setups.

Further more is the options for suction cups for mounting on none magnetic surfaces such as glass.

In terms of mounting your gimbal, it’s relatively straightforward for the DJI Ronin. As standard the Ronin, the gimbal detaches from the handlebars via a proprietary dovetail join. RigWheels offer an adapter plate compatible with this.

For the Freefly MøVi, you’ll need the Freefly Ninja Star Adaptor Plate and Toad in the Hole quick release system.

It looks as if RigWheels will provide this option in the future, but you’ll need to upgrade your MøVi to the rapid release Toad In the Hole system before hand, as they do not ship with this as standard.

Alongside the promo video is a useful long, and uncut video showing the RigWheels Cloud Mount in a more off-road environment

Sure, it’s not perfect, and it certainly won’t entirely replace complex rig configurations where much more precision and control comes into play.

For these shoots, the big, slow car mount rig configurations are more of an occupational hazard than a dilemma, but Cloud Mount looks to offer a fantastic solution to those looking for a very quick and straightforward setup, which will offer more than hanging arms length from a moving vehicle.

Like many RigWheels products, The Cloud Mount is not a closed off bit of kit. If you own the Rig Mount X or XL, you already having existing components and can just buy add-ons. Or you can even configure it to work with their RigSkate and RailDolly.

As a guide of price, the DSLR package with 8-magnet base starts from $999 and the Pro-Package with 16-magnet base starts at $1199.

We’ll keep an eye out for RigWheels at NAB next month.