Johan Hellsten is back in Sweden, working on expanded facilities for his EasyRig factory in Umeå, just south of the arctic circle. Response to the NAB introduction of the new EasyRig Vario 5  at 16×9 Inc has been huge, and they are shipping now.

On the phone yesterday amid the noise of chainsaws and bulldozers, Johan said, “I stopped working for Swedish Television two years ago to focus all my attention on building EasyRigs.”

It took Johan and his team five years to develop the new EasyRig Vario 5. The big deal is that you can adjust the tension of the camera-supporting cable by turning a screw in back with a hex driver. This supports cameras from 11 – 38 lb.

Johan Hellsten (l) and Brad White (r) with new EasyRig Vari 5 at Band Pro / 16×9 Inc NAB booth

Previous EasyRigs came in different models and you ordered supports depending on camera weight.

 Like the other models, the new adjustable Easyrig Vario 5 takes the weight of the camera off your back, neck and shoulders and redistributes it to the hips. Johan invented the original EasyRig while working as a news cameraman, shooting hand held for hours. “It extended my career 20 years,” he said.

There are some misunderestimations (as George Bush famously said, but not about EasyRig…) It’s not a replacement for Steadicam or Gimbal rigs. What is does best is to let you comfortably shoot handheld, steadily, for long periods of time or with heavy cameras or cameras with longer zoom lenses. Thousands of them are working worldwide–available from 16x9inc in USA, EMIT  France, Sanwa Japan, Chrosziel, Cartoni Italy, Lemac Australia,  Band Pro  Germany and Israel, and more.