After a day in the field, chasing my spider mad father in law around, I have learned a few things.
I have had to assign a left side button to Record (Fn3), because with the top handle on and used with the right hand, getting to the shutter button can be problematic.
I am now happy that all of my immediate* features are on physical buttons and the first layer of control interface. The touch screen is fine, but too small and fiddly, so best left for tripod work.
The fact is, the handle centralises and effectively puts one hand out of action. If you have one hand on the handle, one cradling the camera and focussing, you do not have a third hand free to do anything else. Without the handle, both hands are at control level, the right doing the bulk of the stabilising and dial/button functions, the left handling focus and screen functions.
Thinking on this I Googled “problems using hot-shoe handles” and several came up warning of hot-shoe breakages and the poor judgement used by the people employing them! I must admit, I was a little tentative at first, but there are so many out there, I just assumed it would be fine.
A G9 with decent lens on the front supported by 4 small screws, likely going into plastic, is a little worrying, especially as I immediately got myself into the habit of using the handle as standard, and this is a comparatively light rig compared to some (Canon SLR with Sigma Art?!).
It seemed like a good idea, but maybe in hindsight………
Looking at my results also, I have to admit, the camera needs to be well held to provide decently still footage, something that the handle alone, with this relatively light load, did not seem to provide. I do have the OSMO, bought just for hand held work!
Holding the camera still enough seems to come down to hugging the body when not moving, which the handle actually makes harder and switching to the OSMO when moving. It looks like a twin handle rig is better for movement.
A better option? This gives me my three cold shoes, without clutter and the top plate and main control dial are obstructed, which is good as they will not get changed by mistake. The rig also fits into more bags.
Viewing is also an issue in bright light, which is not helped by the handle at it pushes the camera further away.
Several times I needed to switch to the eye piece and needing a hat for the day (30 degrees C), the handle got in the way (hat off=burned nose). I could add a screen, which fixes some things, but exacerbates others.
A final point is the “lag” I personally seemed to experience getting myself organised with the handle taking priority. ISO, WB, Aperture, Focus and more need to be addressed immediately and the handle seemed to make holding the camera and operating the camera, two different processes.
Dropping the handle (saved for specific jobs-maybe on an Olympus), I placed the triple cold shoe bracket straight on the camera.
This seems to work.
The extra height, obstructive nature and left/right handedness of the handle is gone and I am just holding the camera, not the “rig”.
If I use the Zoom’s there will be overhang issues, but this will be mostly tripod work and I have ball heads for angling, adding height etc. The H1n/5 can be mounted sideways or reversed when acting as interfaces.
As cool as the handle seemed at the time (Mark Bone insisted!), the reality is, I need to either gimbal or tripod the camera for the standard I am aiming for, or switch to the camera specifically bought for gimbal work. Weight helps with hand holding, but puts more strain on the hot-shoe mount. Hand holding while still with IS lock seems to be ok, but the handle did not help much here.
An option is a full C-Grip (and O-grip, when 2 are used together), which allows me to hold the camera several ways, switch hands while filming, use 2 hands, and load up the rig with no camera strain. They are bulky, but look to work.
Another option, but one I decided early on not to do, is a cage. Smallrig makes a specific one, Niceyrig has one for the GH5’s that apparently just fits the G9. The Smallrig is nicely done and has an Arca plate base (but my video head does not). I actually prefer the Niceyrig as it has 2 cold-shoe mounts (the Smallrig has one only and it is angled) and a larger cheese plate over the camera top-centre, allowing me to get a cold shoe adapter for the handle I have (if needed).
I could then add my triple cold shoe plate (making 5 with the cameras), my existing handle (making 6!) and have added protection around the camera. With this it would also allow me to add weight to the camera a little to help with hand holding.
On another note, the footage captured in 4k Cine-V (-5/-5/+0/+0) was scrumptious, with brilliant fine detail and cinema like colour. I have a ways to go, but it will come.
*ISO (2), Aperture, Peaking, Record (2), Ex tele converter, Histogram, Lock IS, WB (2) and focus (2).