SmallRig SR-RG1 Wireless Shooting Grip Review | Better than Sony's?
in this video i’m going to review the
small rig srg1 shooting grip and find
out whether it’s better than sony’s own
shooting grips are great for vlogging
using as tabletop tripods and
controlling your camera over bluetooth
in this review i’m testing it with the
sony zv e10 mirrorless camera
though the srg1 is compatible with most
bluetooth enabled cameras from sony and
canon
so smallrig have sent me this grip for
review but i’m not being paid to review
it and the review of the grip will be
honest so you can decide if it is a good
purchase for you so the grip has a load
capacity of 1.5 kilograms and can be
used as a mini tripod or a handheld grip
it has an extendable arm up to 5.9
inches and has a detachable remote
control
with camera control buttons
the srg1 is currently priced at 80
pounds 90 dollars
the packaging it comes in is not
considerably bigger than the grip
and it’s securely packaged
it comes with a manual
and beyond the grip there is a usb
type-c cable for charging so fairly
straightforward but i’m very happy to
see
and taking a closer look at the grip
it’s made of hard plastic with a few
metal elements
and it has rubber grip pads on the back
it has a quarter inch thread to connect
the camera to the grip but it also has a
thread mount at the base of the grip if
you wanted to securely attach the grip
to something else
and now onto the buttons
it has a wide telephoto slider for
zooming in and out
photo and movie buttons for activating
those features
as well as a button for the c1 function
which you can change at any time
there is also a power on off switch
which is unlikely to be knocked by
accident rather than a power on off
button which you would easily press by
accident so that’s a nice little extra
so the legs that turn it into a tripod
open
up from the back to put it in tripod
mode
and the remote control is detachable
from the front if you want to use it
separately from the tripod or the grip
so when you’re attaching the grip to a
camera it’s done with this dial here
and once it’s on it feels very secure
it’s nice that you don’t have to twist
the camera around to attach it to the
grip
and opening up the grip into tripod mode
is easy enough and holds the weight of
the zv e10 with the kit lens very easily
and you can fit on slightly larger
lenses as well
to change the direction of the camera
use this switch here
which makes it a very comfortable angle
for vlogging or either side if that’s
what you need
you tilt the camera by using the silver
button on the side
so overall it’s a fairly sturdy mini
tripod for smaller cameras especially
with smaller lenses
you can also use the same silver button
to extend the arm of the grip for a
longer shooting angle
which is good for vlogging but
definitely worth bearing in mind that it
is not sturdy enough for using in tripod
mode your camera will fall over almost
instantly even a lighter weight set up
like i’m using here
the detachable remote control is very
light and small when removed
useful for keeping in your pocket per se
or just carrying around with you to
operate the camera from afar
and here you can see the usbc port for
charging
and the remote connects to the grip by
magnets
now you can see if i give it a bit of a
shake
the remote doesn’t come off the grip
though if i give it a
bit more effort it does fall off which
isn’t ideal because it does mean that it
might come off during general use
especially if you’ve got a grip in your
bag or something it could be very easy
for the remote to come
detached from the grip let’s look now at
pairing the device via bluetooth and
using the remote control when you’re on
your camera
go to bluetooth settings and then
pairing
once that’s activated
turn on the small remote control using
the power button
and hold down at the same time the movie
button and the c1 button until it pairs
which you’ll be able to see on the
screen of the camera should only take a
couple of seconds
then you can control the camera using
the remote control
and when using a power zoom lens
such as the 16 to 50 millimeter kit lens
you can zoom in and out using the wt
slider
and of course you can use the photo
button to take photos and movies using
the movie button
and as i mentioned before any function
you’ve got mapped to the c1 button you
can also use from the remote control on
the grip
so here’s an example of using the grip
as a vlogging
grip as you can tell it’s pretty good
for
a wide angle type shot this is just
using the kit lens and you could zoom in
and out
as required but that’s 16 millimeter
that is the standard width is pretty
good from here
now as you can also tell it isn’t that
stable there’s no stabilization built
into the grip so any stabilization has
to come from the camera as this isn’t a
gimbal but if we wanted an even longer
angle we could use the extendable arm
the grip to go there that’s the first
mode and then the full length is there
so you really wanted a long angle it’s
still not too heavy as it is a
relatively light grip
um but
for an extended period of time that
would probably be a little bit too heavy
so what is good about the
srrg1
well i really like that it’s got a
detachable remote whereas other grips
such as sony’s own is built into the
grip which does mean that it has a lot
less flexibility
and talking of flexibility the extended
arm option definitely gives you more
options when shooting
in the vlogging position but as i
mentioned before just be careful when
using it in tripod mode it will topple
over very easily i probably wouldn’t use
the extendable arm at all when using it
in that situation a shame because it
would be nice to have that extra range
but it probably isn’t worth the risk of
your camera falling over
also the inclusion of the usb charging
is a big plus especially again compared
to the sony grip which needs batteries
but what do i not like so much about
this grip well it would be better in my
opinion if the remote clipped to the
grip as you can see it comes off very
easily it’d be nice if you there’s a way
of stopping it detaching by itself as
this has definitely been an issue while
i’ve been using it another small
downside is the lack of lock
functionality on the grip and what this
means is that you can still press the
button such as photo mode record while
holding the grip if you’ve got the
remote connected to the grip
this could be annoying when vlogging as
you could accidentally hit the button
and stop your recording and you might
not necessarily realize the sony grip
by comparison does have a lock so you
can’t accidentally press these buttons
and it’s also worth noting that the grip
will become unbalanced by a larger lens
even if it’s under the weight limit this
is fairly obvious as it’s a small grip
but if you’re using something like the
sony 18 to 105 it’s worth noting that
it’s not very suitable as the lens is
very big and front heavy so the grip
will start toppling over forwards
so overall for 90 dollars if you’re in
need of a tabletop tripod for live
streaming
a lightweight vlogging grip
or a grip with a detachable remote
control the small rig srg1 comes
recommended by me and i would definitely
choose it ahead of the sony gp vp t2b
t
not just because it’s got a better name
but because of its detachable remote
its extendable arm and usbc charging if
you’d like to pick one of these up i’ll
leave links in the description do you
use a camera grip for vlogging or
something else let me know in the
comments below but if you’ve enjoyed the
video please consider subscribing to the
channel and dropping a like on the video
but until next time see ya
