In 2004 I was hired by ABC News to shoot a courtroom documentary series utilizing the brand new DV camera technology.  Our producer wanted a small broadcast quality camera so the crews would be unobtrusive to the people involved in the series. The beauty of the Sony PD-150 was its size and weight.  No longer were you limited to a heavy on the shoulder camera system where the camera axis is limited to the axis of your torso.  The small camera offered up wonderful angles based on where your hand could go.  The only limitation was arm fatigue and shaky shots from long interviews or b-roll.

I experimented with several ideas to ease the arm fatigue and unwanted camera shake.  Like many other designs on the market I fashioned support based on past experience, using my shoulder to hold the weight.  I was always frustrated with those ideas because they seemed to take away the advantage of small camera flexibility. After several prototypes I realized the best system would be a true “hand held” design not a shoulder held design.  Finally I devised this camera support system to support your arm and wrist -- and just like your arm, hand and wrist the Dougmon has unlimited angles available for your shots.

From my initial Dougmon design I have now added a sling system, Slingmon, which allows both hands to be on the camera and supports heavier weighted cameras and DSLRs.  The larger Manfrotto style release mount was added for Pros wanting to add attachments to the Dougmon such as adjustable arms to hold monitors, etc.

If you have ideas you would like to have incorporated into the Dougmon system I’d love to hear about them from you.  Please give me feedback and send photos of you at work with the Dougmon. 

I’m happy to have this system ready to share with my fellow shooters at an affordable price.  Happy shooting!