hls small rig, which one is better? Let's find out. [Music] Hey, what is going on y'all? Welcome or welcome back to the channel. I got a bit of a gear review slash gear comparison for you today, and it is the Battle of the rotating camera collars. I have with me today the Atoll S by Silence Corner and the Small Rig rotating camera collar. Now, I've owned these for a little while now. I've been using them pretty frequently, and I have thoughts. So, I figured what I'd do is just kind of let you know what is my overall user experience of both of these, what are some of the pros and cons to both, and then overall which one of these do I think is going to be the better bang for your buck should you choose to purchase one. But real quick, for those of you out there who may have never used a rotating camera collar or let alone heard of one before today, let me give you a quick rundown of what they are and why you might use them. So, what it is is an

attachment for your camera that allows you to attach your camera to a tripod or a monopod and quickly switch between landscape and portrait shooting orientations without having to mess around with the position positioning or the ball head of your tripod or monopod. Now, I know that may not sound like much at first, but the amount of time it saves and the ability to quickly switch between landscape and portrait orientations quickly in a matter of seconds, that really adds up. So, if you're someone out there who uses a tripod or monopod a lot when you're shooting, maybe for landscape photography, portrait photography, astrophotography, you might want to think about picking one of these up. For me, myself, I actually knew that I wanted to be able to sit my camera on a tripod for studio shoots. That way, I can possibly tether to a laptop and have my photos go straight into there and just keep my camera in an overall stationary position. Additionally, because I do shoot these YouTube videos, this allows me to quickly switch from horizontal to vertical video.

shooting modes. This attachment does work on sliders and gimbals, so that just kind of adds to the overall value that this type of product provides. But with that said, let's go ahead and get into the overall use and comparison of these two specific brands. Now, one thing I'll say first is that Silence Corner, the brand that makes the Atoll S, I think they were actually the first company I ever heard of that was making a product like this. Much like you, I was watching a YouTube video, a photographer/filmmaker got on and said, This is the best product ever. And so naturally, I was like, I must have it. So I bought it, I used it, I loved it. However, I do think that because they were one of the first brands to make something like this, there are some small touches that they missed out on. And as other companies started coming out with products like this, I think they saw Atoll S's shortcomings and they made small little improvements on their product based off of that. And that's what we're gonna see as we make this

comparison between this and the small rig. Now, fundamentally, both of these products perform the exact same function. They're both really well built, both very durable and sturdy. They both mount to your tripod or monopod by an ARCA Swiss plate. They both rotate counterclockwise from landscape to portrait shooting orientations. Hey, future break right here. One big thing I did not emphasize enough is that if you want to rotate your camera collar from landscape to portrait orientation, it has to go counterclockwise. You cannot do it in a clockwise direction. Let me show you why that's a problem. If you're a person who, say, likes to film themselves or wants to do a self-portrait and you want to do it in the portrait orientation, you're going to set up your camera, you flip out your little flippy screen so that you can see yourself, turn it nice and right, and then you turn your camera, but your screen is getting blocked by your tripod. Now, you can try to frame the shot, you can kind of look around, make sure you're in there

but you're still getting this obstruction of your flippy screen from your tripod or monopod. Now, if you try to turn it in a clockwise manner so that your flippy screen is facing up and you can see what you're actually filming or shooting, it gets blocked by the grip of your camera. So, you can't rotate it in the clockwise direction. This is a problem with both the Atoll S and the Small Rig. So, if you're a camera rotating collar manufacturer out there, one piece of advice I would have is try to make it so that you can rotate the camera clockwise. Back to the video, they both have a little knob at the base of the collar in order for you to lock the rotation position. And lastly, they both have an affordance for you to attach and detach lenses when you want to swap them out quickly. Basically, they achieve the exact same goal. However, there are some little nuances and differences that, in my opinion, give one of these a little bit more of an edge over the other. So

Let's talk about a couple of areas where I think the Atol S wins over the small rig. Now for starters, the Atol S comes in two color ways. You can either get it in this silver color or in black. The small rig only does come in black, and I think that's just par for the course for small rig. Most of their mounting gear for cameras is just this nice solid black, which is nothing wrong with that, but it is nice to have some options. Now secondly, the Atol S mounts to your tripod by an ARCA Swiss plate, like I had mentioned before. However, when you slide it into your tripod or monopod, you're sliding your camera in in a forward direction, and then that way you can stand behind your tripod or monopod, quickly line it up, and then just slide it in, lock your camera, and you're ready to use it. Now with the small rig, I do believe because it does provide the affordance for you to mount your camera to either an ARCA Swiss mount.

or a Manfrotto mount. The way they configured it is the Arca Swiss Mount mounting option, which makes you have to slide your camera into your tripod sideways. So, either you have to approach your tripod or monopod from the side and slide your camera in, or you have to reposition the ball head of your tripod or monopod and then stand behind your tripod or monopod and slide it in sideways that way. Me personally, I think the Atoll S iteration is a little bit better because, for me, I like being able just to stand behind my tripod, easily align it, and slide my camera in without having to do the extra steps of either standing to the side of my tripod or repositioning the ball head of my tripod. So, in my opinion, the Atoll S wins for the way it mounts. Now, let's get into some of the areas where I think the Small Rig rotating collar wins, and spoiler alert, it's quite a few areas. Now, first up is the rotating feel and motion. Now, with the Atoll S, it's super easy to

rotate. You just loosen the lock mechanism, and then you can quickly rotate, no resistance. It just allows you to quickly switch from landscape to portrait, which is good. However, it's a little too easy to rotate in the sense that you can actually over-rotate your camera, and it's very easy to knock the rotation out of place. So, you definitely have to be mindful about rotating and then locking the position. Now, with the small rig, the rotation is a lot smoother. In fact, there's a little bit of a glided resistance to it. You can turn it and rotate it, but it's not going to be as quick of a rotation. It's a lot smoother, but it only allows you to rotate to two positions. You can either rotate it landscape or portrait. You can't over-rotate it, and the rotation is very guided. It's very smooth, so much so where you can rotate it and not really have to worry about locking the mechanism. You can just rotate it and know that it will stay in place. So, I think that's one area

where the small rig wins for just knowing that that rotation is going to be in the right place. Now, secondly, it has to do with how your camera sits on the tripod once it's mounted with the collar. Now, when you attach your Atoll's collar to the tripod, it's actually pretty flush with the mount of the tripod. However, with the small rig, you're actually slightly elevated from the mount of the tripod. And this has the advantage of making sure that you have enough clearance to rotate your camera to the portrait orientation. I have found myself a couple of times trying to rotate my camera into portrait orientation with the Atoll's, and it ends up hitting the base of my tripod. I have to position the mount back a little bit in order to fully rotate it. With the small rig, I haven't really run into that problem because it does have that little bit of elevation to it. So, I think that's another area that gives it the win. Now, the third one I would give to the small rig is actually in the build.

of the collar itself with the Atoll S. It is just the collar mount, and so you have the little mount that connects to your camera, and then the portion that connects to your tripod, and that's about it. With the Small Rig, it actually includes a grip extender for your camera mounting. Each of these, they would have to go directly onto your camera. You can't put them on top of a cage or anything. So, with the Small Rig giving you that extra grip extension to it, it's actually really nice for people with larger hands, like myself, where my pinky can rest on the grip of the camera, versus with the Atoll S, where my pinky just kind of hangs off the edge of it, and it's a little less comfortable while I'm holding it, or even while it's stationary and I have my hand on the camera. Now, let me elaborate on some of the little touches that Small Rig added that Atoll missed. Being one of the first players in the rotating camera collar space, knowing that the collar would cover certain

parts of the camera small rig included some nice little touches that really enhance the experience. First up is the little indicator dot that's very similar to the one that you have on your Sony camera that allows you to easily align your lens to your camera when you're getting ready to mount it. I think that was a really nice touch because the Ring of the collar does cover that indicator dot on your camera, so it's nice to be able to see that on the collar so that you can quickly align your lens and attach it to your camera. Now, another thing, and this is probably the most important, the Ring of each of one of these collars, it covers up the lens release button of your with the atoll s. You have to kind of finagle your finger behind the Ring of the collar in order to just reach that button in order to release your camera lens. With the small rig, they had an affordance where they actually incorporated a button on the collar that would essentially reach all the way to the button on the camera and

allow you to release your lens when you're ready to switch it out, so I think that was a really nice touch. It was super valuable for me not to have to try to wiggle my finger behind the Ring of the collar in order to hit that button to change out my lens. I thought that was a really nice touch. Now, last up, price. Now, honestly, this is where the small rig makes the atol S a hard sell for anyone who's buying their first rotating camera collar. At the time of this recording, the atol S retails for $109. By comparison, at the time of this recording, the small rig rotating camera collar is about $80. And I think that with all the little improvements that they added to really make the user experience better overall, the small rig rotating collar is the best bang for your buck. Both of these are really awesome products. I've enjoyed using both of these. I get a lot of use out of both of these. But if I had to buy another one, it would have to be a

small rig, but with all that said, what do y'all think? Do you all think I'm right? Do you all think I'm wrong? Was there something about the atol s that stood out to you over the small rig? Would love to hear your thoughts down below. I will leave links to both of these down in the description. They are Amazon affiliate links. No pressure to use those links to buy, but if you do, it's much appreciated. If you got any value out of this video, any value in this gear comparison, feel free to leave this video a like, subscribe if you haven't already, and I will catch y'all later. [Music] Thank you.

ATOLL S or SMALLRIG: Which CAMERA COLLAR is Better?

ATOLL S or SMALLRIG: Which CAMERA COLLAR is Better?