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Practice Makes Perfect...
Practice before an important shoot by maneuvering the SteadyTracker through hallways, starting, accelerating, maintaining a constant speed, turning, stopping, backing up, and stepping up or down curbs. Careful walking is just as important as an extended arm. Use the heel toe, heel toe method for smooth forward locomotion. Gently plant your heel, shift pressure to the ball of your foot, then push off with your toes. Bend your knees slightly at all times as if walking like "Groucho". For walking backward, just reverse the process. Toe heel, toe heel.
An alternate method of walking backward when preceding an actor is to walk forward but point the camera backward. Twist your upper torso enough to keep the monitor in view. This will allow use of your peripheral vision to avoid obstacles, and lets you walk much faster.
Beverage Delivery
A good way to program your arms muscle memory is to practice with a plastic cup filled with water. Remove your camera and place it on the camera stage. Practice with the "V" grip and the full grip methods. The less water you spill, the smoother your footage will be. By watching the water surface you are actually training your muscles how it feels when it is hanging truly level. Five to ten minutes of this specialized training can really improve on perfecting your style. This will train you to keep the shot level without constant viewing of the image on the monitor.
When angling the becomes necessary in the form of a Dutch angle or tilt, use the full grip method (like holding a hammer) and rely on the monitor for accurate framing.
There are three things to be aware of and divide your attention to when shooting.
1) Visuals Inside the Monitor
The framing of your shot, headroom, foreground objects and levelness.
2) Visuals Outside the Monitor
What action is developing outside the frame. Where you are going, and trip hazard awareness (Peripheral Vision Awareness). Visual confirmation of the SteadyTracker for levelness or its intended angle. Watching the base for unwanted erratic movement (Direct Viewing).
3) Feel
Awareness of external bumping. Muscle memory feedback confirmation of levelness and smoothness.
The Framing Window
Good framing includes making the best use of any negative space. As the frame changes, analyze the top and bottom and compare the sides. This requires constant attention and requires great presence of mind. It is one reason why shooting is such a great challenge and rewarding when done well. Comparing the sides is simply asking yourself "more right?" Or "more left?" A wise choice replaces the unused negative space with more visual information. Step back to include anything happening outside the frame. Comparing the top to bottom is analyzing headroom. More headroom or less? Can I show more of what I need to by Dutching the SteadyTracker at a diagonal? These are some simple guidelines for developing your framing style. Carefully studying your shots in the editing room helps you to shoot better video the next time out. Practice and develop your skills before a really important shoot. Since tape is cheap, overshoot and use only the prime footage.
A Short Story from the Wild West
Shooting from the hip requires accurate guessing of what is in the framing window without the benefit of a monitor. The old cowboys were good at this, quickly drawing and firing their guns with deadly accuracy. A walk and talk is dependent on accurate framing, and usually necessitates monitoring for the proper amount of headroom. Whereas artistic fluid moving shots can be done "from the hip" or without diverting your attention to the monitor.
Advanced Training:
Moving Shots without Walking
Hold the SteadyTracker at about chest level and pivot at the waist without taking a step. Now add an upward or downward booming move together with the pivot. For a longer shot add one large step as you pivot. This can yield a 5-7 foot outside trucking arc, (which is a very impressive shot), and for you perfectionists out there, will consistently produce your smoothest work.
Ninety percent of the moving shots we see at feature films are done on dollies or cranes. These are the tools to use if you're looking for perfection. Every stabilizer on the market today, including the $40,000 kind, are susceptible to horizon rock or roll, depending upon operator skill. So don't look for absolute perfection.
Revealing and Concealing
Starting at the feet and rising adds interest to a walk and talk shot. We call it "revealing a subject". It can also be used to reveal or conceal perspective, giving more importance to the dominating subject. This also works well on a lateral move. Start your scene on something totally irrelevant to the main subject. Audio should be strong as you slowly reveal the main subject. Look for the various ways you see this technique being used on big budget productions.
Arcs
Circling stationary objects looks good because you are giving the frame a three dimensional sense of depth with near and far objects. It's always good to come around to some sort of frontal shot and hold it for a moment before cutting.
Passbys
These require some practice but yield nice results. Think of it as a circling move stretched out along a straight line. Or it can be modified at any point. If you're hyper critical of any un level footage, try purposely shooting off axis. With good framing and moving composition, these can be the most potent pieces in your production.
Post Production to the Rescue
Slow motion can be used to lengthen a scene that is too short. During post production editing, you'll develop an eye for interesting moves. Slow motion will stretch it out and even make it appear smoother. If it's totally radical, use the cut several times in your piece. Even some quick, short, unintentional moves become gems if you slow them down during editing.
Pack a Secret Weapon
Most professional videographers use their auto focus (if they have it) sparingly because of its tendency to have a mind of its own. A photographic trick used to hold proper focus is increasing your depth of field. A wide angle lens adapter, added to your camera, allows the auto focus to be disabled. With proper light they can hold focus from a few inches out to infinity. Buy a true .5 lens that will fit your camera. Popular sizes are 37mm, 46mm, 49mm, 52mm, and 55mm. It is usually printed on or near the end of your lens. Carefully thread it on, turning in a clockwise rotation. Disable your auto focus and set focus to about the middle of its range. Or preset it for each shot. For dramatic impact on action shots, you really should try a wide angle lens adapter. This allows in focus action to happen much closer to the lens of the camera, intensifying the scene. Frame filling close-ups are much easier to execute. Surprisingly, it also seems to make moving shots smoother. A .7 or .6 lens will have less curvature than a true .5 lens, but we've found the wider the better for action shots. To reduce curvature, zoom in a tad or until satisfied. Remember, zooming in also increases that nasty tunnel vision effect associated with televisions narrow 4:3 aspect ration.
Shooting Real Estate
A wide angle lens adapter is a "must have" accessory if you are taping indoor shots of real estate. The true .5 adapters come closer to the humans enormous 170 degree field of view. It will make rooms look bigger as compared to shooting with the standard wide angle setting on the camera. Before shooting a video walk through, predetermine all your key frames. Locate all the features of the house, and plot your camera path, just like setting up a camera path for a 3D animation sequence. Have your narrator speaking on or off camera, and slow down your moves on the key frames allowing the viewer to appreciate its features.
Tradition Zooming while Body Supported
When you can no longer move toward your subject, or you want to stay back from the action, bring the eyepiece up to your eye for traditional zooming. By bracing the base or the fuselage against your body, it greatly stabilizes the image even on 12 to 1 zooms.
Shooting Over Crowds
By raising the SteadyTracker up to where the base rests on your shoulder, you can easily shoot over peoples heads. You'll want to keep the zoom near the wide end and adjust the monitor angle for easy viewing. This is called the periscope position.
Self Supported Shooting
When you get tired of holding up the SteadyTracker, or need a static shot, set it on the ground or any nearby table. Check out the parameters of your framing window, and get in the shot yourself, noting the safe area zone. You may also rotate the monitor 180 degrees for direct viewing of the monitor and yourself. Use some books under the rear leg to tilt down, and use a sandbag for safety to keep it upright. To pan or tilt in this resting mode, lean it back on its rear leg, like a monopod. These low angles are used extensively during feature film-making and is nice to have these low angle shots so accessible for home or professional use.
Shooting Yourself
Here's another way for the "unknown camera man" to get himself out from behind the lens and out in front of it more often. Do your own walk and talks and amaze your friends! Simply extend your arm away from your body, pointing the camera at yourself. Use clip on wired or wireless lavaliere for that crisp sound. You can pan to or away from yourself during the shot, narrating the whole time. This is a surprisingly effective shot, and unless you know the secret, it is very hard to figure out or duplicate. Turn the monitor so you can see yourself, or look at the reflection in the lens. Using your edit search can tell you exactly how these shots are turning out. Try high angles, low angles, profiles, straight on, off axis, trailing from the side, or any combination of these "self got" shots. It also allows you to do a "two shot" of you and your companion.
Shooting Inside a Car
Resting the base of the SteadyTracker on the seat between your legs turns your whole car into a giant dolly. Rotate the camera on the stage for shooting out the side window. (Passenger Seat, Drivers seat may not be legal, obey local laws)
Rest the SteadyTracker on the floorboard to shoot yourself doing a drive and talk. It may also be used in the back of a truck. This is another one of those incredibly stable shots.
Shooting from a Bike
Hold it out away from the spokes at all times. Grip the upper thumbscrew with your index finger to keep the wind from turning it. Or hold it directly under the stage. If you get tired, rest it on the crossbar or handle bar.
Straight Up or Down
Rotate the camera forward, backward, or either direction sideways, smoothly to an upside down shot. Use two hands like a baton twirler for quicker moves. Or pre-grip upside down for the best form.
Shooting on Stairs
Shooting yourself on stairs is surprisingly smooth. Doing a walk and talk of others on stairs is a very difficult move and should be practiced several times to coach the actors on staying within the frame. Preceding the actors down a steep narrow stairway is extremely complicated to do and should only be attempted by expert operators. Its a lot easier to follow from behind or from the side on double wide staircases.
Running
Full speed running should only be attempted when safe to do so, and by well seasoned operators. This is the time to be shooting from the hip, watching your path and occasionally checking the base for erratic movements. Your main attention should be on using your sense of feel to be not adversely affecting the stability of the rig.
FAQ's:
How do I hold it up in position for an 8 hour shoot?
Good shooting techniques suggest giving viewers a variety of shots. Moving camera shots should be used as the spice for your production. Do the moving shots when needed, then stay still and let the action happen within the frame when needed. Static shots can be done by setting it on the ground or a chair or table. Handheld static shots can be done by resting the base on your leg. This position even allows zooming in to the subject. These were the techniques used to shoot an uncut wedding ceremony (30 min's) at a park setting. Typical film style shooting allows plenty of time to rest between takes. One of the tapes that is included with purchase is an uncut 16 minute flying shot. This is more than enough time for what stabilizers are typically used for.
How do SteadyTrackers work and how easy are they to set up and use?
All moving camera stabilizers of this type use basically the same principle to stabilize unwanted motion. Lowered center of gravity counterbalance, and balance on all three planes. The device is balanced front to back, side to side, and top to bottom. How easy they are set up, balanced, and rechecked for proper balance depends on the individual stabilizers design. How easy they are to use depends on the type of handle utilized.
Balancing
The old technology requires a critical pinpoint balance to be achieved which can take hours of set up time moving the camera from hole to hole, then adding weights until the rig doesn't topple over from being too top heavy, or swing like a pendulum from being too bottom heavy. Keep in mind the inconvenience of having to repeat this procedure when adding or removing any accessories. The SteadyTrackers use an expanded 5 point balancing gimbal handle which is not anywhere near as critical as the other single pinpoint balancing gimbal handles. The SteadyTrackers do not require weights to be added or removed (and lost) but utilize a sliding handle to make the unit balance top to bottom. The Camera slides in slots for front to back and side to side balance. These sliding balancing adjustments are much easier, faster, and more convenient than adding & removing different weights.
Ease of use
The old technology removes most of the control from their handle yet requires a second hand to control and steer the rig from just slightly above the handle. The SteadyTrackers handle design gives the operator 100% control and allows true one handed operation. This feels more natural, and is easier to learn and control. The free hand can be used to push necessary controls on the camera, (record, white balance, and adjust focus, iris, gain, etc.) without the camera bouncing out of control. Their handle multiplies the force of wrist torque on the operators wrist and forearm. It can be likened to holding a sledgehammer up and at an angle. This can get awfully painful rather quickly. Wrist torque does not occur with the SteadyTrackers handle which is centered, not offset, under the weight of the device.
Dependability, durability
The SteadyTrackers are made from durable lightweight aircraft grade aluminum and can put up with years of day to day use. Once set, the balance never needs to be reset or retrimed. The delicate bearings in the other handles tend to become wobbly and need a lot of retrimming.
Creative freedom
All moving stabilizers can fly, pan, boom, and tilt but how well you can control the device during these moves is what sets the SteadyTracker apart from the others. Try acceleration and deceleration when panning, quickly starting, stopping, and reversing directions while flying, smooth tilting at the start or end of a boom, or dutching off axis during a flying move. Or try just holding the camera still. Balance means nothing without control. Level shots quickly become boring when that's the only option you've got. Check out the moves on the demo tapes and you be the judge. The SteadyTrackers have several examples of smooth rotation dutch angle shots, which are some of the most beautiful shots imaginable.
Multifunctional features
SteadyTrackers have been designed for handheld use, body supported use, and self supported use.
Handheld
They can smoothly circle around your subject, ditching, booming, and tilting on the fly, changing angles and framing just like in music videos. You can do chase scenes, go up and down stairs, jump off walls, go over picnic tables, follow people in cars, shoot weddings, receptions, love stories, sports, documentaries, choirs, plays, etc.
Body mounted
Resting it on your leg lets you zoom and focus with a heads up position with both eyes free to monitor or look for new scenes. Pull it up to your body with your eye against the viewfinder for traditional zooming style shots. Lift it up on your shoulder and shoot over peoples heads while looking in the color monitor for perfect framing.
Self supported
You can tilt and pan "monopod style" from the floor or the edge of a table. Or you can set it up like a tripod and get in the shot yourself. This lets you completely rest as you think of your next shot. An optional low mode cage is available that gets low ground level shots for a squirrels eye view. This cage is also tiltable in low and upright positions.
Performance
Watch the demo tapes and you be a judge on each stabilizers performance. Watch for horizon rocking, how much slow motion is used on the actual shots, and the range of cameramen used (if only feature film masters are shown, it may not be suitable for beginners).
Why don't all stabilizers use a harness and a mechanical arm?
The vest and arm adds to the overall weight, cost, complexity and spontaneity. It is hard to master, very expensive, and not needed with today's high quality lightweight cameras. With light weight cameras, the human arm does it easier and at less cost. The camera weight doesn't go away, it all gets concentrated to your lower back. And when you add the weight of the vest and arm, it really can get quite tiring. We have a continuous motion shot on tape that runs 9.5 minutes, which proves with today's high quality lightweight cameras, you don't need the added problems of a mechanical arm.
What is the total weight of the device?
SteadyTrackers figures are quoted at the total weight with monitor, batteries and ready to roll (minus the camera). Under 3 pounds total for the SteadyTracker UltraLite, and 4.2 pounds total for the SteadyTracker Xtreme.
What are the advantages of a stabilizer?
Staying with the action, getting the mic (on the camera) close to the source, creating on scene excitement, or getting the money shot. In a nutshell it makes better productions by engaging the viewers, because they now feel like part of the action. With time you will be able to add the most beautiful movements to shots, if you're into the artistic side of shooting.
Does it have a built in monitor?
The SteadyTracker is designed to work with the cameras with built in flip out screens, hence it is shipped without a monitor. You can buy it set up ready to roll with a monitor (4" or 3"), or use your own monitor.
I've heard these devices don't work in the wind.
The SteadyTracker is the one that does work in the wind.
How easy is it to mount and remove a camera?
Some stabilizers use a small screw that goes into one of many holes, that require a screwdriver every time you want to take the camera off. The SteadyTrackers use a "universal quick mounting plate" which stays on the camera, similar to a "quick mount tripod plate". This makes it fast and convenient when removing the camera. Requiring no tools, just the turn of a knob and it slides on or off.
Can I use an external battery belt with it?
Yes, the dangling cable will not adversely effect the balance unless the cable is stepped on or caught on something which physically yanks the camera.
How long does it take to learn?
With the SteadyTracker, most camera operators can get usable shots instantly. We've seen hundreds of people at trade shows achieve stable moving shots as soon as the rig is handed to them.
What have the Magazines said?
Every Magazine review has rated it good or excellent. When compared to the other stabilizers on the market, the panel of reviewers at Video Pro Magazine rated ours the #1 Stabilizer. They actually said it blew away the competition.
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