Norwegian Railjam shot on 7D!
 

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We held a Railjam for snowboarders in Gjøvik/Norway.

People who watch this only cares about the snowboard and tricks taken, so I need some people who don't give a hang about the backflip or 450 bs,- who can give me some criticism on this one. :)

Lenses used
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8
Sigma 30mm f/1.4
Handheld
RØDE mic (bad sound tho.. Why?)

Okay. Here are my thoughts.

There are sections that are sharp and super clean that look great! THere is a lot of it. As always, there are some soft shots that I assume were with the 30mm@f1.4. They look good but it is hard to judge focus in the camera LCD. I get shots like this too and it kills me so I feel hust a wee bit better that someone else has this happen too!

Were you using a rig for any of this? A few sections have that telltale "jittery" look of a handheld DSLR with no stabiilizer. That's what my footage looked like when I only had the Canon 50mm f1.8. There was always a bit of twitchiness to video even when I was "really" careful.

I am guessing most of the actual snowboarding clips were shot with the Tokina 11-16 and it looked real nice but occasionally I go the sensation that it was a bit warped....you know...like a fish eye but not. That has nothing to do with your shooting but is a side effect of the lens.

Finally, on your daylight shots there is quite a bit of vignetting....or at least there area in the middle of the frame looks much lighter to me.

Can you elaborate on how you shot it? Rigs, lights, lenses for which scenes and such?

Thanks....overall it looks great.

Thanks, very good feedback!
No rig- handheld.
If you are referring to the girl interviews before the finals,-think I had f/1.6. Bad choice,yes. But have learned:)

Handheld is great for a certain type of look and feel. You might try using a tripod with a fluid head like the manfrotto 701hdv head (for light weight setups).

If you don't want to use a tripod and you want something a little more portable and compact you could always use the manfrotto 561bhdv monopod.

A slider can add some really cool movement to a shot, check out this thread for a DIY version: DIY IndieSlider... - DVXuser.com -- The online community for filmmaking
If you don't want to make your own slider, glidetrack, kessler, dp slider, and cinevate all make sliders.

If you do want to do handheld work I recommend shooting with something like theEvent from redrock micro: theEvent DSLR 2.0 hybrid rig
The redrock rig really helps stabilize the shots if you do/don't use the lenses image stabilization. I configured theEvent into a 1 rail rig which is super light and can fit into a back pack pretty easily.

Lastly, a hand held glidecam or steadicam merlin will give you a different dynamic as well, but you get fatigued pretty quick.

Hope this helps...

I thought it was good, I've shot a bunch of rail jams before and just started using my 7d for snowboarding too. the Tokina is DEFINITELY the lens of choice for the riding segments, use both hands on the camera though and it'll be all good.

What was your shutter speed? I like to shoot snowboarding at 1/125 and go to 1/60 if I have to. And I think that shooting everything at 720/60 is the best way to go too. Better slow motion and less jello.


One thing I didn't like is that you seemed to keep the same distance form the riders. You should get in closer, and go out wider, and get low, and get higher.

I really enjoyed watching it though and the dancing part was awesome, and those kids were throwing down hard!

props.