Recommendations for hand held and shoulder stabilizers

[Joshua Clarke]

I'd like to get my hand held shots a bit steadier. Does anyone have a recommendation for support for the HD100?

[Stephan Ahonen]

The best way is to just add lots of mass. Mass = inertia = your little muscle movements won't affect the camera as much. The AB kit with one of their largest battery bricks should do the trick.

The main way to make your handheld look steady though is just shoot differently than you would on a tripod. Walk closer instead of zooming in. Get moving, dynamic shots which disguise your little movements instead of trying to hold static shots steady.

[Jon Jaschob]

As a side note, going to the gym and building muscle mass helps with hand held shots. I have noticed a big difference in my hand held shots after working out for 9 months.

[Paolo Ciccone]

Two main elements controbute to stability: balance and weight. You can add one or two batteries, AB or IDX style, to the back of the camera. Sometimes I tape/velcro two together, some IDX come premade to be stackable. Balance your camera on your leg and move the shoulder pad to find the balance point. Avoid zooming in too much and with a little bit of practice you should get some good results.

[Steve Oakley]

right, so does a lectro wireless receiver(s) as extra weight. another point, stop holding the lens in a death grip. let go. loosen the lens strap up a lot. it should not be tight on your hand. balance the camera with your finger tips and put as little effort into it as possible. this works best when the camera is balanced enough to sit on your shoulder without touching it. people would freak when I'd let a betaSP or digitbeta camera sit on my shoulder without holding it, but if properly balanced, it was staying out. imagine that its a hot cup of coffee filled to the rim on your shoulder. the tip about working out is also good. breathing control also counts a lot because breathing makes your shoulders move. learning to move from the waist, use a wider stance when needed. lots of things, but most of all practice, practice, practice, and experience.

[Drew Curran]

Joshua
Check out the handheld and shoulder mount section of these forums. There are some discusions on shoulder mounts for the HD100 series.

Drew

[Brian Drysdale]

Being relaxed with the camera improves hand held work, let the mass of the camera smooth out the bumps.

There are exercises that help, for example Tai Chi.

[Joshua Clarke]

Originally Posted by Drew Curran

Joshua
Check out the handheld and shoulder mount section of these forums. There are some discusions on shoulder mounts for the HD100 series.

Drew

Drew,

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

I should have explained better that I was looking for a handgrip system, but thanks to everyone who suggested methods to better control my handholding.

[Stephan Ahonen]

I'm not sure I get the point of vertical handgrips on an ENG camera. It's certainly not more ergonomic (you've got to bend your wrist too much, the zoom handgrip is the perfect angle), and it doesn't free you from touching the lens because you've got to reach up to focus anyway. And a big piece of metal sticking off your camera seems to me to be a disaster waiting to happen if your camera bumps into anything.

[Liam Hall]

You could try this;
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...and_Grips.html

Or even one of these;
http://www.varizoom.com/img/products...tive_board.jpg

Possibly even one of these;
http://www.dvtec.tv/

Personally I just use a bit of this;
http://www.bidmc.harvard.edu/content...ges/Muscle.jpg

Hope that helps a little more,

Liam.

[Jack Walker]

I don't seem to understand the question clearly. As this is the ProHD forum, I assume the question is about the HD100 or 200 series cameras, which rest on the shoulder.

As the posts above suggest, this is a matter of balance and dancer's control, not stabilization.

The next step would be to put the camera on a real steady cam unit. It seems a lot of tv shows and some movies are being shot hand held though, without a steadicam or stabilizer.

The steady units seems to be for the smaller cameras. The best one of these I've seen (and I don't remember the name) has the camera hanging on a wire in front of the operator, with a pole off a harness on the back, up and over the head.

I personally would like a lightweight gyro unit that I could attach to the camera with a small but powerful suction cup.

[Paolo Ciccone]

Originally Posted by Jack Walker

The steady units seems to be for the smaller cameras. The best one of these I've seen (and I don't remember the name) has the camera hanging on a wire in front of the operator, with a pole off a harness on the back, up and over the head.

That would be the EasyRig and it is nice, I tried it at NAB and it made carrying even an XDCAM very easy. It's about $2700, though, while the DVRig and similars are about $600. While I can control the HD100 on my shoulder decently, there are advantages in using something like the DVRig Pro. I have fairly long arms and the position of the HD100 is a little crammed for me. I get tired very quickly and the shots become harder to stabilize. Holding the camera with both arms almost 90 degrees forward helps quite a bit. "De gustibus not est disputandum", no point in debating personal preferences, I saw Randal Einhorn, DP for "The Office" shoot with an F900 on his shoulder. That camera is several times the weight of the HD100 and he does it for a full day of work! On the other hand the main camera of "24" which is also hand held is controlled by the operator wth the help of a support rig with two handles. Focus is pulled remotely by another operator.

[Joshua Clarke]

My post is actually about stabilization. I find that it's not about the HD100 being too heavy, but it being too light. Stephan Ahonen said it best when he said with added mass, your muscle movements won't affect the shot as much.