carpal syndrome
 

I am not sure if the name carpal is correct. It refers to a painful condition of the wrist. This is what I am having now. It is only a sligth injury and no question it will go away in some days. But I think you should know this things happen not only in front of a computer but handling a camera too.
Fact is I wanted to go beyond the tripod and the shoulder support and I bougth a Glidecam 4000 pro.
I have to say the system works wonders. It is impossible to tell whether the camera is on tracks or on your wrist...at a cost. The whole system goes beyond the twenty pounds and it all hangs on your wrist.
Mind you, I spend three months lifting weight to prepare my arm, my forearm and my shoulders for the task. It all went allright. Except I was not prepared for the pain in my wrist.
The wrist seems to be the feeble link of the chain. Only fifteen minutes in three sessions of five minutes each have been enough to put me in pain, where I am now.
The other question is seeing on the monitor. I cannot see anything on my wonderful professional Sony. Seems I need a green machine. Problem is it goes for more than 2500 $ and weights around ten pounds. Not taking the 12 volt battery into account.
Just bought a pair of virtual reality glasses. Well see if I can see. Keep everyone informed.
Yours
Jose A Zorrilla

Go to the Glidecam site at www.glidecam.com and look for the bod-pod, a vest of sorts to take the unit out of your hands. It's 189.00 and probably well worth the $$.

http://www.glidecam.com/bodypod.html

Also on the site you will find LCD monitors to mount to the Glidecam. It may be more than you wanted to spend but I've tried the bod-pod and it works very well.

http://www.glidecam.com/l4.html


BTW... carpal tunnel (sp?) syndrom can be very painful and can require surgery in some cases. Can affect both the wrist and the fore arm/elbow. Seems that 189.00 is a small price to pay to avoid that condition.

My .02

WG

Well, I already have an iPod. My pain comes from moving the camera from and to the i Pod.
You see. If you want to shoot a subjective shoot, the one in which the serial killer chases the chick (heavy sighs VO) the body pod is OK. But if you aim at the perfection of a canonical track, then you need your bare knuckles. It is not simple. Right now, the unit, my arm, that is, tends to hold the camera nose down. Slightly. But noticeable. And the pain.
To all concerned. Is there a form of level for the camera similar to the horizon ball in the planes? Something visible, clear, unmistakable so I can keep the unit horizontal and vertical?
Thank you
As to the other implements, I have a monitor. An excellent one, Sony lcd and all. I still cant see nothing in full daylight. So I went for a pair of Olympus VR glasses. Much better, cost 800$, still not perfect.
Most likely the cost of painless perfection is 10.000 bucks. A real glidecam vest, a green monitor, the heavy battery.. and a true professional cameraman to operate it.
Jose A

not carpal but gamekeeper
 

Well, it seems that my modest injury is called minor wrist sprain and it has something to do too with something called gamekeeper´s thumb. Of course I have stopped carrying the load and I will have to wear a brace for some days.
Nothing serious in any case. But I continue to ponder how to go beyond tripod and shoulder support in dv format.
Just bought a new shoulder support made by Harold Greene, the one recommended by our Moderator in Chief.
Full report from the field in a few weeks after extensive use in different parts of the globe.
No kidding.
Jose A

<<<-- Originally posted by wgardner : Go to the Glidecam site at www.glidecam.com and look for the bod-pod, a vest of sorts to take the unit out of your hands. It's 189.00 and probably well worth the $$.

http://www.glidecam.com/bodypod.html

Also on the site you will find LCD monitors to mount to the Glidecam. It may be more than you wanted to spend but I've tried the bod-pod and it works very well.

http://www.glidecam.com/l4.html


BTW... carpal tunnel (sp?) syndrom can be very painful and can require surgery in some cases. Can affect both the wrist and the fore arm/elbow. Seems that 189.00 is a small price to pay to avoid that condition.

My .02

WG -->>>



I think they make a forearm support for that model as well as the body pod. Of course he could spend quite a bit more than 189 and get the V-8 sled :)

to all concerned. Is there a form of level for the camera similar to the horizon ball in the planes? Something visible, clear, unmistakable so I can keep the unit horizontal and vertical?
Thank you

I have a suggestion about visual levels for your steady systems... I use the levels taken out of cheap spirit levels, the kind you can buy at a hardware store. If you break the spirit level apart, you destroy it of course. But you can glean (normally) two small levels made out of plastic, filled with a highly visible green liquid and a bubble. These levels are light and are easily glued using for example hot glue on all kinds of surfaces, like the sides of cameras or edges of LCD monitors.