I want to mount two, HC1's side-by-side on the same tripod so I can point them through my teleprompter and set one on a wide angle view.

Does anyone know of a low cost bracket or device that will let me do this?

Thanks

Check out Bogenimagining.com>Accessories>Tripod accessories
These 2 might be close to what you want

DOUBLE CAMERA SUPPORT PLATFORM / Cat. No: 3269
Fits any tripod head. Lets you mount two cameras on a single head.
Supplied with 2 X 1/4" and 2 X 3/8" camera fixing screws.

ACCESSORY ARM FOR 4 HEADS (BLACK) / Cat. No: 3153B
Mounts on any column 3/8" thread, this side arm allows positioning of two heads on a 90° perpendicular angle and two heads on the side arm allowing the possible mounting of four heads

Don

I am leaving in two days to El Salvador where I will be documenting a humanitarian trip with my Panasonic PV-GS200. I have had the camera for a year without any problems. Now, all of a sudden, the batteries wont charge in the charger! It is curious though that when I plug the AC adapter into the camera through the same charger, the camera receives power. But when a battery is sitting in the charger cradle without the AC adapter plugged in the light doesn't come on and the battery doesn't charge. Does anyone know how to fix this or where I can get a PV-DAC13 charger ASAP in the Eastern MA area (02766) or southwestern NH area (03431). Even something in Boston would be ok. Thank you!!!

Hey, I dont have this exact camera, but with my GL2, if i have a battery in and the "Coupler" cord hooked to the base but not necessarily to the camera the battery wont charge, so do you have the cable to hook up AC power to the cam still plugged in?

To keep your image looking "straight" on small inclines; do you prefer to use the center of gravity or by using the ground?

For example, you're shooting a sidewalk, from the street. Left to right the sidewalk has a 0-10 degree incline. Not steep enough to obviously be a hill, but enough to make the picture look "crooked".

Leveling using the center of gravity let's your actor's posture look normal, but the sidewalk will exhibit a very slight tilt.

Leveling using the ground, makes the the image look "straight" but now anything falling in line with the center of gravity will be just slightly off kilter.

Always go with gravity unless you are after a particular look. Generally, it won't look right if you don't simply level the camera. Think of how it looks to the viewer. People are always upright.

Hey ,I just ordered an Israeli Arm (monitor support) from Film Tools.
Here is the link to the product.

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/cinemasupplies/isarmwi1baan.html

I am not usually impressed by small supplies like this, and I hate it when I need to pay $200 american, plus shipping, PLUS $82 Tax and Insurance at delivery (bastards...)

But... all that aside, this is an amazing product. If you are looking for a good monitor support or accsessory shoe extension, this is it. It is a simple mechanism and one knob tightens every joint which is truly novel and useful.

Currently I am using it to hold a monitor upside down on my XL2/M2 combo.

http://img319.imageshack.us/my.php?image=xl225om.jpg

I am in no way affiliated with film tools, or anything... I just very rarely enjoy a product this much and feel others should know it is worth the money.

Matt

Hello everyone,

I will visit a gentleman who specialize race horse training tomorrow. I will do some moving shot. Any tips to make video interesting?

TIA

Regards
Leigh

The weather is bad today, so I cancel the shooting. Hopefully next Saturday it would be fine. So I have one more week to listen to you. :)

Regards
Leigh

Just saw a review of the Bottle Cap Tripod by semsons on the May issue of Videography.

Website is www.semsons.com

I can't believe they're selling it at $19.99

It's such a simple idea and yet I can't believe it wasn't made before.

I mean you could build it yourself! Drill a hole onto the bottle cap, insert screw and glue it in.

I've saved myself $19.00! Okay so I brought the cheap generic soda for under a dollar. :)

I like this idea cause when you don't want to carry gear around with you, you could just carry the bottle cap with screw attachment and attach it to a bottle for use when needed.

Hi there - anyone doing this? I want to mount a 503 to the end of the crane
but the mounting screw sizes are different. do they make adapters? Any input?

The 503 has a 3/8 thread so your crane most be 1/4 (Camera thread)

So you have to look for a 3/8 to 1/4 adaptor, Try B&H

Now http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=433005&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation is the oddest thing I've ever seen.

Hi Stephen,

Nice Item, but I like my SIMA ChestPod, that I've installed handles on, a lot better and it's far more stable with a neck strap. Also a whole lot cheaper. It even has my Inrared Remote Control Mod attached, so I don't have to touch the Cam for Zooming.

Harold

I'll give props when props need to be given. I called Varizoom with a part request and they helped me right away. It was an unusual request, but they were willing.

I just wanted to report my good experience with Varizoom.

so i finally decided to build some sort of support system for my dvx. before I go on, i'd like to say that the inspiration and idea (and most of the design) came directly from the design of the spider brace so credit goes mostly to that.
I went to home depot a few days ago and got a bunch of pvc electrical conduit and connecting box and some other miscellaneous parts. maybe total of like $5-$8 worth of parts. about 3 hours of tinkering and smelling melting PVC later, I came up with a convertible rig that's so far very promising.
Thusfar I came up with 3 configuarations for it. One is very close to the spiderbrace, one seems more convenient for me (the placement of the handles) and one is a fig-rig style ..
I then did some updates to include screw-in bases in the legs that can accomodate wheels for a table-dolly .. that part is still in progress..
anyway.. here's the original dvxuser.com thread on it

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=81146

and my new sample video:
http://www.story-tailors.com/play.php?movieid=666


enjoy

I am a plastic pipe fanatic. Just love plastic pipe. Have made 35mm adapters, booms, light stands, backround supports and all manner of things for video work of of that stuff. You just showed me a new way to go.....

Hey guys, I just had a crazy idea. You know those metal supports that some people use when they break their arms? I have no idea how to do it, but I think that that hard core metal structure could originate a very decent cheapo steadicam (please don't stone me to death, Mikko). Just a tip for you DIY fellas to get cracking.

Recently Kendal Miller (http://www.lmpstudios.com) and myself did a video review of the VFGadgets Pro Gripper Quad vehicle mounting system. We've finally found the time to get it online. There is a 10 minute video review (http://www.freshdv.com/2007/01/freshdv-test-bench-video-review.html) of the Quad posted over at FresHDV, as well as a short spec commercial we cut together with the Quad footage and some other Mustang GT footage taken with an HVX. It's available in both QT H.264 and Flash formats.

EDIT: Bandwidth is getting hammered at present, here are mirrors of both the LOW (http://www.freshdv.com/reviews/vfgadgets/quad/freshdv_quad_review_qt_low.mov) and HIGH (http://www.freshdv.com/reviews/vfgadgets/quad/freshdv_quad_review_qt_high.mov) bandwidth versions of the video review. The GT spec clip is mirrored here (http://www.freshdv.com/reviews/vfgadgets/quad/freshdv_mustang_gt.mov).

Matt, Kendal; well done - a very nice presentation on the Pro Gripper Quad, a very helpful overview of pros/cons of the device.
Greg

I just received my 3001 legs from Ebay and notice that there are two screwholes connected to the head shaft. One is for tightening the shaft in a position either up or down (looks about Metric6 or 1/4) and the other looks about 5/8 but doesn't seem to have a purpose because there is a screw that comes down blocking the passageway to the shaft - so I am not sure what it does! Anyone?

I think the hole you are talking about is used to attach a strap to the tripod. Some of the Bogen straps are secured to the top of the tripod there.

Can someone tell me how to get repair parts for a SUNPAK 7500 Pro/PlatinumPlus. The upper joint came apart. I still have the clamp, but need to replace the broken internal plastic parts.

The only web link I've found is sunpak.jp, and they don't show any tripods.

I contacted ToCad America, and they are sending me the parts at no charge.

Just found my L4-Pro (been missing for a long time)... I was never able to figure out how to mount the thing to a tripod (using the tripod head for the camera). Any homemade work-arounds for attaching a small LCD to a tripod leg or other mechanism?

What is the best teleprompter for getting the best eye level? I should mention that my budget is $1500, max, and I'll be using it for a Canon XL2.

I've been looking at Prompter People and Ikan. The Ikan model sits above the lens, the PP, I believe, is parallel with the lens. The Ikan cost less than PP but is there an issue with the eye height? To me, it's annoying to see the talent's eyes lower or higher than they should be.

Anyone have either of these? What's your experience?

Any other prompters in this price range worthy of consideration considering my concern about the eyes?

Thanks.

Chuck