Hi Terry,

Thanks for the comment

Regards
Leigh

Hello everyone,

The video I shot today.

divx format
file size around 30mb

http://www.salenz.com/movie/2005_1_29.avi

I hope you'll check out this vidoe and offer some constructive criticism. I look forward to your comments.

Regards
Leigh

Hello everyone,

Same video wmv format
file size around 32mb

http://www.salenz.com/movie/2005_1_29.wmv

I hope you'll check out this vidoe and offer some constructive criticism. I look forward to your comments.

Regards
Leigh

Everyone is making full and interesting responses to you videos, and all you keep doing is bombarding us with loooooads of these 30mb videos. It doesn’t seem like your even taking note.

I just find this funny.

"I hope you'll check out this video and offer some constructive criticism. I look forward to your comments." - are you cutting and pasting?

Leigh,

I downloaded the last video and here are my comments, They will be in the categories of "The Good", "The Bad", and "The Ugly".

The Good: Some of your shots were interesting now.
I liked the one on the hill and going behind the bush.
I also liked the Point of View (POV) shot of the dog on the swing.
Adding music really helped.

The Bad: Your static shots (not moving) have way too much movement in them. When you are doing static shots like at the beginning it's best to use a tripod or be able to hold the stabilized camera still like it is on a tripod.
On the hill shot, as you were moving, you lost frame on your subject. Remember, your subject is why you are doing the video.
Your shots on the dog are too long. We know you love your dog but the rest of us don't know him (or her) so keep the shots shorter.

The Ugly: You have shots of you subject and dog walking in the park. One is overexposed and the next shot is OK, then back to overexposed. It almost looks like the shots were taken on different days.

There you have it. I send this with the knowledge that most of us have many improvements to make in our shooting.

In conclusion, the video we want our shots to look like is found at the following web site:http://www.codydeegan.com/demo.html and click on "Contrast". I would give you Charles' site but it's way too good and I don't want you to get discouraged.

Terry

Hello everyone,

Another video I shot today.

divx format
file size around 22mb

http://www.salenz.com/movie/2005_2_16.avi

wmv format
file size around 24mb
http://www.salenz.com/movie/2005_2_16.wmv

I hope you'll check out this vidoe and offer some constructive criticism. I look forward to your comments.

Regards
Leigh

Heh Leigh, I think your last post helps prove Richards point! Are you really after criticism/feedback, or just phishing for sales?

lol, OMG! he's doing it on the SteadicamForum too!!

<<<-- Originally posted by Richard Lewis : lol, OMG! he's doing it on the SteadicamForum too!! -->>>

Hi Richard,

I don't understand what you said.

You mean 30mb files too bad? Someone told me that they like high quality video instead of small window video. From what I understand that only full screen high quality video can demonstrate the shakeness. I don't think small tiny window means anything. Just my view really.

Regards
Leigh

I wasn’t necessarily referring to the size of the files, but the volume of them.

It seems that you’re just posting one after the other without conversing with the people who are providing in-depth and constructive reviews.
This was shown in your last posting, as James concurred.

Well, we can look at it this way...Leigh's video is getting a bit better with each new installment.

The way you can tell if he's just out for sales or really wants positive feedback is if his video is improving (sorry to talk about you behind your computer, Leigh). I guess I'll take a look at the latest video and see if it is better than the last one.

Just watched your latest video. You've gone from "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" to just "The Good and The Bad" and that's an improvement.

The Good...vertical stability is fairly good, much better than in the past. The color and exposure are good. You seem to be walking smoother. This is a definite improvement.

The Bad...horizontal stability needs some help. You can see regular side to side movement. If I were to guess I would say your stabilizer is the vertical post type without the gimbal, arm, and vest - like a Steady Tracker or FlyPod. Am I right???
The video lacks purpose other than to show camera stability. I'd like to see something interesting-not a long shot of your road and house. (House looks good) Hey! Cars are driving on the wrong side of the road!
The end shot of your dog should be as rock solid as possible, like if it was on a tripod, and not waving around.

How about your next video showing a rugby match from the players POV. Now that would be interesting! Seriously, a video showing kids playing basketball or some other sport would be a good place to show your camera stabilization video.


Leigh, when we put our videos up for suggestions and get them we all hope to improve from those suggestions. That's what I do anyway. Charles (and others) has given me many real good suggestions about my video and my rig and I have tried to incorporate them. If not, I'm not taking advantage of a Master Steadicam Operator. Charles is good...real good!

Believe me, I feel lucky to have this forum.


In a while I'll put a short video up for comments. I hope to be a better opperator because of them.


Tery

I absolutely agree Terry. This forum is designed to help and support everyone who uses it. We are lucky to have such a diverse range of people to educate on every level of DV.

I applaud you and Charles for taking time out to download, play, and write extensive reviews about peoples footage in an effort to help them improve.

The thing that gets me though, is the response, or lack of it that you receive from the people you are trying to help.
I was just aware of Leigh’s gratuitous video postings without seemingly any gratitude for your efforts.
(Maybe I’m reading the situation wrong, but that’s what it looks like from where I am)

Terry btw, from what I’ve seen of your product, it looks like a nice bit of original and practical kit and I wish you all the luck in the world.

All the best,

Rick.

Thanks Richard,

Always working on making a better rig. Maybe someday we'll even get around to marketing it. It's ready for sale now but we still want to make it even a better value by creating our own sled and doing a couple of things on the arm to fine-tune it.

Since the Indicam system was originally built to be used with Glidecam 2000 and 4000 sleds our newest competition is the Glidecam Smooth Shooter. It will probably be well built (haven't seen it yet) and a good value. It is a single arm whereas our system is a dual arm. When Charles P. tried our system out he said the arm "tracked well" which means the two arms work together well. Many times, with two articulated arms one will move and then the other will catch up. Move...catch up and so on. I think the term for that is "stair stepping". With a single arm you don't have to worry about that so it's easier to build.

Back to Leigh's video. It is improving and that's good. I, like you, wish he would make further comments on the suggestions he is receiving rather than just posting a new video for new comments. I also think he should let us know what his system is like i.e. full rig, hand held w/gimbal, hand held w/out gimbal, or Steadicam JR. type.

Time to go. I have to find some parts I have hidden somewhere.

Tery

P.S. Richard, what is you steadycam background?

Hi Richard, Terry,

Thank you very much.

The device which I am using is a full rig stablizer and I diy myself. I am an inexperience cameraman and keen to learn everything.

Regards
Leigh

Hi Terry, lets see…my Steadicam background...

Not too involved actually, I’ve used a Steadicam ProVid on a few music videos and other projects (nothing mainstream, just college work) I’m lucky because my college is wonderfully equipped with lots of broadcast equipment, which they don’t mind lending out.

I've owned a Glidecam 2000 for a few years and even with the crappy off centred gimbal that it has, I’ve been able to produce some excellent results, much better than any of the stuff on those demo videos they ship out...I don’t know why they bother. The only thing that I thought was descent, was that footage going through the video exhibition shot on a V16 or V20 I think it was.

Anyway, I would love to share some footage with you, but I have no way of posting it. If someone would offer to host it, I would be more than happy to hear your opinions.

Rick.

I agree with the demo video thing, I've ranted on another forum about this before.. why try to sell up to a multi-thousand dollar product when the videos are shot by people who simply either don't know what they're doing, or have dead links! The Magiqcam video is probably better than most, and its nothing great (I just like the fact it cuts between the steadicam operator and another camera showing the guy operating) and is obviously captured from VHS. Yeuch! That doesn't convince me to part with my money, I'm sorry!

Design the product, build the product, get a good demo shot then you'll sell it in my opinion.

Richard,

Here is a way of sending up to a 100MB video to me or any other person who has an email address. It's called dropload.com and it's free. Cool!

You have to sign up first to send videos but not to receive them. I'll send you a video shot by Charles P. using my !ndicam when we met at the Videomaker Expo this year. He set up the shot quickly and did a great job considering he was using a $1500 system and not his $100,000 rig. Charles is a great guy and I really appreciated it a lot that he would take his time to come over and help me.

Anyway, I'll send you this video so you can see how dropload.com works. If you have a quick internet connection it won't take too long to download a 3.51 MB .avi file. Coming up I'm going to work on inserting shots of him doing this short video into the video - kind of like the scenes behind the scene.

Keep and eye out for the email notification from dropload.com providing I have your correct email address.

Tery

Kewl stuff. I await your email.

<<<-- Originally posted by Richard Lewis :
Anyway, I would love to share some footage with you, but I have no way of posting it. If someone would offer to host it, I would be more than happy to hear your opinions.

Rick. -->>>

Hi Richard,

It is not difficult and dear to post your video. I pay http://www.phpwebhosting.com/ $9.95 a month to hosting my website. Just for your information.

Regards
Leigh

Cheers for the link Leigh, but I don’t need a sustained web host, as I won’t use it.

Richard,

I have tried twice today to send video to dropload.com but it isn't working. I don't know if it's my computer or theirs. I'll try tomorrow.

Tery

Boy do I feel dumb. I just found out I was trying to send a 211 MB file. DUH!

You shoud have an email and file waiting for you by the time you read this.

Tery

Cheers Terry, nice little clip, although my player was tripping up a bit. That’s what I get for spending all my money on the editing computer lol.

I would like to see the behind the scenes clip too, if you ever get around to posting it.

I haven’t got enough time tonight, to register for that thingy (have to finish off a long overdue script)
I shall sort something out next week and send a clip to you.

Cheers again,

Hey Terry, send me that clip too! I'd be curious to see what our little experiment looks like.

Charles,

I'll send the shot immediately.

I sent the clip to a guy and he commented on the "shakyness" at the start of the clip as well as seeing some "footsteps" at the end when you were moving real slowly. I let him know that I, as the editor, put too much of the start in and that the clip should have started just before you began moving.

See if you notice any "footsteps" in the clip. If there are any it's because you didn't have time to get used to the feeling of such a light rig. Also I'm sure a $105,000 rig should "look" better than a $1500 one. Let's see, that's 0.0142857142857 of the cost of your system...Captain! (raised eyebrow)

You did a great job and I really appreciate your help.

A question...You said you thought the arm should hang just below horizontal during use. Is that correct and do most steadycam systems work the same way? Why does setting the arm below horizontal accomplish? I would like to know as it will increase my knowledge base.

Another question...Do you think the Smooth Shooter, or any other single arm, will work as well as a dual arm providing they are both smooth? I know that the tracking is important and thanks for letting me know about it.


Tery

By-the-way, I'm working on your suggestions.

Got the clip, thanks Terry.

Footsteps--yeah, there are some, particularly noticeable at the end when I had that railing in the foreground. Mostly that's a function of not being used to the rig, as you pointed out. The rest of it is due to the arm design, and that is going to be inherent with any non-linear design, that they will not eliminate the bounce entirely (the Flyer is the only arm I have seen that can do the job as well as the "pro" arms.).

As far as the arm hanging slightly below horizontal, it seems to smooth out the action a bit--an over-cranked arm will be stiffer and/or more bouncy.

I'm not sure if a single section arm can compete with a dual arm because, as described above, all the single section arms I've seen were non-linear.

best,

Chas

Charles,

Can you explain "non-linear" please to those of us who don't know what that means.

How do you make a non-linear arm or is it so complicated that it's past the reaches of this site?

==============

I just did my own research and found that a linear arm stays where it is put. That's got to be tuff to make and shows why the Flyer is worth it's $6500 for those who have to have the best.

On the other hand our Indicam was made for the rest of us "indipendant" filmakers who want very smooth video but can't afford the price of the Flyer.

Note: We dropped the arm to just below horizontal and noticed an improvement in smoothness, especially in lower shots. We expect this is because we don't have to "hold" the arm low to keep it stable and in the higher shots our (human) arm takes up the small extra weight needed to lift it to a higher level.

This is cool stuff.

Tery

Hello everyone,

Here is an exercise video I shot today.

--------------------------------------
divx format(MPEG4) You may need to download decoder from www.divx.com

file size around 25mb

http://www.salenz.com/movie/2005_3_20.avi

--------------------------------------
wmv format
file size around 28mb

http://www.salenz.com/movie/2005_3_20.wmv

I hope you'll check out this video and offer some constructive criticism. I look forward to your comments.

Regards
Leigh

Leigh:

Definite improvement. You are showing good control of the rig for basic walking maneuvers.

Now I would recommend starting to think about shots themselves and more elaborate operating.

Most Steadicam shots involve walking backwards, so I would focus more on that than on forward-moving shots such as on this demo. Get used to navigating through tight spaces and through doorways walking backwards.

Make sure to include plenty of stops and holds rather than just continuous walking. It may not seem very exciting, but a large part of operating will involve lockoffs so it is important to get these down. The temptation is that once a practice shot is over, one drops the concentration; rather, you should glide to a smooth stop and hold for a count of 10 (or 20, or 60!) to get used to it. Same thing at the beginning of a shot.

Also practice fast maneuvers; speeding up and slowing down during a shot. Take a few fast steps to the side and come to a quick stop. The rig will tend to pendulum out; get a feel for how to reign in the forces to prevent this.

Find a practice space that has hallways and corners, and play around with where you place the pivot point when you take turns.

Regarding the discussion in the Steadicam forum about workshops; by the end of the 1st day, the students will have moved on from the type of shot you have done here to more intricate stuff.

Leigh,

I don't agree with Charles...Actually I said that cause no one has ever said that. I do agree with him.

The Good...Your forward shots are much smoother than they used to be. Also I noticed you were walking slowly which is harder to stabilize than fast moving shots. Good! The quality of picture is very good and the music good for the speed of the shot.

The Bad...Although not real bad, you show a bit too much control hand in that there is some side to side jerkyness visible. This is hard to overcome as many of us with smaller rigs struggle with it in our shots as well.

Your video kind of reminds me of the Glidecam 2000 demo where the operator is moving on a wooden walkway. Their shot is very smooth but there also aren't any stops, starts, speed changes, abrupt direction changes, etc. Master these and it will be time for you to leave, Grasshopper (I'm speaking as a student too).

So much for day one as Master Papert stated. Getting wide open forward (and I did see some reverse) shots is probably the easiest shot to do but still the basis for smooth shooting.

Question-What will you be working on in you next demo? May I be so bold as to suggest...starts and stops as well as direction changes.

Let all of us know.

Tery

I am going to try and get one of my shots available so you guys can help me as well. If I can't take it I'll get out of the fire.

Hi Charles and Terry,

Thank you very much.

Regards
Leigh

So Leigh,

Are you going to take my suggestion and work on starts, stops. and direction changes for your next video as suggested by Charles' post?

Please let us know. We would like a bit more conversation than just "Thanks" although thanks is good.

Tery

Hehehehehe, I knew it would get to you eventually Terry :D

Leigh is a guy of very few words...

<<<-- Originally posted by Terry Thompson : So Leigh,

Are you going to take my suggestion and work on starts, stops. and direction changes for your next video as suggested by Charles' post?

Tery -->>>

Hi Tery,

Yes, I will try.

Regards
Leigh

You did it again!!!

Hello everyone,

Here is an exercise video I shot today using panasonic gs400. gs400 weighs less than 1 kg.

--------------------------------------
divx format(MPEG4) You may need to download decoder from www.divx.com

file size around 16mb

http://www.salenz.com/movie/2005_3_27.avi

--------------------------------------
wmv format
file size around 18mb

http://www.salenz.com/movie/2005_3_27.wmv

I hope you'll check out this video and offer some constructive criticism. I look forward to your comments.

Regards
Leigh

Leigh:

Either you have an extremely dry sense of humor, or you just aren't getting what many people have expressed to you both here and in the Steadicam forum. To continually post your videos with a form letter asking for criticism followed by a form letter simply stating "thank you very much" is, while superficially proper and polite on the surface, actually quite rude and thankless by repetition. Various people have taken the time to help you; others have challenged you, but you remain tight-lipped about your goals and intentions, and it is clear from the responses you have received in both forums (and for all I know, you could be posting these in half a dozen other boards as well) that you are frustrating people with your posting style.

What exactly is your intention? To become a good operator, or to gain feedback on a product that you plan to market, or both? When this thread began you were looking for the latter--now I don't even know what you are looking for. If this is still the case, you are using all of us for market research, and let's call it for what it is, and we can discuss the efficiency of your machine and not spend our time trying to help you become a better operator.

If you are truly invested in becoming a good operator, you must understand that there is an ethic in place that was set in motion by Garrett Brown nearly 30 years ago, and that is to share information and teach others about Steadicam in a generous fashion. It was handed on to me, and I hand it on to others, and I'm happy to donate my time to this even though I am tremendously busy with my own career and other pursuits.

However, I can't help but feel that you are being evasive and manipulative (whether intentional or not) with these identical posts for criticism. Read through this board to see what everyone else does when they put their work up for others to see. They generally will present their work with some qualifiers, others will comment on it, and then they will RESPOND to those comments, elaborating on the issues brought up, explaining their setbacks or triumphs, tackling each point so that they can learn from it, and others as well. It's a dialogue.

I have personally taken the time to offer you my thoughts on your work; I have also suggested in a more succinct manner many of the points in this particular post. I feel that neither has been responded to or learned from in some ways.

For instance: both Terry and I hammered home the importance of stops and starts from your last video. In this follow-up video, all the stops and starts are wobbly and seem like an afterthought, particular the last one at the end where you move off the subject arbitrarily and tilt up to the building. It looks like you gave up and turned off the camera. Is this the case? Or were you really trying to stop smoothly? Tell us; don't just say "thank you very much". What were you going for with this particularly video, what aspects of operating were you exercising? Or was it just that you are excited about putting your rig into low mode? There are literally dozens of comments I can make about composition and operating form as represented in this video, what worked and what didn't, but I want to hear from YOU what your assessment is of your work.

OK, here's your assignment: write a 100 words on "what I did on my summer vacation"--well, no, but do write about what you think of this exercise, where you failed, where you succeeded, what you need to work on. Then and only then will I furnish my comments on it, and I recommend that others do the same. I will stop short of re-posting this missive over at the Steadicam forum, but I strongly suggest that you consider taking the same approach over there, since as you have seen folks are more likely to tell you like it is, and that is "take a workshop". In other words, there's only so much free advice you should be asking for before paying someone for their time to teach you.

Oh, and thank you very much.

Hi Charles,

Yes, I will try.

Regards
Leigh


...hehehehe...

Charles,

I'll second that! I'm ROTFL about ..."write a 100 words on "what I did on my summer vacation.""

=======================

Funny Richard.

=======================

Leigh,

I was hoping for your latest post would say something like this...

Here is my latest video showing my progression on starts and stops as well as direction changes. I worked a week on them and feel I have progressed quite a bit. You will notice on the earlier direction changes I have some pendulumming* movement but on this last one it is almost gone. I am really pleased with my progress and would like to know if it looks as good to the rest of you.

I await your feedback and thanks in advance

Leigh

This is what we are looking for.

========================

The following is an honest question and not a criticism. Is English your first language or do you have a hard time with it? If you have a hard time with it I can see why you would use all the form posts and replies. Let us know so we can understand you better. If I had to write in another language I wouldn't have long posts either.

=======================

What bugs me the most (Charles would put that more eloquently) is that all the time Charles has put into posting information on this and other forums "unnecessarily", he could have been doing his training and instruction video and the rest of us could be much richer (ability wise) on our steadycam rigs. Once it's on video, we can have answers to questions we never even thought of asking. He is a very busy guy and I wish there was some way of helping him free up some time for his video so we could all benefit. You can see from what he has written that he has a great knowledge of steadycam principles and what's even better is that he is also a very good writer. You don't find that in very many people so we need to take advantage of it.

I would like to hear from others concerning this subject. Maybe I'll start a new topic "Who wants Charles Papert to finish his training video?" I told you I was going to be the pebble in your shoe, Charles.

*NOTE:Pendulumming is the swaying of the post caused by changes in direction or speed. This is due to the bottom being slightly heavier than the top in order to keep the post vertical. Charles could do a better job of that description. When I checked the word "pendulumming" using MS Word it gave only "Pendulum Ming" as an alternative and since I don't know anyone named “Pendulum Ming” (maybe Flash Gordon’s enemy?) I'm going to leave it just the way I spelled it. Charles...help!

Tery

P.S. It took me an hour to write this post as I have to correct and rewrite a lot so Leigh...make it worth it please.

Great post Terry (and CP)
But MS word missed one.. (and I'm saying this for the benefit of anyone reading... Sorry if you allready know this Terry..) But it's Steadicam with an I - not a Y! :)


- Mikko.

Hi Charles and Terry,

Thank you very much for spending the effort.

I apologize for what I did.

I am a software engineer with around ten years experience. I worried about my job as a programmer and thinking sometime I might not be competent enough to do programming anymore. My eyes get sored after 8 hours sitting in front of the computer every day. I need to find some skill to backup and make a living and do not want to always sitting in front of the computer for another 30 years.

I like watching movie and I heard that shooting wedding video can get NZ$600 plus for just one wedding. I thought that I just need to shoot four weddings every month and that would cover my basic living cost and was quite relaxed too. So I asked on the net about wedding camera. Lots of people gave me good advice to get a JVC gy-dv5000 camera. At that time I did not realize that it was not the camera, but the person behind the camera make a difference. I never touch a still camera or video camera before last April. Once I got the camera and it was big. I was very excited that it looks so professional and make me feel good. I hold the camera on my shoulder to shoot. I was really sad once the video play back the pc. It was too much shaking while I was moving. It seems that the difficulty only occurs after experience it. I asked the question about how to solve the shakeness problem on the cameraman forum. Lots of cameramen suggested me to exercise my muscle and do physical training. I thought that I did not want to be very strong while I was in 20 and I was quite happy about my current shape. I was sad that I might not get the steadiness I want to operate the camera on the shoulder. My collegue suggested me to learn about the steadicam. I used google and found the steadicam website. I was amazed by the steadicam described on the steadicam website. I thought that was the one I want to operate. But sadly once I found the price. It costed US$30,000 plus if I really want a decent one. My JVC gy-dv5000 package costed me around US$8,000. I had to use my programmer salary to repay back the camera for a whole year. At that time I did not think that I can repay back US$30,000 easily due to around half salary level in NZ compare to USA. My dad helped me to build a stablizer in last May. Once we finished that stablizer, we realized that it was so simple and can make a fortune on it. So I decided not to make a living on wedding shooting, but manufacturing the device. After using the stablizer, I realized that operating stablizer also was a challenge. I searched on the net and found that operating a steadicam need years of practising. I thought that if I really want to sell the device, I first need to demo the video shot by the device. I can't afford to hire a steadicam operator to demo my device. I heard there are aournd two steadicam operators in NZ. I have to do the job myself. There were limited training material on the net. I purchased the book <steadicam techniques & aesthetics> written by Serena Ferrara. But there was little mentioned about the skill to operate the steadicam. I also purchased the tape <award winning workshops advanced steadicam techniques>. But just as the name said, the skill described in the tape is not for the beginner. I asked the question on the home built stablizer website. Someone told me that it was a combination of my equipment and a lot of practice. I thought that maybe the best is just to practise myself and posting the video on the net for feedback. That is why you have seen these videos posted on the net. I want to be like Mr. Brown and get every cameraman a stablizer.

The first video I made at that time I did not know anything about how to operate the steadicam. I just viewed the photo posted on the steadicam website and the advanced training video tape. The photo just tell the hand position but nothing else. It was too much side movement and I spent months trying to figure out the reason. Actually my left hand hold the post very tight as I worried about the post not in straight position. Now I realized that I should gently slightly touch the post as Charles and others pointed out in previous post. Later I found out that most beginners like me worrying about the camera might drop to the ground.

I experienced low mode several months ago, as mentioned previously, I hold the post too tight and the footage was really bad. I have not practised low mode just yesterday. I was really surprised that the gs400 camera was very light and not much shaking demonstrate in the lcd screen. John Cooksey from elitevideo said walldo in his training video is very important. And I really feel the powerfullness of walldo in low mode of steadicam. Walldo stand for wide, angle, low, linking, depth, opposite. I was very happy all these elements were applied in low mode shooting. I did not realized the importance of stops and starts from my last video. I just excited about low mode demo and simulate fake 3d environment. It looks so fun. And it really seems that low mode is an unusal shooting angle from normal viewing and is really powerful and offer some perspective.

I am sorry about lengthy post and I look forward to getting a copy of Charles training video. Hi Charles, let me know once the tape is on sell. Thanks

To Terry:

I am a Chinese and mandarin is my mother tongue.

Regards
Leigh

wow...
*applause*

Thankyou Leigh, that cleared up a lot! :-)

Unfortunatly I'm stuck on a modem connection at the moment, so I haven't had a chance to watch your video clips yet, So I'll leave those coments to the others.

But as far as operating goes, and I think you'v allready been told this on the steadicamforum too, but before learning steadi, it is crucial to be a good regular operator too. - All the normal rules of shooting apply and form the base of steadicam shooting.
Keep it up, practice practice practice. And try to find some proper instruction somewhere in person. Again i'll say Workshop beacuse we always do.
But here is a sugestion from me for your next clip for the guys to review:
Shoot a short video (subject unimportant) WITHOUT your stabilizer. - show us your skills on a Tripod, and handheld (dont' worry about stability.. just show us the pictures you make)

- In fact i'd sugest simplifying it even furthur and just posting some still pictures, either shot as stills, or frame grabs from video. - And tell us why you posted them, show your best work and tell us why it's good, and also post some failed still shots, and tell us what is wrong with them.

First a picture, then moving pictures, then moving camera!

- Mikko

Hi Mikko,

Thanks for the encouragement.

I started practising still photo once I got my gs400 several months ago.

Here is the photo which I think was my best shot.

http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA1929.JPG

I love this photo as it is quite unique. You can see shallow depth of field. The focus is on the eye of the bug and it draw attention to the bug. All the back ground is out of focus. The skin of the bug likes knight's cloth. The color was painted like gold. 8 )

Here is the photo including the bug compare to my finger.

I shot some photos and I put on my site for your reference.

http://www.salenz.com/picture/

All shot by a minidv camera using still photo mode. The minidv camera is gs400.

The bad one is this one.

http://www.salenz.com/picture/house.jpg

Because my camera is just normal minidv camera which is not suitable for this kind of view. I found that my gs400 is really good at shoot tiny object. For big view, I need a digital SLR still camera. I don't want to spent extra money on SLR right now. So I just use my gs400 for practise.

Regards
Leigh

<<<-- Originally posted by Mikko Wilson : Great post Terry (and CP)
But MS word missed one.. (and I'm saying this for the benefit of anyone reading... Sorry if you allready know this Terry..) But it's Steadicam with an I - not a Y! :)


Mikko,

I use the term "steadycam" in the generic sense to refer to all camera stabilization systems (like mine) which owe their existence to the original "Steadicam". I spell it differently on purpose in respect to Garrett Brown (whom I have met) and all the Steadicam operators like Charles Papert (whom I have also met). We own a great deal to them.

Thanks for letting me clear this up.

Tery

Ironically, the rig I use is not made by Tiffen, thus it is not a true Steadicam either...!

Leigh, thanks for your post, it cleared up a lot and please feel free to elaborate at length any time.

I have an impossibly early call tomorrow so I will try to give you notes on the latest video when I can get to it.

<<<-- Originally posted by Charles Papert : Ironically, the rig
I have an impossibly early call tomorrow so I will try to give you notes on the latest video when I can get to it. -->>>

Hi Charles,

Thanks

Don't worry about that.

Regards
Leigh

Charles,

I stand corrected but the idea is the same. I know you have a deep respect for Garrett and the origional Steadicam as well.

Even though there are many steadycam type rigs out there that are extremely well made like the MK-V they all stem from the same place. Just giving credit where credit is due.

============================

Leigh,

I'm going to take a look at you last video and see what I can see...It looks like your server is down so I will look tomorrow.

Tery

Terry:
I suspected this was the case. - I just hate when it's a misconseption, not the highly earned respect the name and it's history deserves. (yeah, [must show worthynes...] i'v met GB a few times too :-) - not CP yet though ;-)

Leigh:
I'm writing this post in 2 parts; this first part while I download the photos..
And I'll use this time to make a technical sugestion:
I would sugest compressing what you post somewhat.
Raw images are nice, and crucial for picture quality in production, but not for reviewing camera work.
Of course if focus is beeing addressed then sharper is better.
However in the situation we are workign in now, where we are looking at the other elements of shooting, framing, composition, and movement it doens't need as big images.
So please: can you shrink your files considerably before posting them. 1.5meg files per picture is just too large for me to download, use an image editor to bring them down to a few hundred k. - Those pictures you post wont' even fit on my monitor so that i can see them properly!
- The images on my site (http://mikko.n3.net/photos) show enough for what we are looking for, and they are only 650x433 and 89kb in size.
- Same goes for video, granted i knwo it's much bigger of course, but we dont' need full frame sizes here. - Heck very few camera viewfinders (and steadicam monitors) show full resolution!

Ok, enoguh technical mumbo.. the fiels have downloaded so i'll take a look at them:

first: The bug.
Cool photo! definatly has that "wow" element. and it's well framed and good composition too. The Eye appears ot be the most important part of the picture, it's in the right place (rule of 3rds) and it's sharp. The rest of the bug is cropped out, but that's ok, it's not meant to be in the picture beacuse it's a Extreme Close Up. The soft focus tells us that it's unimportant.

The house.
Yeah i'll agree, this is a preay boring shot. It's good for showing a (your?) house, but it doens't have much of a subject. With no real foreground it has no dpth to it, and really dones't look too special as a picture. That beeing said, it does show the house well, and maybe with the camera slightly more to the right with the flowers more as foreground, it's a very good wide or establishing shot of the house. "Here is a house" - the house is well within the frame, and has a propotionate amount of "headroom" - it's a very balanced shot.
As an intereting shot it fails, but as a basic shot showing a house, all teh elements of a basic picture are there.

I dont' have time to check all your pictures, agian becuse they are rather big to download.

I took a moment to download one more "flower1.jpg".
This shot failed in my oppinon. When i first looked at it, the first thign i saw was the house in the background. The flowers (which i presume to be the subject of the picture) are off balance, they are tucked away on the bottom righ of the frame, while the top and left side are empty. - That would be a good example of too much headroom.
I threw it into photoshop and cropped it quickly to my oppinion of a better composition. - file: http://mikko.n3.net/files/flower1_2.jpg
See the difference?

Don't worry about what camera you are using. I read an article about a guy who's favorite picture was taken with a disposable camera. (was a cool shot too). and Dont' futz too much with exposure, focus, etc for these stills.

You next assignment, take some pictures of people, or animals, and post them here (smaller files please). even the same person in the same setting, but with a bunch of placements within the shot. - give us 3 shots with different headroom and see if we choose the same one as you think is best.

I am off on vacation skiing this coming week, but I will be back on next week with hopes of seeing lots of (smaller) stills! Keep shooting!

- Mikko

Leigh...I see my estimation of what sort of response you were likely to get in the Steadicam forum largely came true (certainly the part about "take a workshop")!

Not to pour fuel on the fire, but I could suggest this: even though making it to a workshop seems like an unsurmountable dream, it actually makes good business sense as you are thinking about getting into the manufacturing end of things. Learning as much as you can about your product and application and techniques etc. is a solid investment.

If however your goal is to get good enough at operating to be able to make a decent demo video to sell your rig, and that is all you are waiting on, wouldn't it make sense to hire an experienced operator to take the footage with your rig? I know you are in NZ--too bad this conversation didn't happen a year ago when I trekked through both islands!; regardless, you could even ship them your rig anywhere in the world. Whatever that would cost would be offset against the time you are currently losing, which equals revenue--each day that you aren't selling rigs, you are losing that income stream.

Personally, I think that if you had a solid product that is ready to sell, you should put up your website and get it out there even if you don't have a demo video yet. I would perhaps recommend that you when you do have that demo ready, you post it in either QT, Windows or Real--asking people to download the Divx plug-in may turn some off. And my two cents about stabilization video is that it's much more important to deliver a high frame rate than a large image, if you need to compromise on the size of the file.

Mikko,

Good job cropping. It does make a difference in the "focus" of the picture. I didn't know what I was supposed to notice most with the original picture. I probably would have pulled the dead flowers out is I was trying to show who beautiful they were.

===================================

Leigh,

I'm looking at coming to NZ in a couple of years for my and my wife's 30th anniversary. I want to see Tonga, Samoa, and NZ because I have always loved the South Seas. I'm also looking forward to lamb with mint sauce!

What part of New Zeland do you live in?

I agree with Mikko about file size. Yours are really too large for most of us on the web.

===================================

Charles,

What were you doing in NZ? Any kind of movie and if so...what movie? Just wondering.


Tery

<<<-- Originally posted by Terry Thompson : Leigh,

I'm looking at coming to NZ in a couple of years for my and my wife's 30th anniversary. I want to see Tonga, Samoa, and NZ because I have always loved the South Seas. I'm also looking forward to lamb with mint sauce!

What part of New Zeland do you live in?

-->>>

Hi Terry,

Thanks for asking. I live in North Shore City, Auckland. It is a quite nice place and I can go swimming on the beach everyday in summer. The place I really like is Singapore where I can swim whole year on the beach. 8 ) But the law in Singapore is pretty strict which I don't like.

Regards
Leigh