I've been itching to try out a stablizer rig so I picked this up (http://www.cinevate.com/images/steadi.jpg) and strapped on the Brevis35 with a 50mm lens and matte box. I did some tuning of the handle and yoke attachments to remove some play/binding after this shoot with the result that the unit feels much better now. Here's a 10MB clip. (http://www.fortvir.net/gallery/d/1411-1/stablelo.wmv?)

I need a lot more practice :-)

definately it needs remote focusing.

That, or using say a 28mm set at f 4.0 or so for less critical focus. A 50mm f1.4 is probably way too shallow for this type of work. When I get a bit more practice I'll experiment a bit.

Hi Dennis,

What is the weight of your Brevis35 with a 50mm lens and matte box and camera?

TIA

Regards
Leigh

Leigh, the rails, cam, 50mm lens, adapter and matte box are under 6 pounds.

Nice casting Dennis...the kid looks a natural. Nice energy and little inhibition in front of the camera.

I love your composition at 1:18...

I didn't really get the sense of the "floating camera" in that clip...are you thinking it's a case of practice makes perfect, or is not possible with this type of stabilizer? (am I confusing this contraption with a steadicam-type device?)

Think I'll have to get me one of those Brevis'...I'm really liking the look.

Steve, thanks for your kind words. After doing that footage I spent about 1 hour going over the stablilizer to tweak a few items:

1. The support handle was a bit loose at the main bearing attachment points, and its rotating pivot was bindng a bit. I took everything apart, inspected, retensioned and loctited the bolts. I also added some light lithium grease on the bushings.

2. The base attachment point had a little play which I cleaned up by drilling and tapping two holes to pin it solid.

3. I spent some time to learn proper balancing of the unit.

The hardware concerns aside, that was literally my first time out with the rig. To shoot with an adapter (without a wireless FF unit and assistant) you need to set manual focus based on a predicted cam to subject range, and then attempt to maintain that focus distance from your subject. Running backwards, trying to frame, and trying to maintain a given distance, while concentrating on keeping the rig smooth is something I'll need to practice:-)

I also mounted up the adapter to my mountain bike and got some very cool, albeit brief footage. I'm getting two more Bogen superclamps to allow triangulating the mount as my current setup has a bit too much bounce using one. Turns out the rails setup comes in pretty handy as my grip heads will clamp right onto them. This means I don't really need a ball head mount for the rails.

That's some good stuff! I can just imagine it, brevis+xlh1+decent steadicam(indiecam.com??)=work of art.

It looks really good, Dennis. Was that stabilizer built by you too?

Raf, nope, and I can't really recommend it either.

Dennis,

I thought it was kind of cool. It's great if you know your focus range and can keep the subject in that range.

The best thing about the whole clip is you will keep that for the future and watch it many more times.

Terry
Indicam

Hey Dennis, great job to get all that on 10 mgb. I'm sure we lost some in the translation....

Just waiting to see that Pentax Kmount come around....

Hi Dennis, nice shot!

I agree with Frank, you would have needed a remote focus, but i know perfectly the problems that you get when adding a stabilizer to a 35mm adapter like your Brevis.

By the way, we finished our wireless remote, you were developing another too, right? How is it goin'?

Diego
http://www.foveas.com
diego [at] foveas [dot] com

Diego, our wired version is in line behind the standard manual follow focus unit we have in production. I'll be very interested in trying out your wireless setup...from what I've seen so far, it looks good!

Raf, nope, and I can't really recommend it either.

Are you talking about that stabilizer Dennis? Have you tried it?