It's not really a "movie" it's more like a documentary without narration. Don't expect a movie like "Fast and the Furious". Baraka is a rainy sunday afternoon event. You can read a little about it at spiritofbaraka.com

j.

Hi John, another question...!!

can you explain me how you encoded your video? which wmv codec you used? which settings?

thanks so much!!!

I really enjoyed your footage. I am curious however, you mentioned that on occasion during filming with your dolly there was some spots that you could see some slight shakeyness. I am wondering how bad the actual shakeyness was and why the XL2's image stabilization didn't automatically correct it.

or...
 

Another option if you want to get shots like these without a dolly you could do what I do and go with a Steadicam system. Of course this will take some cash and training (esspecially to get the really slow shots) but once you do its unreal.. free to move anywhere! I highly recommend the aviator from www.Varizoom.com that's what we have (check their customer comments - thats us in the photos)

If you have any questions on the rig let me know

Christopher, I guess John did not have the camera stabilization switched on as in some instances it can cause a very minor decline in image quality. I have not seen too much written about the XL2 camera stabilization and how it affects picture quality, I am just guessing from some other camera systems out there!

Thanks Michael for the link to Varizoom. Certainly something I am considering.

Many thanks

Steven

Terrific stuff! What wide angle lens were you using? Century Optics or...?

The XL2 uses OIS (Optical Image Stabilzation). Unlike electronic image stabilization, there is no degredation in image quality.

* As far as the settings for the .wmv file, again, using Vegas 5.

-- Video rendering quality "Best"
-- Mode "CBR"
-- Format "Windows Media Video 9"
-- Image size "Keep Original Size"
-- Frame rate "29.970"
-- Video smoothness "90"
-- Bit rate "1 Mbps Video"


The actual shakeyness wasnt horrible. But it was enough that I had to redo dolly shots over and over until i felt like I got a shot that had a minimal amount of "shaking" ...as far as the OIS, I dont know if it helped minimize the shakeyness or what. It was hard for me to study the footage in the field. In the field i would feel that I got a smooth shot, but i wouldnt notice the shakeyness until i started editing.

Century Optics .6 WA


j.

Tripod?
 

Hey John, thanks for sharing the dolly details... so simple and obviously effective.

What tripod & head combo do you use?