Steve Gibby
Red Savant
Nalu,
Short of using a stabilization system, smooth hand held and shoulder held use of cameras has a lot to do with balancing the rig. If the center of balance of the rig is directly over your shoulder top, and you use a solid 3-point hold (shoulder, right hand on lens servo grip, left hand on lens barrel or follow focus), you can stabilize shoulder held shots significantly. You’re almost always using a viewfinder (with left eye open to see obstacles), but occasionally using an LCD. Some shoulder braces can be adjusted forward and backward to compensate for an imbalance in the centerpoint of balance for the rig. This is especially helpful when you change out lenses regularly, and they are of different weights. It Looks like the RED Rail shoulder brace will have forward/backward adjustment capability, so that will help in balancing the rig.
For hand held high, low, and away from your body, the starting point is to grab the camera at it's center of balance. Keep your elbow bent to take up shock as you move (same as knees when skiing or surfing). Practice slow, smooth peds, pans dollies, walking, and tracking hand held. You’re always using an LCD for this, with a shade screen when stray light is a problem. It’s also usually in brighter light, so aperture is stopped down, DOF is then deeper, and focus is easier.
I think good shoulder held and hand held shooting starts with physical fitness. Your body is the tripod. The better condition you're in, and the more you're used to body motions, the better chance you have to get smooth camera movements. When people watch me doing shoulder and hand held camera work for action sports and adventure travel, I often get comments from them like: "It looked like you were doing Tai Chi". In essence it is like doing Tai Chi - but while suspending an object that sometimes weighs as much as 30 pounds! If you're in good condition, and practice camera movements, you'll find that you only need a stabilization unit on the most demanding of shot sequences.
Throughout my career I've done a ton of hand held and shoulder held work for various networks (ESPN, Fox Sports, OLN, NBC - 12 networks in all) - usually with big, heavy rigs, but occasionally with mid-sized rigs.
When I shoot out of planes and copters it is usually with a gyro system or stabilized lens, and a solid shoulder/waist harness.
Short of using a stabilization system, smooth hand held and shoulder held use of cameras has a lot to do with balancing the rig. If the center of balance of the rig is directly over your shoulder top, and you use a solid 3-point hold (shoulder, right hand on lens servo grip, left hand on lens barrel or follow focus), you can stabilize shoulder held shots significantly. You’re almost always using a viewfinder (with left eye open to see obstacles), but occasionally using an LCD. Some shoulder braces can be adjusted forward and backward to compensate for an imbalance in the centerpoint of balance for the rig. This is especially helpful when you change out lenses regularly, and they are of different weights. It Looks like the RED Rail shoulder brace will have forward/backward adjustment capability, so that will help in balancing the rig.
For hand held high, low, and away from your body, the starting point is to grab the camera at it's center of balance. Keep your elbow bent to take up shock as you move (same as knees when skiing or surfing). Practice slow, smooth peds, pans dollies, walking, and tracking hand held. You’re always using an LCD for this, with a shade screen when stray light is a problem. It’s also usually in brighter light, so aperture is stopped down, DOF is then deeper, and focus is easier.
I think good shoulder held and hand held shooting starts with physical fitness. Your body is the tripod. The better condition you're in, and the more you're used to body motions, the better chance you have to get smooth camera movements. When people watch me doing shoulder and hand held camera work for action sports and adventure travel, I often get comments from them like: "It looked like you were doing Tai Chi". In essence it is like doing Tai Chi - but while suspending an object that sometimes weighs as much as 30 pounds! If you're in good condition, and practice camera movements, you'll find that you only need a stabilization unit on the most demanding of shot sequences.
Throughout my career I've done a ton of hand held and shoulder held work for various networks (ESPN, Fox Sports, OLN, NBC - 12 networks in all) - usually with big, heavy rigs, but occasionally with mid-sized rigs.
When I shoot out of planes and copters it is usually with a gyro system or stabilized lens, and a solid shoulder/waist harness.
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