cinematography Heavier Camera

[Boz Uriel]

This may sound silly but I want to make my digital video camera heavier. It's true.

A video guy I know told me to put a ten pound weight on my camera to help steady it, make it act like a bigger (read that as more expensive) camera. Do they make weights that you can screw into the bottom of your camera, the threaded hole normally used with a tri-pod?

Is this true? Anybody else doing this too? Is there a 'Home Depot' DIY equivalent?

 

[spinner]

...what kind of camera do you have, out of curiosity? I find that the consumer brand cameras that seem to be getting smaller are a pain to operate. How do you control something that small? Yuck...

...sorry, no advice to give

--spinner

 

[Zensteve]

There are many diy ways to do that, but all rely on the same principle.

It's not about making the camera itself heavier... it's about adding a balance counter-weight.

The weights don't screw into the tripod hole, but rather a pole (topped with a tripod head) does... and on the bottom of that pole is a flat resting board that can have weight added to it.

No doubt someone will post a link to some walk-through plans.

Actually, I bet Liza has a few plans for this at StickToWhatYouKnow.com

She's awesome.

 

[John@Bophe]

$14 steady cam DIY kit might help--

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/

 

[knightly]

If you have a tripod...I have a $0 Solution. Put the camera on the tripod and fold all of the legs up. Make a circle with your index finger and thumb. Put the tripod in the "O" in your hand and let it dangle there. This will disconnect the camera from the movement of your body somewhat. Carry it like you were carrying a full coffee cup that you didn't want to let burn your hand. In fact, you can practice with a coffee cup that you don't want to let burn your hand. The smoother your walk, the smoother your footage. No sudden movements as the unbalanced distribution of weight will cause the assembly to sway and the camera will dutch (unless that's what your going for).

If you're going handheld, another way to solidify your shots is to pull your elbows into your body in an effort to make your upper torso and the camera one solid piece. To pan, turn at the waist. This will use more large muscles and will therefore be a smoother motion.

 

[Boz Uriel]

I e-mailed my friend back for further clarification. This all has to do with the way the camera moves. A lighter camera, like my Sony TRV530, moves like it's a light weight camera. This gets translated in the shots. Just small ques that human's pick up on. He says if I add ten pounds to the camera it will move better, my shots will look better. Not so much the trembling of the camera but the way it moves when you pan or dolly. We use the DP in wheel chair for most of our dolly shots. Hand held shots have the same issue. A hand held pan with a light camera early in the day tends to whip around. If the camera was ten pounds heavier (he says) this would force you slow the pans down and make your shots smoother, just like a bigger, more expensive camera.

The hold I'm referring to is on the bottom of my camera. This is where I screw in a lockable base and the base gets locked onto my tripod with a small handle. I use sandbags to give the tri-pod weight but that's hardly condusive to hand held shots so I was wondering if there was a metal plate that screws into my camera to give it, well weight.

Unless they make something specifically for this purpose, knightly's $0 solution should work wonderfully! Thanks big K.

 

[CootDog]

If you have a tripod...I have a $0 Solution. Put the camera on the tripod and fold all of the legs up. Make a circle with your index finger and thumb. Put the tripod in the "O" in your hand and let it dangle there. This will disconnect the camera from the movement of your body somewhat. Carry it like you were carrying a full coffee cup that you didn't want to let burn your hand. In fact, you can practice with a coffee cup that you don't want to let burn your hand. The smoother your walk, the smoother your footage. No sudden movements as the unbalanced distribution of weight will cause the assembly to sway and the camera will dutch (unless that's what your going for).

If you're going handheld, another way to solidify your shots is to pull your elbows into your body in an effort to make your upper torso and the camera one solid piece. To pan, turn at the waist. This will use more large muscles and will therefore be a smoother motion.

YES! That's exactly what I do! and if you need a little more stability, open the legs, just don't extend them. I did that for my ITOOFC#2 entry and received many compliments on the steadiness.