Carnival, first footage from my HVX

A

Alan Dague-Greene

Active member
This is from the Boulder County Fair in Longmont, Colorado. Shot about four hours ago. First time using my HVX with a P2 card. (I put in a DV tape yesterday morning and was so disappointed that I felt compelled to order a 4GB card for overnight delivery.)

The footage was shot with my custom-built stabilizer. Full disclosure: I accidentally left the OIS turned on. Honestly, I forgot it was on. Gah! Bummed, because I really want an unfiltered impression of how good my operating is. Thrilled, because the footage looks great anyway.

720/24pN, no color-correction, FCP to QT to Compressor. Music is by Alamaailman Vasarat, a Finnish band. So if there are any people from Finland who take an interest in Steadicam, you have at least two reasons to visit this thread.

Zipped: http://www.basicrecipe.com/adg_2006_08_02_fair.zip
 
Yeah, P2 cards make all the difference. For next time you may want to pan slower, because of the framerate. I'd like to see what your custom stabilizer looks like.
 
Nice stuff there Alan!
Man that HVX shoots nice nice pictures. Glad to hear you finally went for the P2 card :)

You asked for it, so: Your operatins seems decent. Your rig apears to be dooing a prety decent job. A few footstaps did show through a little, maybe a little too tight grip? However what bugged me most was the horizon. The camera appeard to be leaning to the right a little throughout - perhaps a balance issue? Do you have a level on your rig?
Some shots also lacked substance, even when there's nothing, it's good to compose something into the shot, even just to imediatly move past it. Then again it's just test footage so I doubt you were beeing picky.

Ok, critique over.

That shot around the merry-go-round was AWSOME! Though it left me dizzy. I'm not actually sure if it's a "good" shot, but I sure as heck liked it, very cool. Would love to see that one as a slowmo perhaps?

Nice cameo there towards the end. Also, Who's the girl? :)

- Mikko
 
Hmm man, I tell you what, Just sweet. Alan can't wait to hook up with ya in Boulder.

Love the test shots, I love the way you framed yourself and thanked the ticket booth for allowing you to Film, and also showing your chic at the end :)
 
Thanks, Mikko. That's what I asked for. I'm seeing many of the same things you're seeing.

You're seeing my steps because the HVX is just slightly heavier than what my springs are tuned for, so my gimbal hand is a bit stiff. I could tighten the springs a little more, but then it doesn't ride as nice. I'm just going to have to replace the springs.

You would laugh if you saw me balance the sled. My roll bearings are not perfectly in line with each other, so their connection to the post is forced, slightly warping the bearings. This makes them a bit tight. The result? Even when the sled is perfectly balanced, I can roll it a couple of degrees and it stays there! So, I struggle between trying to nail horizons and trying to avoid developing overcontrolling habits.

You're last point is right, too. I had no subject, so I was just roaming. It would have been better if there was something to focus on. Thanks for all your comments, I appreciate your feedback.

The girl is my 29-year-old wife! She's always looked younger, I guess.

SurJones, thanks for your comments. The feeling is mutual, we should definitely get a Denver HVX group together.

rig.jpg
 
wow... amazing. You made that stabilizer? Looks like it does a great job. Thought about making a version for sale.. or plans in the DIY section.



I loved the shot going up to the box office booth. Looked so sweet! I shot at a carnival the first night I had my HVX.. but I got kicked out after only 10 minutes...


Thanks for showing and looked like a great start with the stabilizer... what do you plan to do to make it better? More smooth? I did see some steps, but looks sweet and dreamy none-the-less.. Thanks!
 
I think we should thank Alan for his future endeavor selling that Z1U on that home built stabilization in the pictuer :) LOL Welcome to the HVX/P2 side :)
 
Ha! That Z1 was just a rental a few months ago, but I hear you. The difference is obvious. So glad I sprung for the Panny.

Justyn, there is a vibrant community of home-builders over at Home Built Stabilizers. Lots of great discussion, and some people doing some really amazing work. That's where I got 80% of my knowledge.

No plans to sell it or draw up plans. The joy is in figuring it out (for me, at least). Aside from picking some new springs that work better with the HVX, I've pretty much maxed out this rig. I really wouldn't know what improvements to make. It has its flaws, but I'm very happy with it and it's good enough for what I want.
 
Now my kids are aking me when is the carnival coming to town....:)

Thats some good looking footage and stabilizer!!!

I thought it looked a little like Carnivale (the HBO series )......wait, let me go watch it again.........................Very nice, I like to see the people's faces as you walk by them.


Great job!!
 
I think the footage looks really good, I love how the lighting is rendered. I think you did an amazing job on building your own stabilizer, it looks really friggin sweet.

I have to agree with Mikko, the balance is off and most of the footage has a very significant right tilt that really hurts the camerawork. Also, there's quite a bit of wobble here and there that hurts it. As long as you can fix the balance it looks to me like you got a pretty decent stabilizer there. And then all you need is alot more practice with it.

I have to commend you on your dedication to build your own stabilizer, though. I have no doubt you will attain a great degree of facility with it in the future. Personally, I find the idea of homeade stabilizers so daunting. A good steadicam is such a precision device and I would hate to spend time fighting the engineering of a rig because a great deal of skill is already required just to operate one well. But that's just me, I would no doubt screw it up if I made one myself and then struggle with it. It's hard enough learning to fly a stabilizer well as it is. Hats off to you!
 
Thanks to everyone for your comments. I acknowledge the tilt problem, I'm going to have to work harder on that. As for the wobble, there is a lot of movement that doesn't look natural to me, and I'm wondering if the OIS added some of it. Rather than offering excuses, I'm just going to make sure the OIS is off, and shoot more stuff!

Building a stabilizer is a fantastic mental exercise. I recommend it for anyone who has a few thousand dollars lying around and doesn't mind sleepless nights of figuring out spring dynamics and whatnot. Then one day, finally, it works! Hooray! But what's that squeaking sound ... and how much will it cost me to fix it ...
 
You know ive had the HVX for what seems to be an eternity. God shot a nice music vid in the desert with it, i think i better get it cleaned. Anyhoo.

What do you guys think of the OIS? ive never used it and i use only a fig rig, not like Robocop here. ;) love the rig, but man that must be great for haloween.

Anyone know the true benifits and weaknesses of it. Might be interesting? The OIS i mean, not a robocop :S blegh nvm
 
My experience with the OIS is very limited, but it performs exactly as I would expect it to. That's not to say that it's perfect, but I'm sure most people could overlook the flaws and still see a significant improvement over non-OIS handheld shots.

- Murphy
 
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