C100: 7 Weeks to NAB - Anyone hearing anything besides conjecture about a C100 MKIII?
- Thread starter puredrifting
- Start date
Jaime Valles
Veteran
Best $70 I've ever spent:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...nford_steadystick3qr_steady_stick_3_with.html
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...nford_steadystick3qr_steady_stick_3_with.html
JPNola
Veteran
Ask a subject to spread their legs?? I would never do that and have never done that. I'll even go so far as to say that asking a subject to do that is unprofessional of a camera operator. No subject should be asked to stand in an awkward and potentially embarrassing position just to accommodate the desired background of the DP / Cameraman. I would hope you didn't ask one of those nuns to spread their legs for your shot!
Eric Coughlin
Veteran
No, no. I only ask the interview subject to spread their legs when it is my wife. I interview my wife often.
It's not as much about background as it is about camera to subject height so the camera can be at their eye-line. As I said, using a monopod or tripod helps keep this issue from happening. Typically women are shorter so the camera operator would be the one more likely to need to lower their height, and men don't take offense to spreading their legs, though I'm sure there are less double entendre ways of phrasing to get them to be shorter if you don't think they'd find humor in it. For a short interview (as most non-sit down interviews are) it's typically not all that uncomfortable to put your legs further apart to lower your height, and is certainly more comfortable than bending your knees to lower your height.
So if you're shoulder mounted and you're filming a 6" 6' guy, and you're 5" 9', what do you do? Just point the camera up at him? That's going to look pretty bad. There's not always an apple box laying around for run n gun shoots.
Last edited:
NorBro
Major Contributor
That's how you shoot for the WWE, lol. Make everyone (or most) look bigger.
JPNola
Veteran
Here is the C300 Franken-rig I had to use on a reality tv show:
Compared to the far less cabled and far more one-piece solidity of my Fs7 rig:
Sorry C-owners, but I find the franken-rigs obnoxious and ridiculous. My rig goes from storage case to shooting in all of about 5 seconds. No assembly required. It stays in the same form whether on a tripod or shooting handheld.
But if you are making great images, making money with your rig, and enjoying your camera, that's all the matters. I admit that the erector-set stuff is kinda fun.
Compared to the far less cabled and far more one-piece solidity of my Fs7 rig:
Sorry C-owners, but I find the franken-rigs obnoxious and ridiculous. My rig goes from storage case to shooting in all of about 5 seconds. No assembly required. It stays in the same form whether on a tripod or shooting handheld.
But if you are making great images, making money with your rig, and enjoying your camera, that's all the matters. I admit that the erector-set stuff is kinda fun.
Eric Coughlin
Veteran
Sure, if that's the desired look. Though for a convention video, for example, I don't think it looks good.
control4userguy
Well-known member
JPNola
Veteran
But the eyeline is usually to an interviewer who is typically in the range of the height of the lens. So even when you interview someone extraordinarily tall that individual is still looking to the height of the lens.
LeBron James is 6'8". But because he is looking at an interviewer who is roughly the height of the lens his eyeline is to the height of the lens-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU7kokWzb4M&t=1m4s
I think it only professional to avoid asking the subject to do anything that could make them feel awkward or embarrassed. If the person is an ordinary joe they have not likely been on camera much and asking them to stand with their legs spread is only likely to make them feel more uncomfortable. If the subject is someone famous or important they are likely to find it rude for them to be asked to stand in some awkward position simply to accommodate the shot. I'm not going to ask a tall CEO to stand in a goofy position in front of his colleagues and employees. Or ask a tall NFL Quarterback to stand with his legs spread in order to "improve my eyeline". That's crazy, bro! As dumb as that thing where camera ops ask a person to tilt their eyeglasses at an extreme angle. And then the person is all self-conscious about their wearing eyeglasses if not also looking silly in the shot as a result of the temples of their eyeglass frames being way above their ears.
Last edited:
Eric Coughlin
Veteran
When the interviewer is part of the shot as in that example, then yes, you can have the camera in-between the height of the interviewer and the interviewee, particularly since the interviewee is looking down at the on-camera interviewer.
But when the interviewer is off-camera, you don't hear their voice, etc., then the interviewer and the interviewee should both be at eye-line with the camera, unless you're going for a specific look such as to emphasize the height of a WWE or basketball player.
That camera is definitely looking up at LeBron James and to me would not be an acceptable angle for most of my interviews which are one person interviews with the subject looking at the off-camera interviewer. Again, I'm not talking about sports where it can be okay to make them look tall.
Like being on-camera in the first place. You're already making them feel nervous, often with hot, bright lights shining in their eyes, a bunch of people watching them, multiple cameras, etc. You ask them to sit up straight and not move around too much so you can keep them in frame and in focus. Interview subjects are often uncomfortable just because of the nature of filming an interview. It's the way things are.
If I ask an average Joe at a convention to put his legs further apart to lower his height so I don't have to look up his nose, in my experience, they don't mind much and it doesn't make them any more nervous than they already are, more so due to the camera and being asked questions on the spot.
Sure, if the person is a famous athlete or a big shot CEO, then of course I'd take that into consideration and be less likely to ask them to be less comfortable for the interview. But again, the average Joe at the convention doesn't typically mind.
And also again, I typically use a monopod or tripod to avoid such situations.
Run&Gun
Veteran
Dear God. And people wonder why those of us that have 'grown-up' shooting with true shoulder mount ENG cameras hate the design of the C300/100's. Yeah, you can put it on your shoulder now, but it's kind of like cutting the back half of the roof and the trunk lid off of a Honda Accord and then calling it a pick-up truck*.
*Then you'd have an el-camino that got 40 mpg.
Eric Coughlin
Veteran
Think my C300 shoulder rig setup is a bit more contained.
I use a Spider Brace 2 for my C100 setup. Don't think I have a photo of it, though this photo is that shoulder mount with a different camera. Very front heavy, but the camera is light enough that I can handle the weight pretty well even for long periods. Main advantage is not having to gerry rig all kinds of stuff to get an external monitor since you can use both the viewfinder or the LCD with that shoulder rig, thus leaving the camera itself pretty bare and light. Not saying it is an ideal setup, but it sure is cheap and simple.
I use a Spider Brace 2 for my C100 setup. Don't think I have a photo of it, though this photo is that shoulder mount with a different camera. Very front heavy, but the camera is light enough that I can handle the weight pretty well even for long periods. Main advantage is not having to gerry rig all kinds of stuff to get an external monitor since you can use both the viewfinder or the LCD with that shoulder rig, thus leaving the camera itself pretty bare and light. Not saying it is an ideal setup, but it sure is cheap and simple.
Michel Talaïa
Member
Like I said in an another thread, with a physical modification like we have seen on the first C300 for DPAF update, C300 Mark 2 should be capable of 4K 60p or even 120p. Then we could see a good C100 Mark 2 with 4K. What do you think about physical upgrade of C300 Mark 2 ?
Eric Coughlin
Veteran
Found a video of my Spiderbrace 2 shoulder mount with C100 Mark II at the 0:13 mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqsdJs9NQ0g
control4userguy
Well-known member
Right, now you got it. I'll call my rig the Ridgeline...
deltoidjohn
Veteran
I think any sort of shoulder mount for any camera is going to be far from optimal without a VCT plate. You're either going to be front-heavy, or you'll forever be adjusting parts to go from shoulder to tripod.
The problem with the CX00's is that they very short which puts the controls - even the focus - at an awkward position behind the operators head. Eric's rig looks much better than most I've seen (thanks to the VCT plate), but I can't see any room for a follow focus and the monitor looks very close to the eye (let alone the lack of a hood or evf which makes it completely unusable outdoors in my part of the world).
The problem with the CX00's is that they very short which puts the controls - even the focus - at an awkward position behind the operators head. Eric's rig looks much better than most I've seen (thanks to the VCT plate), but I can't see any room for a follow focus and the monitor looks very close to the eye (let alone the lack of a hood or evf which makes it completely unusable outdoors in my part of the world).
Eric Coughlin
Veteran
Have you used the C300 Mark II's LCD screen? It's very bright when you turn the backlight on to +2, much more so than the C300 Mark I or C100 Mark II. Florida sun is pretty bright and it handles it fine in most cases; I can't speak for how bright Australia is. I do have a hoodman for it when I need it, but most of the time I don't need it. Certainly brighter than a SmallHD 502.
I think with that setup I was pretty happy with the position of the LCD screen; I like it close to my eye for focus. Since the lens was light the camera didn't have to be slid too far back. There have been times though where I would have liked the LCD to be able to slide further forward, particularly if the lens is heavy and I want the camera further back for counter balance, but was limited by the length of the cable and either had to add more counterweight or deal with a front heavy camera. For just $700 you can buy a pair of 3.3 ft. cables to extend the LCD further forward. Or use a SmallHD 503 (looks nice) or 502, which then adds more complexity as I often find it nice to just use what is on the camera, but maybe that's just because I haven't gotten around to buying an external monitor yet.
Last edited:
control4userguy
Well-known member
^^That's true but my point is it can be shoulder mounted for far less than what Zacuto wants for the stuff. Whether a shoulder rig sits as high as a multi-story building (^^^^^) or low & long makes little difference as long as it is balanced. What does make a difference, to me, is I don't use a $2000 extenal EVF, and a $$ sliding plate rig system. My shoulder pad can slide just as easily as well as the battery and counter weights slide too.
"Monitor looks close to the eye"... Right, I agree and since my rig doesn't use any EVF, the finder IS close to my face. The bottom line is yes, the FF puts all the weight in front of you. And, yes, the "rig" puts everything behind your eyes and reach. Nothing is perfect and there are workarounds for everything. We all collect paychecks at the end of the day (hopefully).
"Monitor looks close to the eye"... Right, I agree and since my rig doesn't use any EVF, the finder IS close to my face. The bottom line is yes, the FF puts all the weight in front of you. And, yes, the "rig" puts everything behind your eyes and reach. Nothing is perfect and there are workarounds for everything. We all collect paychecks at the end of the day (hopefully).
JPNola
Veteran
sigh. These baby-faced guys who have been shooting all of 8 years yet are cock-certain they have it all figured out and don't wanna consider the greater experience of their elder peers in the biz.
I was probably that way as well at one time.
rogar-Happy(DBG):
fyi- There will come a day when there is no way you can even begin to see a screen that close to your face.
I was probably that way as well at one time.
rogar-Happy(DBG):fyi- There will come a day when there is no way you can even begin to see a screen that close to your face.