"Best" focal length for stabilizer?

C

c3hammer

Well-known member
Looking to see what you guys find to be the best focal length on the APS-C camera's for a standard walking shot.

I have a 17-35L that is quite nice around 17mm, but is very heavy for hand held stabilizer work. Also have a 28mm f2 prime that is super light, but just too tight most of the time. Thinking about renting a 14mm L to see how it works.

Which focal length do you reach for first when running a glidecam or steadicam of some sort?

Cheers,
Pete
 
Anything below 35mm, and ideally at or below 24mm. Anything longer than 35mm will be hard to stabilize, and the wider you are, the easier it is to maintain focus.
 
Had this debate w/ myself as well. The nifty-fifty in many ways is perfect - fast, light, sharp, and cheap (should you drop it somehow).

But it's way too tight.

Virtually all the wide primes - say 14mm or wider - from Tonkina, Canon, to Samyang - are all beasts.

The Sony E 16mm f/2.8 - new for the new Sony NEX E mount cams (including the Sony FS100), is small as heck, fast, gets decent reviews, is wide (16mm), and is cheap ('round $250 new):
http://www.photozone.de/sony-alpha-aps-c-lens-tests/542-sony16f28nex

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/695859-REG/Sony_SEL16F28_SEL16F28_16mm_f_2_8_Wide_Angle.html

I just have no idea if there's an adapter that would might it work for the EOS line...
 
jdv said:
The Sony E 16mm f/2.8 - new for the new Sony NEX E mount cams (including the Sony FS100), is small as heck, fast, gets decent reviews, is wide (16mm), and is cheap ('round $250 new):http://www.photozone.de/sony-alpha-aps-c-lens-tests/542-sony16f28nex

I just have no idea if there's an adapter that would might it work for the EOS line...
Click to expand...

It's not possible to adapt this lens to an EF/EF-S mount because the flange distance is too short. To get proper focus on the NEX E mount lens it would need to be mounted inside the Canon camera.

I generally prefer to go really wide on a steadicam. I use a Sigma 10-20mm and most of the time it stays at 10mm. This is partly because wider angles have less shake and partly because it makes focus much easier (set it to the hyperfocal length and everything from 1ft to infinity is in focus). I do have to be careful that I always have a specific subject - otherwise the WA distortion can become noticable on the background, particularly indoors. If there is a person or other primary subject on screen, then it distracts the audience from the distortion.
 
the choice of focal length is a matter of need and personal preference

unlike deltoidjohn, I don't like to go too wide for a stabilizer: when the camera moves, such a wide FoV creates what I personally consider unpleasant effects

so I use the 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens at 18mm: ultra cheap, ultra light, reasonably sharp (specially in the center), and has IS
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...meraComp=474&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=1
(with such an awful construction and nasty focus ring, it's not useful for much apart from this, though)
 
deltoidjohn said:
It's not possible to adapt this lens to an EF/EF-S mount because the flange distance is too short. To get proper focus on the NEX E mount lens it would need to be mounted inside the Canon camera.

I generally prefer to go really wide on a steadicam. I use a Sigma 10-20mm and most of the time it stays at 10mm. This is partly because wider angles have less shake and partly because it makes focus much easier (set it to the hyperfocal length and everything from 1ft to infinity is in focus).
Click to expand...

That's too bad, but thanks for the info.

And yeah, the wider the better for a host of reasons, less shake being + ease of framing being the key factors for me.
 
Thanks for the comments everyone!

@deltoidjohn, do you have any examples of the stabilized sigma 10-20mm on vimeo or youtube?

Cheers,
Pete
 
If you're experienced with your stabilizer, anything up to 85mm is pretty easy to use. You can go longer for some shots, but if you're handheld, you'll have to work for it.
The wider lenses are most used because you can get away with more, and beginners always use them because you get the results with less work, but pretty much anything you can realistically balance can be used.
 
Pookie said:
If you're experienced with your stabilizer, anything up to 85mm is pretty easy to use. You can go longer for some shots, but if you're handheld, you'll have to work for it.
The wider lenses are most used because you can get away with more, and beginners always use them because you get the results with less work, but pretty much anything you can realistically balance can be used.
Click to expand...


Beginners, less work?


Why would ANYONE purposely want to work harder?
 
I mainly use my 30mm F1.4 on my stabilizer, and I use it A LOT! I also have used the 11-16 on it, but the 30 is generally my favorite on APS-C on a stabilizer.
 
What lens you want to use on a stabiliser will also depend on what you are shooting - I shoot weddings so everything has to be right the first time - if it's too shaky or if the subject doesn't stay in focus the whole time, then I can't just shoot it again.

If I was shooting narrative, I would probably go a bit longer - being able to reshoot as much as you want, as well as block out all the movements in advance, means longer lenses (eg 30mm) are less of a liability than they are with live events. It will also give you less distortion, though as I said earlier, if you have a properly framed subject then the viewer won't notice the distortion even at really wide angles.
 
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