T2i Handheld with a non IS lens?

Hawk Teflon

Hawk Teflon

Veteran
Contemplating going handheld with a non IS lens? DON'T DO IT! Set up your tripod. I've spent the better part of the day motion tracking shots on a short I shot yesterday. I have learned my lesson, and I'm passing this off to you free of charge.

I don't care how steady you think you can get the shot. DON'T. DO. IT.
 
I have a T2i with vintage manual Nikkor lenses that I put on a cheap, heavy, shoulder mount I got off of eBay, and it is no more shaky than any other shoulder mounted video camera. However, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY, that you can pick up a video DSLR, without any kind of support, and have the footage look like anything but crap.
 
haha i learned this the hard way too. Spent so much time trying to fix it after...
never making that mistake again.

PS. David, I love the Coppola quote in your sig. Pretty relevant now that anyone can get a camera and make a film (not saying they're all gonna be good)
 
Seagull21, do you find it is typically bearable for say a vintage 50mm prime to shoot run and gun for some of those hand-held shots (without IS of course)? I mean, is the shakiness much worse for an old 50mm prime without IS than a new one with IS if both were hand-held?
 
seems to be a pretty broad statement that I'd disagree with. I mount/tripod shoot most stuff, but anything wider than 50mm you can handhold fairly well. And even then, depending on your shot having some slight motion might give an otherwise stale shot a little life. There are also some fairly useful techniques in handholding that stead the shot really well. My rule is 50mm as a breakover point.

not really disagreeing with the OP, but handheld has it's place in some things.
 
I agree,dont go out without tripod,never, you can mount the camera to tripod upside down and it will help a lot.
 
tripod, shoulder rig, glidecam, slider are all > lens IS, (unless you are talking the new system on the 100mm 2.8 macro)

Why anyone woudl try to shoot anything important handheld seems beyond me. Heck you can make a decent DIY shoulder rig for like $15 from PVC at home depot.
 
hmm, yeah actually the shoulder mount sounds like a very reasonable option for something between hand held and tripod. I'd like to buy a couple more old primes, as there is some great glass at a great price. I haven't received my 7D and the first lens I ordered yet (an old SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4), but I'll see how non-IS does at 50mm focal length when they come. I think I'll start looking for a shoulder mount too.

My biggest dilemma is in which lens to get next, as I was very strongly considering the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro (non-IS), but I'm a bit worried that I'll never be able to use it unless it's on a tripod. Maybe shoulder mount would work? And I'm also kind of leaning towards that lens because I like macro photography too.
 
I would definitely like to try out a shoulder mount now. I'm curious to see what it would be like.

@ryan - I was shooting with a Tamron at 17mm, and there was nothing stable about it. Nothing. I thought it was while shooting, but as I put in the edit bay, I realized it was very shaky!
 
Even with a good mount to steady, you'll need the IS to smooth out the micro jitters. Even your heartbeat can mess up a steady shot.
 
Taiman89 said:
hmm, yeah actually the shoulder mount sounds like a very reasonable option for something between hand held and tripod. I'd like to buy a couple more old primes, as there is some great glass at a great price. I haven't received my 7D and the first lens I ordered yet (an old SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4), but I'll see how non-IS does at 50mm focal length when they come. I think I'll start looking for a shoulder mount too.

My biggest dilemma is in which lens to get next, as I was very strongly considering the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro (non-IS), but I'm a bit worried that I'll never be able to use it unless it's on a tripod. Maybe shoulder mount would work? And I'm also kind of leaning towards that lens because I like macro photography too.
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Like I said I am using vintage lenses without IS and I am pleased with them. However, a 100mm, even with a shoulder mount and IS is pretty long to be us hand held effectively. I would use a tripod for that.

Here is a hand held shot, with a shoulder mount that I took using a 24mm f2.8 pre-AI Nikkor lens. I originally posted this as a test for the pre-AI lens coatings and is pure raw footage.

http://vimeo.com/14047259

I use the heavy CB-105 stabilizer from these guys:

http://www.dynamicmotionvideo.com/

The footage is shaky but, no more than a regular video camera would be.
 
Here's a test. Slap on an IS lens. Turn on your grid and line it up with a horizontal or vertical edge on your subject (even better if you can do both). Try to hold steady with IS off and then on. With IS, you will still have movement, even with a great shoulder mount, but it will look biologically more gentle, and the almost imperceptible roughness will be cancelled out. To me, it's night and day. I would never try to hold a non-IS lens, unless I wanted that look.

There are those here who advocate using IS even with a tripod, especially on longer lenses, or where there may be some wind. And it may help absorb the fine nudges of the hands operating the camera.
 
Id say 10-70mm or so you can use shoulder mount if your good, glide cam 10-55mm or so, and anything longer than 75-80mm id only use on a tripod/dolly/slider.

Sure your talented and experienced operators can go beyond these, but as a general rule of thumb in my experience these are decent guidelines to follow.
 
ryanhargrave said:
not really disagreeing with the OP, but handheld has it's place in some things.
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jonE5 said:
Why anyone woudl try to shoot anything important handheld seems beyond me.
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For effect.

Kinda the only reason I can think of. (Think The Joker in TDK with his handycam in the meat locker. Yes, I did just reference that.)

For any kind of steadycam type handheld work, I have to agree with 50mm being the threshold. I've been able to get away with using my Nikon 50mm 1.8 on my 7d, opening up the aperture, and just filming around the house, but some of the camera moves are just way too shaky.
 
jonE5 said:
Why anyone woudl try to shoot anything important handheld seems beyond me. Heck you can make a decent DIY shoulder rig for like $15 from PVC at home depot.
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Just a semantical point. I would refer to handheld as anything not on a tripod, steadycam, or other mechanical mount. This would include a shoulder rig or other DSLR rig that you hold on your body—just the same as a handheld shot with a large cam is conventionally supported on the shoulder. Not that we need to establish a definition for handheld, but I wanted to point out that some of us in this thread may have different concepts of what each poster is referring to as handheld, and this difference in concept can definitely play into the utility of IS.
 
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