Keeping a shoulder mount rig level

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c0rpse

Member
Any tips on keeping a shoulder mount rig level on your shoulder?

I'm doing a lot of shoulder rig on this show and I seem to be having a lot of troubles keeping everything "level".

I try my hardest to find a straight line in the room and go from there but man is it ever hard sometimes. I'm thinking about attaching a small level to my monitor or something.

Anybody ever struggle with this?
 
If you are tilting up/down on a wide tombstoning means that won't work.

Yep I've used a bubble on my monitor - the fs7 and some dslrs have level as a momitor option - I use it.
 
c0rpse said:
Any tips on keeping a shoulder mount rig level on your shoulder?

I'm doing a lot of shoulder rig on this show and I seem to be having a lot of troubles keeping everything "level".

I try my hardest to find a straight line in the room and go from there but man is it ever hard sometimes. I'm thinking about attaching a small level to my monitor or something.

Anybody ever struggle with this?
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What camera are you using?
 
c0rpse said:
C100 MII with a smallHD 702 on a zacuto shoulder rig.

It's mostly my left to right, horizon I guess? That's the problem.
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+1 on the grid lines.

But even better might be to switch to operating using a loupe ( monocular viewfinder ) That would likely help to prevent the positioning roll to the right. The loupe becomes another point of contact between operator and camera. Using a loupe also tends to "snug" the camera up on your shoulder / keep the body of the camera further in ( seated more towards your neck and less towards your outer shoulder ). It isn't necessarily a cure, however. Because I have experienced camera ops using the traditional shoulder-mount style with a loupe and they still have a habit of losing horizontal and letting the camera longitudinally roll to the right.

Do you have rounded shoulders are are you more square-shouldered?

Some find that a pad like this helps prevent lateral roll-

Letus_pad_sm.jpg



https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/904106-REG/letus35_ltm_sp_mcs_shoulder_pad.html





I think more than anything the cure is self-discipline. A technique that can help is to slightly swing your right elbow out and up. Right arm functioning a bit like an outrigger on a canoe, right elbow less under the centerline of the camera and more swung out to the Operator's right of the centerline of the camera. Move the position of your right elbow out and up, away from your ribs.


We had a debate on this forum regarding operating with a loupe vs operating from a monitor / from afar. This loss of horizontal is one of the many drawbacks of shooting from a monitor, without a loupe. It just isn't a good way to shoot, imo. A bad practice made possible by the introduction of lightweight monitors. An unfortunate byproduct of the "DSLR revolution".
 
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puredrifting said:
Weird, I have never had this issue. I must have square shoulders?
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Once I was watching a reality tv show where one camera was always askew for an entire segment. As the scene plays out you can always tell which of the shots are from that one camera because he's always off horizon. Later in the show they go to a different location with different subjects and, yep, there's the camera op who is off horizon. That had to drive someone nuts in the edit. But then again, it was reality tv.

It most always occurs to the right, as described by the OP. That is, the lean is almost always away from the operator's head. From time to time I catch myself slipping into that. The level indicator on the Fs7 display is useful as a reminder. It is that sort of stuff, little things passed down from Sony's vast experience with ENG cameras, that makes me a fan of the Fs7 and prefer the Fs7 over the C300 in terms of operation. The old Ikegami's had a display like that...3 little circles if I remember correctly and when you were level the middle circle would be solid-filled. If you were off to the left or right the corresponding outer circles would be solid-filled.

There is an Ikie 57 with lens on eBay for $300 if anyone is in the market. That's roughly the same price that a used Fs7 or C300 will go for in about 25 years. Adjusting for inflation, of course. Used 128gb XQD cards will be like $1.50 a pop.
 
Make sure the VF(or monitor) is completely square/level to the camera itself. If it's not, it will throw off your perception of what's level. Also, try to shoot with a true VF, not a monitor mounted on the body. And sometimes it's just harder for some people. I used to know a sports shooter here and I could spot his video ANYWHERE. His horizon was always off. Everyone in the market that knew him, ribbed him about it all the time. We (sorta) joked that it looked like the original Batman TV show.
 
There has been debate over right or left hand on the lens - lifting the right hand to the lens like holding an eng zoom flattens the right shoulder and gives good horizon - IMO handles like the fs7 Ursa and new panny tend to a lowering of the right arm and horizon droop.
 
The GH4 comes with a level guide so I always use that when hand held. I use a loupe as well. Sometimes though, you find the camera is level, but the location is not (I shot in a house recently that was slightly tilted), so grid lines are the way to go there. Also, shooting 4k for 2k delivery, I always frame a little wider, so I can punch in and level it in post if need be. Definitely need to keep an external monitor level at all times.
 
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