Music Video - Wintergrass 2010 Band Sampler - HMC150

8string

8string

Well-known member
Just completed a short 10 minute "band sampler" for Wintergrass, the huge bluegrass/newgrass indoor winter festival held in Bellevue Washington. While not exhaustive, I used the 10 minute YouTube limit to drive my editing. All footage shot on the HMC150, as I was the 'second' camera for the performances. However, the 'first' camera footage was SD and still hasn't shown up, so we decided, in the interest of time, to just throw my stuff up. All sound recorded right off a shotgun mic (Audio/Technica) from the camera, relying on the great sound from the stage. Would have preferred a feed from the board, but next time I'll just plug in my Zoom to the board for backup. I shot in 1080 x 24P, a bit of overkill for Youtube, but wanted to see how good I could get it, and we may show a longer edition on a much larger screen. I also used a DVTech Multirig for 80% and a tripod for 20% , and have mixed thoughts on the multirig. Next year will alternate with a monopod to see if I can hold stability for longer. Edited on FCP 7.x. for what that's worth.

www.wintergrass.com has the embedded video, feel free to expand it see what you think.
 
8string said:
Next year will alternate with a monopod to see if I can hold stability for longer.
Click to expand...
I am planning to do some shooting in a night club and plan on using a monopod for my "roaming" B camera. What type of head do videographers typically use with these? Any point to using a pan tilt head? I guess one could keep one hand on the monopod the other on the camera? If you are locking down stationary shots would a ball head work better?

Footage looked great too!
 
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do you have the spring loaded stick with your multi rig? What i have doen is attached a quick release plate on to the stick instead of the multirig and use it with the belt pouch. gives you stability but still have the feel of holding the cam in your hands. similar i guess to the steady stick.
 
Sorry I've been away a while. Let me see if I can answer some of these. As to Pan Tilt heads, yes, I would say that if you have a monopod, it will make it a smoother pan and tilt than without one. If you are locking down stationary shots, I don't think it will matter much, but it's *really* hard to stay stationary with a monop for a long time. That's why I try to set a tripod with the same head as the traveling pod, and then switch between them. Wedding photogs seem to do that too.

I also used a Kodak Z18 for roaming, using a stick tripod or tabletop tripod with scissor legs closed. It gives a better handhold for smooth panning on the little camera. Highlights wash out worse than the 150, the two look quite different, but a cutaway to something for a brief few minutes and it's a nice change of pace. The clients like that cutaway also, and it allows me to leave my 150 on the tripod running while I fill in snippets. In a perfect world, I'd probably be shooting a Lumix for B. Need a bit more paying gigs in this kind of work to justify it.

thanks for the kudos!
 
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Spring loaded stick? Yes.

Spring loaded stick? Yes.

I do have the spring, but don't use it as much as I thought I would (or maybe should). It seems to be more hassle most of the time than it's worth. I have a lot of practice with handholding, so I don't find it as useful as I hoped.

matt s. said:
do you have the spring loaded stick with your multi rig? What i have doen is attached a quick release plate on to the stick instead of the multirig and use it with the belt pouch. gives you stability but still have the feel of holding the cam in your hands. similar i guess to the steady stick.
Click to expand...
 
inc. said:
I am planning to do some shooting in a night club and plan on using a monopod for my "roaming" B camera. What type of head do videographers typically use with these? Any point to using a pan tilt head? I guess one could keep one hand on the monopod the other on the camera? If you are locking down stationary shots would a ball head work better?

Footage looked great too!
Click to expand...

With a monopod you can just move the camera where you need to, so there really is no real need for a fluid head. After shooting a monopod for many years - I have really improved my stabilization by using the Halo Rig attached to a monopod.
 
Yes, I think that the Halo rig with a monopod would be very effective. For me the only issue is how much more of a spectacle do I want to be when shooting? It begins to become a large attraction. The multirig has allowed me to fold the legs in and wander through a crowd with the camera carried like a briefcase. I only raise it up when I arrive at the 'scene' and can unfold things into a workable shot pretty fast. Sure they see me when the camera is up to my eye, but to wind through a crowd, I'd take the multirig any day. But I suppose it's what you get used to. I don't think the multirig is the end all, I'd love to try a halo, but there's not one handy.

Also, I've used a friends' monopod with fluid head, and have to say that the combination seems to work for me, much like your mention of using the Halo rig with a monopod.
 
Thanks for the thoughts everyone.
I like the idea of using the same head for switching between monopod and tripod.
 
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