steadicam, glidecam, stabalizers and MICROPHONES

PaPa

Major Contributor
just a quick question.

I have been using the glidecam for a long time now, and i have often thought of this question before but now i felt like its a good time to ask it.

What do you do, for those of you who own these items, when you need to plug an XLR cable into the camera while its on your rigg?

It seems almost imopssible for me to figure this one out...... any movement of the cable restricst the rigg, throws the balance off, yadda yadda...
 
If you're shooting on your own with a shotgun mic have the XLR cable taped to the side of the camera provided is one of those 1.5 ft long ones. A pro shoot would require that mic off your camera though.
Jgastelb
 
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PaPa said:
What do you do, for those of you who own these items, when you need to plug an XLR cable into the camera while its on your rigg?

Yes, XLR cables can be VERY restrictive. The simple answer is don't use them. Record to DAT or some other device. You may also mount the mic on the camera as already suggested. Wireless is always a good option too. I've mounted receivers to the camera many times. Audio guys don't like the last two since they can't monitor the sound being recorded into the camera, however.

Ultimately, as the special technician in the situation, it is your responsibility to ask the questions up front, before the shoot day. Make sure the sound dept. knows you'll be shooting with a stabilizer and you cannot have any cables running to/from the camera. If you state this up front, it relieves you of the responsibility of solving the problem. A good sound mixer with a good equipment package will likely have no problems with this, but it is best to make sure before hand.

I would be very hesitant to tape such a large cable to the gimbal - especially if you're shooting with one of the smaller cameras with little mass/inertia. The gimbal is the most important link in the camera isolation equation. Securing a foreign object to it would likely have very poor results.

Best,
Afton
 
even if it is taped, there is still restriction. but thanks for the reply guys, i truly do appreciate it.

looks like these Dats are the way to go.

i just worry that DAT's ( not sure if they also have mixers and preamps in them ) but im owrried they wont have like,,, auto gain, the way the camera or mixers do....

so maybe one needs a mixer, going into a dat?
 
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