a question for the shooters
 

any of you guys use a steady-cam? if so what brand on what cam? the issue for me is the willingness to shoot low when you have all the stuff strapped on... any suggestions? -bmb

bump for now

I've heard it's a pain in the ass for porn.

I used one, once. I just hold my camera with two hands and keep my elbows close to my body. Wah lah! Steady cam.

you would probably have to talk to guys who shoot for vivid and digital playground. For the pirates series I thought I saw a steady cam in one of the behind the scenes shots.

I have 2 diff ones, both home made and I can do some very cool shit with my newest one. I can run in a full sprint with the camera 5 inches off the ground, I can go up 9 feet in the air and shoot down, I can sit it down and use it like a tripod. Some cool shit. Its not great for shooting pov stuff, I have another one for that, that just basically steadies things up and gives me some flexibility. The new one I use when shooting weddings more, and solo girl softcore stuff. Have a new design Im going to make that will use pvc pipe and threaded ends so I can break it down easy to put in checked luggage.

yeah, I'm going to train my assistants to set the tripod for me. like grips with flags

I have severe time issues mcgyver

I havent used it for porn but I heard it works well. Let me know how it turns out. I plan on using a Jib arm with track and dolly once Im doing bigger stuff. I come from a mainstream production background of mostly TV spots and music videos where the Jib was used in every production. I look fwd to the day that a client doesn't mind spending a little extra to implement big production techniques. Personally I don't like the bigger budget porn its not my niche but the production would be alot more fun and challenging. At the end of the day I would just like to be proud to show someone my work.
I would love to see hot the steadycam footage turns out. Post a sample if you use it soon I would love to see how it works for you.

Do you have pics of this setup?? Please post.

jib is used mostly for in and a outs... hell of a lot of trouble for a blow job $.02

saw this rig at a camera show, works pretty good, but you have to learn how to work with it, to get maximum effectivness:2 cents:
http://www.steadicam.com/handheldmerlin.html
you can use it with or without the vest, tried the handheld, pretty good:thumbsup
http://www.steadicam.com/merlinarmvest.html

I've played with the merlin style one like that. It works very well, its overpriced though, and you can make one fairly easy. Hardest thing is finding a good gimbal to make one, but with some research its fairly easy to find what you need.

Just saw this video http://vimeo.com/1806106 Lots of things you can find on Vimeo about how to make your own. Jay-Rock Ill take some pics of my setup when I get a chance.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/ :thumbsup

While that one works and is an improvement over handheld, mine is nothing like that. ;)

I looked at that stuff... my cam with all the crap weighs in at about 20 lbs or more.... so the first one is a no go for sure... I'm gonna go with the assistants or grip setting the camera mounts for me. I can hold it like Billy says for a bit or with the little 2 lb cam but not the big one... I want totally locked off no moving shots :)

Counterweight and gimbel setup? :)

it's easy to stabilize a 1 lb consumer cam $.02

well, yes, the 20lb camera would present a problem. The max weight for this set up is 7lbs

shooting with the little consumer cam isn't an issue really. it's the pro models that's a bit heavy to use. I'm gonna go with the grip and the camera mount stuff... been trained that way anyway $.02

Never used one

I use a Verizoom Aviator. It is an amazing rig and you can get awesome results from it. :thumbsup It is by no means good for the casual porn shooter. The learning curve is great and you will get worse results with it than without until you learn it. Great for more pro shoots though. It is also for heavier cameras. 10-15 lbs is no problem.

http://www.varizoom.com/products/sta...vzaviator.html

:2 cents:

I got all that shit... few jib's / cranes couple vest for steady cam shit... all depends on what you looking for... I use it mainly for shooting extreme sports not porn... for low shots on porn get a fig rig... or you can make one out of pvc pipe.. they look god aweful ugly as sin but they help hold that fucker steady and you can grip em from anywhere...

I got tons of equipment if you want to try it out for a while before you drop the dough let me know ill let you borrow what you want.. I got a fed ex account ill have one of my assistants send it off to ya you can just reimburse the shipping....

http://services.manfrotto.com/figrig/

yeah steady cams and full vest rigs can get really tricky when shooting shit... id stick with a glidecam 4000 or go fig rig if I were him... I use my vest for one thing and one thing only.. running...

when we chasing bikes around the parking lot trying to capture a wheelie you need something....

I shot this clip with a 14ft crane/jib a fig rig and a varizoom vest with the glidecam 4000 steadycam... oh and some hand shit.... I love cranes for into / outro shit...

http://ddemedia.com/extreme/scottstunts_nickapex.html

Xh-a1 is a prosumer not a consumer. We do have an hv-10 canon too I use for pov stuff. We also rent a Canon XL H1A quite often too, sometimes for adult shoots, but more for weddings. All 3 of them work just dandy on my setup. And to be honest its easier to steady up a larger camera than it is a lighter one.

Hence the reason you use 2 cameras and just just the Jib for a nice B-ROLL. These production techniques do require alot of setup and only makes sense if you have a good budget but if you are paying a model for one popshot $1000 agency rate why not do a big production that takes all day you pay the same even if you just do a 1 hour POV scene. You would need a decent sized set and an extra camera person. Its true that its a bitch to carry around and setup. One day I will have assistants for this LOL. I may be working on a Playboy TV show this summer and I plan to use some of these techniques when we go into production. I actually have a friend back in TX that builds custom made Jibs that are pretty affordable. I love the shots that you get swooping down over a set. With two cameras you can do amazing shit incorporating a jib. And you can hold a 50 lb studio camera still with little effort. One day I hope to have a real studio with these things at my disposal. I hope that one day I can own a studio and have the perfect setup to shoot mainstream films and some high end porn. After all Im in this for the personal satisfaction and creating something that Im proud of. Amateur porn is quick money and it sells. But I can't really look at it and go wow Im proud of what I created.

I used jibs and some other specialized equipment back when I was filming eight or ten girl scenes in some of the feature movies I shot for DVD back in the day like for the "Strap-On Sally" series. But I find that stuff too restrictive to film porn for the most part, especially if I am going from outdoors to indoors and trying to film spontaneous action. I feel that it's better I concentrate on the lighting and other elements and control the camera movement with my arms and body, as it's less of an encumbrance and second nature at this point.