keeping horizons

[robert weldoff]

hi all

 

i am wondering how to keep my horizons straight.

i train in my garage (cross set up, line on floor etc)

as i walk there is a slight wobble in horizon

i have rig in dynamic balance when by myself and when my gfriend walks in the frame i trim for headroom

 

iam practicing with old broadcast camera and lens is 7.5mm-95mm (i think its a 2/3 chip- feels when i have it on 15mm it would be 35mm on 35mm film)

 

i am currently training on the wide @ 7.5mm but i do zoom in to 50mm to make it harder. havent gone longer than that yet.

there are lots of straight lines in my garage (beams, door struts and door frame)

i have cross on garage door frame and walk in and out

 

i hold post as light as possible (maybe not light enough)

with Garrets classic grip as in book (sistine chapel)

 

i am also trying to do this as slow as possible (maybe to slow, like riding bike will fall over)

 

all i can think of is my operating hand exerting too much pressure on post but maybe my arm hand is exerting force i dunno,

i can post a link to vid if wanna see footage (record on Archos)

 

When i fly it looks dead straight to me on monitor i think im doing pretty good but when watch playback its looks crap, maybe im too critical of myself

 

kindest

Edited October 16, 2010 by robert weldoff

[Santiago Yniguez]

Practice, Practice, Practice!!!!

 

Good Luck,

Santi

[sebastien BARBARA]

Nothing special to advice IMHO.A little philosophy by myself ?

Just follow practising, you'll never be too critical about yourself, i would say:) The ideal is to be more critical than people who pay you. It's the key in job generally (every jobs, I suppose) : if you see defaults, you will (I hope) correct them and one day, they will be soon so tiny than others (most of them ) won't see them. The cellist Rostropovith told one day: If i stop practising one day, i will know it. Two days, my fellows will know it. Three days, public will know it :)

Totally out of the place and general talking, but I wanted to tell, if to convince myself, sorry for the bored readers:)

[robert weldoff]

hiya

 

thanks for replies

 

yes i know i need to practice but pracrice doesnt make perfect it makes permanent

i just want to try avoid making something im doing wrong permanent

 

kindest

[Brian Freesh]

hiya

 

thanks for replies

 

yes i know i need to practice but pracrice doesnt make perfect it makes permanent

i just want to try avoid making something im doing wrong permanent

 

kindest

 

Hmm, blind practicing maybe, and even then you can train out of it. But if you know what you need to work on, start experimenting with how to change things. You're absolutely right that you can teach yourself bad habits. But the fact that you are looking for a way to fix it means that if you keep trying things differently, you won't lock into whatever your doing wrong. Though I suppose you're already locked into it.

 

All I know is the more I practice, the more I improve the things I know are wrong. The things I don't realize I am doing wrong are the things I do not improve on.

[Anders Holck Petersen]

I think the foremost thing is to feel the level of the rig thru your operating hand, instead of observing it on the monitor.

If you simply observe that your shot is going off level on the monitor it's almost always too late...and you tend to overcorrect.

Developing that sensation, takes practice to couple the feedback you get from your fingers, into a correcting force to apply with that same hand.

This will also help you nail shots in windy conditions, as you can feel what the wind does and (try) to correct accordingly.

 

Also remember to use the boomrange of your arm, instead of tilting to get your headroom.

Keeping a tilted post with a straight horizon is much harder that booming up or down with the post straight, as the operating hand is much more relaxed.

[robert weldoff]

hi all

 

thanks for replies

 

i think i found out what it is im doing wrong

 

when i walk i beleive im swaying the post, i have a friend watch me as i walk and she says as i step the post sways

 

would this force come from my arm hand or my whole upper body?

 

as i speed up it becomes less wobble.

 

kindest

[James Davis]

hi all

 

thanks for replies

 

i think i found out what it is im doing wrong

 

when i walk i beleive im swaying the post, i have a friend watch me as i walk and she says as i step the post sways

 

would this force come from my arm hand or my whole upper body?

 

as i speed up it becomes less wobble.

 

kindest

 

Sounds like it could be a little too much input from your hand to the gimbal, remember your hand is there to guide, correct and pan, not support the weight, maybe try adding a little extra lift from the arm, have you spent some time dialling in your arm settings, making sure that when you stand upright and take your hands away that the rig sits neutrally, and doesn't dart to the left/right or away/towards you?

Taking the time to set the arm up properly will ensure that you can focus on correct operating posture and will ensure that you are not leaning or applying force unecessarily in one particular direction to compensate for an incorrectly set up arm, this will make quite a difference in the way you walk/run/operate in general with the rig on.

Edited October 19, 2010 by James Davis

[Ants Martin Vahur]

For swaying problem- try different drop times. I have found myself in the past years setting the rig to a quite long (3-4sec) drop time.

With lines on the garage wall bear in mind that the lines are straight only if the lens is pointing at them perpendicularly.

If you look at the (horisontal) line at an angle and the lens is slightly higher or lower than the line, then the line will be tilted on the screen even though the camera is in level- thats perspective. ;)

[Alec Jarnagin SOC]

Ants,

 

Try using vertical lines. They are a lot more telling.

[Jerry Holway]

Robert-

 

Any time that whatever you practice doesn't seem to be improving your technique, change the parameters and get out of your comfort zone.

 

I suggest practicing with a very short drop time (i.e., very bottom heavy) so that your operating hand can really feel the pressures from the rig as you speed up or slow down. Really feeling those pressures will teach you how to prevent them from sending the rig off level. Go sideways, forewards and backwards, and ALWAYS try for a good stop and lock off at the end of each move.

 

When you begin to master that exercise, return to a "normal" drop time. Too slow a drop time and the rig can't balance well enough to hold the frame with your technique, so you will constantly be micro adjusting the frame and sending it off-level.

 

Also change your speed as you practice. Go twice as fast and twice as slow as you normally do. Mix it up.

 

Good luck.

 

Jerry