Dog, Cat and snake POV

[sean]

I am shooting a National Geographic Documentary on Dogs and Cats. I will be shooting on a SDX 900 or Sony DSR-570. I am interested in using the Flyer to shoot some POV shots of dogs and cats. Has anyone had experience with the low mode? How close to the ground can the camera get? Also my cameras comes close to the maximum capacity of 15lbs on the FLyer. Has anyone used a Panasonic SDX 900 or SOny DSR 570 on the Flyer? Or am I goign to have to use aPD-150 or DVX100A.

I would appreciate any advice you all coudl give me.

 

Thanks,

Sean

[Mikko Wilson]

Sean:

 

I'v flown a Hitachi V21-W with a DSR-1 back .. which stripped down to minimum weight (took off the handle and shoulder pad.. it was close..) and the flyer flew it just fine with the arm tension maxed out. - and with 2 small PAG bricks on the sled the gimble was just low enough that i could fit it onto the dock. - so about it's limit there.

 

With the flyer in low mode (and an average length operator) the rig get's relativly low but no garunties that you can get the camera to the deck. - The gimble ends up at just abouve my knee. So with a big camera you are talking about a lense height of about your upper shin at lowest. So not too shabby.

 

With a PD150 (which I also shoot on alot with the Flyer) I normal fly on only one battery (again, small PAG brick) and that is gimble mid shaft, so it should reach almost as low as you'd want. - I'm sure with 2 batts you could bury the camera.

 

Oh yeah.. if you are stripping down you cmaera to fly it like I did (I took off: viewfinder and mic of course, also mic mount, lense sun shade, carrying handle, battery mount, and shoulder pad) you might have trouble finding somewhere to get your low mode clamp onto if you have no handle on the camera! <_<

 

 

Good luck!

 

- Mikko

[Alec Jarnagin SOC]

Keep in mind, the heavier the camera, the higher it will be in low mode (and lower in high mode) because of where the gimbal lands. So, I'd strip as much as you can, including the handle. For low mode, leave the camera upside-down & invert your image in the monitor (if you can), then flip it in post. To get the lens on the deck, think about hard mounting to a doorway dolly.

[Mikko Wilson]

Just a note on Alec's trick fo flipping the camera and the flipping the image in post. - I've heard that you can't flip DVCPRO in post for some reason.. so you might want to test this before you shoot. B)

 

- Mikko

[Matt Burton]

I am shooting a National Geographic Documentary on Dogs and Cats. I will be shooting on a SDX 900 or Sony DSR-570. I am interested in using the Flyer to shoot some POV shots of dogs and cats. Has anyone had experience with the low mode? How close to the ground can the camera get? Also my cameras comes close to the maximum capacity of 15lbs on the FLyer. Has anyone used a Panasonic SDX 900 or SOny DSR 570  on the Flyer? Or am I goign to have to use aPD-150 or DVX100A.

I would appreciate any advice you all coudl give me.

 

Thanks,

Sean

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I flew a flyer with 570 at workshop, flew great even with view finder on. You would wana strip that off and any onboard sound recording. also think about lenses if possible. Chances are you only need a light wide angle lens, not the chunky 20x canon jobo they come with. The lens makes up a big percentage of the cams weight, so shop around the hire places if your budget/time allows.

 

Hope this helps

Matt

[Mitch Gross]

Cetainly one can flip DVCPro, it's just that the footage will need to be re-encoded and rendered if it is edited in FCP, which is something common with Panasonic's & Apple's integration work and something many people are reluctant to do. I can't recall if you can do it in camera--I know the Varicam can.

 

Also, you can't simply remove the handle on all cameras. Some of them have wiring within for a headphone jack or tally light.

[Mikko Wilson]

Yeha, very true about the possibility of the removing of the handle..

 

- The camera i fly is a seperate head (Hitachi V21-W) and recorder (Sony DSR-1) so that handle is designed to be removable to changing camera backs..

 

 

And by all means i am not sure about that flipping DVCPRO thing.. just a rumor i heard. - the regular pre-shoot testing should check this either way ;)

 

 

- Mikko