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Cheapest setup possible?


hughdl90

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Hi there,

 

Myself and a friend are making our first short film - very low budget!

 

Up to now we have been able to borrow equipment for small projects we have worked on - but have now had to spend out on our own. We have never had access to stabilised camera.

 

I would like some reccomendation on the cheapest possible way to get some nice, flowing camera shots.

 

Are hand-held rigs okay as a really cheap way into this?

 

Can you reccomend any?

 

We really only have a few hundred pounds to spend having put alot of our budget into a camera (Canon XL1s), tripod, mic etc.

 

Many thanks for any advice.

 

Kind regards

 

Dan

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Don't kid about stuff like that chris! :o

 

no but really.

 

Some of the handheld rigs are prety decent, thgouh you wiull get very tired using them..

If possible i'd go for a lightweight ful rig, ..maybe just as a rental depending if you need it.

But really, if you are on a budget, my sugestion woudl eb to get the best quality, not the oen with the best features. so a bad one with bells and whistles won't perform as well as a basic modle with care put in where it counts.

 

If you can't afford a rig to buy or rent, then there is the tripod trick in a pinch(extend the centerpost of a tripod and hold it with teh panhead on your hand. - the wight of the legs will counterballance the camera and you'll get some stabilization at teh most basic level.)

 

But if you really want GOOD steadicam shots, then it unfortunatly will cost you a bit of money.

 

dont' forget that some shot's can *also* be achived in other ways (though maybe not quite as well).

 

- Mikko

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Mikko,

 

I am only half joking. That's one hell of a Steady-cam for the money. I wonder if an Ultra Cine gets shots that are 5,000 times better. Mind you, I can't see it flying an Imax.

 

Dan,

 

No offense meant. I am nostalgic about that page. Four months after reading it, I was hooked, trained, and partially bankrupt.

 

Chris

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Sorry mikko dude, i found it funny, but you're right, back on topic.

 

I found a mini on EBAY. Around 3500 dollar LINK

Ore you can go much cheaper with this JR

But that will not hold the XL1, and your arm wont hold it either.

 

I think that the best thing to do is to save up some bugs, and get yourself a good rig, don't trow your money away with junk.

 

Job

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"Four months after reading it, I was hooked, trained, and partially bankrupt."

 

...expensive $14 wasn't it :P

 

 

"don't trow your money away with junk."

 

...A MEN! (interprit as you wish..)

 

 

Oh and Happy B-day Job!

 

- Mikko

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  ...expensive $14 wasn't it  :P

 

- Mikko

 

Too right Mikko.

 

I owe this thread an explanation and an apology.

 

When I first got interested in camera stabilisation, I found web pages full of incomprehensible equipment with arcane names. I couldn?t figure out even the proximate functions, never mind the ultimate functions of most of the stuff. Within an hour of coming across Mr $14 Steady, I had built a Frankenstein rig from bits of stage weights, lighting stands, and various pods. Holding that thing in my hand, breaking it down and rebuilding it, and feeling the forces at work through it, I understood bit by bit what all the previously incomprehensible stuff did, and why. I got some great shots that I could never have gotten by other means; and by the end of the day, I knew why I was going to have to spend all that money to get better shots.

 

It was a little sneaky, I admit, nudging Dan closer to the edge of the slippery slope, and for that I apologise.

 

Chris

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