Gimbal stabilizers are the ultimate tool for camera movement
freeing you to move the camera however you want to.
Or, at least, that's what I used to think.
Now I've had a chance to work with a few, I've realised they do have their limitations.
So here are 10 practical tips to get the best out of a camera movement gadget like this one.
Oh, and full disclosure:
I was sent this gimbal, the Zhiyun Crane but they haven't paid me or had any other involvement with the episode.
So, the first obstacle preventing us from using the most creative camera moves is our body.
Which is why tip number 1 is to walk carefully.
Although gimbals are pretty good at smoothing out whatever movements we try
that freedom is both a blessing and a curse.
Take this shot,
we're moving forward and it's pretty smooth
but if we look closely we can see the camera is also moving up and down a bit.
It's not locked down on a track so it won't go in a perfectly straight line.
Now, we may actually prefer that more casual handheld look
but if we do wanna straighten things out so it looks more conventionally cinematic
we can try locking our arms in and taking small steps without knee's bent.
Tip number 2 is to use wheels.
If we really want it to be straight, especially at speeds faster or slower than walking pace
then it's often helpful to ride a bike, car, wheelchair, skateboard, really anything with wheels.
Because, for me at least, I can't move the camera slowly and steadily by hand.
Whereas the wheels help us move at a consistent speed
and the gimbal will smooth out any vibrations from the ground.
Number 3: keep everything as lightweight as possible.
It's better for the motors and also your arms, trust me.
I use a really small lens,
get rid of the big battery
and recorded audio separately
so I don't need the microphone on the top of the camera.
But even so it feels heavy by the end of the day
so it's worth getting a quick release adapter to put on a tripod or a light stand.
Then we attach the plate on the bottom and now we don't have to hold the rig between takes.
And while it's on the tripod, tip 4 is to use it for very, very smooth panning or tilting.
You can even pair it with a slider for some different looks.
So once we practised walking smoothly and reduced muscle fatigue,
the next thing holding us back from expressing ideas visually is time.
So, tip number 5 is quick release.
There's never enough time on set
so we do not wanna waste it whenever we take the camera off to change the battery.
Putting it back means re-balancing it,
which can take anywhere up to 5 minutes once you've had some practice.
So if we have another quick release adapter and attach it between the camera and the gimbal
then we only need to balance it once.
From now on, we can take the camera off,
switch the battery
and just clip it back exactly where it was before.
We'll be set for a whole day
unless we, of course, decide to change lenses.
Tip number 6:
because of that quick release setup from before
we can also use it to switch the camera between the gimbal and the tripod
without needing to spend any time re-balancing.
So we've avoided the big time wastes but the next thing stopping us from using motion for emotion
is focus.
You can't touch the focus ring while it's on the gimbal
so that can be pretty limiting.
On a big budget, people just use wireless systems to pull focus remotely...
or people might buy a camera with autofocus.
And these days there are actually few decent ones out there
but for the rest of us there are still some things we can do
like closing down your aperture, which is tip number 7.
That will give us some space to move before things go blurry.
It works especially well on a wider lens.
Tip 8 is that as long as we and equal distance from our subject then we won't need autofocus.
Leading shots like these will work
or following behind
and, of course, all particular shots.
Tip 9 is to set your focus for the most important part of the movement
and then let it go a bit blurry either before or after that.
It doesn't work for everything but it's certainly worth a try.
And finally, once we can walk smoothly without muscle fatigue, without wasting time or missing any focus marks
the only thing holding us back is our minds.
And that's the hardest thing to address.
With this gimbals it's really tempting to just move the camera all the time
constantly changing direction.
But actually, think about why we are moving the camera
and to make decisions based on how we want the audience to feel and what we want them to see
that is a much bigger obstackle that I don't think we can tackle in one simple 10 tips episode.
All that anyone can do is study films and trying choose the most suitable camera movements
based not just on intellect but also instinct.
My name is Simon Cade
this has been DSLRguide
and I'll see you next week.