I'm a stills photographer but want to be able to video the occasional interview. What's the best setup that's well made, comfy, stable, and easy for serious traveling? I will not be doing serious studio video...
I'm personally in the process of building one for my 1d. Just can't justify the expense when I have never really used the video function very much. The one I'm making is going to be aluminum but the setup will be similar to this model. I'm probably going to use a cat tail on the lens vs a follow focus, not really sure yet.
Lots of people use shoulder rigs, but personally I find them a little awkward with a DSLR that doesn't have a swivel LCD, in order to easily see what you're shooting you need to offset the camera or use an external monitor. I've gone through a lot of different rig configurations, but I always seem to gravitate toward my monopod.
I use the Manfrotto video monopod to shoot most of my footage. Its more stable than any shoulder rig, doesn't require a lot of parts, you can attach accessories and arms for on-board lights and mics, you can extend it to get boom shots overhead and so on. Best video accessory I've ever bought.
Here's a decent video showing some things you can do with the monopod.
For occasional walk-around footage I use the cheap Cowboy Studio shoulder mount. Its plastic, but I've had one for a couple years with no issues, and if it breaks its cheap to replace.
Chris-
This is extremely helpful. The monopod looks like the answer for me. I'm wondering if there's a rig similar to the manfrotto, but with carbon fiber to allow it to handle a slightly heavier rig without added weight. The 1Dx can be heavy...
photo chris wrote:
I use the Manfrotto video monopod to shoot most of my footage. Its more stable than any shoulder rig, doesn't require a lot of parts, you can attach accessories and arms for on-board lights and mics, you can extend it to get boom shots overhead and so on. Best video accessory I've ever bought.
You don't need a shoulder rig unless you are handheld. I don't need a follow focus, we have a rig but I never use it unless handheld and I never use a follow focus unless I have a camera assistant and we are shooting narrative with a lot of focus marks.
Just get a really good tripods with a fluid head. Test them out, they are a real fussy thing and should last 20 years. I like the Sachtler DV6SB head for our c300 both with and without rig.
mogan wrote:
I think I found a heavy duty answer. Siri p424x monopod and manfrotto MH055m8 video head. More money, but less than big pro rigs...
If you can find the one I linked to in a shop to try, its worth checking out. I've used it with a fully kitted out Sony FS100, which weighed about 7 or 8 pounds and it was fine. Definitely at the top end of that head's capacity, but I haven't had any issues. I used it with a 5d2 and 70-200/2.8 as well, no problems.
If I do choose to go with a beefier monopod like the Siriu p424x, I'm just not sure what kind of fluid head to go with... I want something good quality and of appropriate size...perhaps a head that I can offload to a tripod if I'm in a less dynamic shoot.
When I upgraded to a 1DX, the most immediate issue was having to use Live View in daylight. I also was struggling with focus.
The Z-Finder Pro 3x from Zacuto. It's sweet little optical device which snaps over the LCD and creates a way to be logical (all in line) in how to shoot video and also block ambient light while magnifying the LCD image. It is not unlike the old hand held cams in this config. I have nothing whatsoever to do with them, by the way. And I also think they are slightly high priced - but they work.
For the audio, I use a TASCAM DR-40 for sucking feeds right off the boards (if that is the event) or plug XLR mics in, etc. It also has built in mics, which work great for interviews. You cannot beat the quality of a digital recorder for anything. Very flexible device for PCM audio to then meld back with the video shoot. I find the hit or miss quality of an attached mic is just too frustrating for my needs.
Neither of these two devices is large or cumbersome.
