Home Video Hints: Shooting Steady (page 2)

A monopod is like a hiking stick with a camera mount at the top. Monopods are primarily still-camera tools, but can be quite handy when must be mobile and you still need to shoot steady video. You will often see camera operators on the sidelines at football games or other sporting events using monopods. The monopod is lighter and more manageable than a tripod. While the monopod prevents vertical movement of the camcorder, it does nothing to prevent the horizontal or tilting movement.

If you have a little extra cash in your pocket, you might want to check out one of the many types of flying camera supports on the market. These handheld counterbalanced supports allow you to move freely while shooting and produce gliding, shake-free video. The most famous flying camera support is the Steadicam and the brand name has become a shorthand for the entire class of products. Beyond simple handheld devices, you can get complex vests and harnesses that will help you hold the camera during long shoots. The professional gliding camera stabilizers are so smooth you can barely tell the camera is not sitting on a tripod. One note of caution: if you are considering buying one, try it out first to see if it will work with your camcorder.

You can create a flying camera support of sorts by mounting your camcorder onto your tripod or monopod and lifting it off the ground, using the weight of the legs to act as a counterbalance for the camcorder to keep it upright. This will not produce anything close to the results you'd get from a precisely engineered and finely balanced flying camcorder support, but you may be pleasantly surprised at the look of the shots.

Image stabilization is the video engineer's gift to amateur videographers. Your camcorder's built-in image stabilizer seeks to smooth out handheld video, minimizing camera shake. Image stabilizers are found in most camcorders today. There are two types: electronic and optical. Optical is generally better, and is typically found on higher-end camcorders. Although they can be quite handy if you find yourself in a situation where you must shoot handheld, they do have a couple of limitations. First, electronic image stabilization can reduce the overall number of pixels on the CCD that are used to capture an image. This can result in a general softening of the picture. Second, when the stabilizer is used during a pan, the smooth pan might jump slightly from one point to the next as the stabilizer tries to correct your intentional movement. Still, image stabilization, both electronic and optical, can be a shotsaver when shooting handheld.

There are times to move the camera and times to hold it still, but, unless you are trying to create an earthquake effect, there are seldom times when shaky video is good video.

You should never handhold shots that demand rock solid video. Long interviews, cutaways of objects with vertical or horizontal surfaces, and steady landscapes should never be handheld. Moving subjects, shots with camera movement already built into them, such as pans and tilts and shots where the camera physically moves from one place to another can easily be handheld. Always plan your movement and move steadily and in one direction.

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