Sunday 18 December 2011

Advanced Camera Rigging and Supports

When people talk about camera supports, the first thing that comes to mind is the tripod.
Tripods are very important and a good tripod for recording moving images is a little more
complicated than tripods that are designed for still photography. Top-of-the-line video tripods
have a fluid head and are often designed with the size and weight of the camera in mind. But
tripods are just the beginning, there are many other types of camera supports that can help
you get the shot you want.

1. Base plate is a metal piece that attaches to the bottom of your camera using a screw
through the tripod mount. A base plate gives you a quick way of attaching your camera
to various camera accessories. Baseplates usually feature a quick release mechanism so
that you can take your camera on and off the tripod or other device without having to
unthread the screw (refer to Figure 10.2).

2  Rods are used to support large lenses and lens accessories such as follow focus mechanisms.
They are especially useful when putting a big lens on a small camera.

3. Follow focus mechanisms are a set of gears that let you pull focus smoothly while shooting.
They are much larger than the focus rings found on the lens itself and make it easier
for a second person to do the focus pulling (Figure 10.10).

4. Matte boxes are used to hold filters on the lens. They can speed up the process of adding
or removing filters because the filters are dropped in rather than screwed on. They also
provide bigger adjustable sunshades, also known as eyebrows that can help you avoid lens
flares (see Figure 10.8).

5. DSLR camera riggings, such as the Zacuto Striker (Figure 10.11) and the Red Rock
Micro Cinema Field Bundle (Figure 10.1), serve to make DSLR cameras function more
like video cameras. The Cam Caddie (Figure 10.12) features a different design that is very
useful when holding the camera low and when moving. Other DSLR riggings are designed
to help hold various accessories while the camera is mounted on a tripod (Figure 10.3).


















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