Filming Techniques

Just wondering what techniques people use while filming and riding? Do u use any specialized equipment to stop the shake of the camera? or just try and hold it steady?

My post just vanished!

Will post again later.

this would be better in the filming section
but yeah…
usually the use of a wide angle lens helps a bit, also a camera with very good image stabilisation. i find it depends on the camera you are using. are using a video camera or a small digital with video capability? i find holding it low with my camera arm bent and relaxed to try and follow the rythym of the bumps as much as possible….but all film while riding footage like this has some degree of shake…it’s hard to avoid
i am currently making a rig for my mini dv to use it like a follow cam with a death lens mounted. hopefully that will stop a lot of movement.
kind of like these but my own version

alternatively if you are stationary, a tripod works best, but is not always practical to carry with you…depends on how serious you are about filming i guess.

you could try hiriing one of spaz’s helmet cam rigs if you want really good results with very stable picture.

Lets see if I can remember what I wrote this morning.

While snowboarding I use these technics:
My Canon XHA1 has a handle like the Panasonic above but is a bigger camera I like shooting using the handle because it keeps the weight in a position that is very stable even with stability turned off.
With a handycam I hold it low with my thumb on top.
Both previous methods are done with my left hand, being natural the weight is over my front foot for high speed runs, at lower speed it is easy to swap hands if needed, the zoom is always at it’s widest and I use intuition and guess where the camera is pointing.

Still cameras that take video I hold normally and use the LCD - this is the only time I use LCD!

When shooting races or want some really nice video I hold the camera in a traditional way and support my elbow with my other hand, use the eye cup and zoom in on the subject, as they get closer I zoom out at around the same pace until they pass me then begin to zoom back in as they move away.

The big problem is that normal video cameras are easily damaged by condensation, and the snow is one of the worst environments to create condensation the other is that you don’t get to enjoy boarding as much and have to hold back (even a little). I prefer to use my HeadCams, they’re waterproof, I’m free to board as hard as I want and small enough to mount anywhere. Just check snocam.com.au