Hi all,

I've been asked to film an evening at a fun fair event held locally. I've never done this kinda thing before and was wondering what kind of support system I should be looking at getting. I'm gonna need to be able to move around the place quite easily, so nothing to bulky please.

I've looked at the DVRigPro, VariZoom Shoulderbrace and SpiderBrace so far, just wondering what would be best.

Any thoughts?

Also with the dramatically changing light I will encounter at the fun fair of this type does anyone know of any pitfalls or issues I may encounter?
(Apart from chavvy little scum bag kids trying to nick my camera.)

Thanks

Dave

steady stick... if you have a bad back. Not probably quite as fluid as the mounts you've mentioned, but cheap and I keep coming "back" to it - my lower back seems to prefer it!

I carried my XL2 on shoulder for two days at the local wine festival, about four hours the first day and maybe eight the second. If memory serves, I think the XL1S has a removable shoulder pad that you may or may not have (the XL2's is fixed). It worked well for me.

I used a mixed bag of settings. Most of the time, I just let the auto white balance handle the varying light sources during the day. At night, I went to the daylight setting because the auto white balance gave everything a blue cast, and the daylight setting gave a warmish color that looked better.

Exposure was maybe 75% manual, using the zebra bars in the viewfinder to crank the iris up or down for the best results. A few times I went with Auto when I was working the passing crowd, following interesting situations.

Night shots were full manual with about +6 dB gain. For a few shots, I cranked the gain to +12 dB when there wasn't much existing light. I've found the auto gain setting gets way too noisy in low light, giving the effect of shooting through a pink snowstorm.

Almost everything I shot was useable, with only a few shakey long shots from where I'd been shooting heavily and needed a short break.

My advice is that if you're physically capable of carrying the camera, just go with the standard shoulder pad. You'll be much lighter and mobile on your feet, and can move from opportunity to opportunity. Wear comfortable shoes and develop a slightly wider stance than you're used to, one foot slightly ahead of the other. For long shots, find a wall or telephone pole to lean against.

The other part is preparation before the event. This is REALLY important: eat a good meal before going. And I mean right before you go, like a half hour or so before. Then remember to stay well-watered between shots.

Martin