Anyone direct weddings with two way radios w/vox headsets? Any model recommendations that are built for the field? I would need voice activated headsets because steadicam takes both hands. As always, I appreciate it.



John

Yep - I do. Works very well. Especially if you are directing the shoot - it gives an ideal opportunity to talk ahead of your shots.

The sad part is that I'm not sure what models are available in the States as I'm in SA.

One which I did earmark for purchase before finding something similar locally was:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=306061&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

Cheers

I produce with Motorola talkabouts and they will do what you need. They are durable, have the VOX (voice actived) headset function, and have great range. They make the headset or the earpiece for them and both are durable and work well.

However, production wise it would be best if you didn't try and run a steady cam and direct a shoot at the same time. Get someone else to run the steady cam and you just direct. Your quality will suffer if you try and do it all. Plus, it would be very distracting to hear someone talking during the ceremony on radio in the front of the church. And with a steadycam your probably at or near the alter with it. Better to direct from the back where you can concentrate and won't bother the guest or the couple with the noise.

Ben Lynn

Jeremy that was exactly what I was looking for. Motorola has a good rep too, ill look into those units aswell.

As far as steadicam goes, some shots/situations would require wireless communication. Jerry Holway(steadicam operator) has an awesome wireless radio/headset in his secrets of the masters video(wish I knew what that model was).

A good example, wireless communication with a boom operator can be ideal when things are live and unpredictable. I had a boom op/w ME-67 long gun behind me when I was shoting my last wedding with the flyer (the boom was transmitting wireless to the steadicam rig). When the B+G where annoucned at the afterparty, I followed them to the main table. At that point, things became unpredicable and I had to get center/lock off shots with the steadicam because people started making speeches without warning(we only had mics on the important people). Cam A and B didnt have the range and since I didnt have ten mics, I needed the boom operator to fill in.



John

We also use "family radios" for this purpose adding a headset with a PTT button. Another brand you might want to look at is Eartec. While more expensive, they don't share the family frequencies and are asynchronous.