Hi, does anyone here have experience with an Canon Cam (I'm using an XA-25) with a dolly? I'm going to be shooting a bunch of arced dolly shots (possibly with or without rubber track, haven't decided) and was wondering which of the IS modes would be best for such a shot -- smooth moving on sticks.

The shots should be relatively smooth, but I'm looking to eliminate any little vibrations that might creep in, leaving little to no IS requirements in post if possible.

Any suggestions? Definitely not powered IS I'm sure, but was wondering between Dynamic, Standard ... or maybe none at all?

Thanks,
Tim

None. The IS will fight whatever move you're trying to do. Remember: motion picture cameras don't have image stabilization, and they pull off smooth dolly moves all the time.

Really? I'm pretty sure one of the modes could be beneficial. The IS is smart enough to recognize pans and the like (same thing on my Canon DSLR), so it seems like a dolly move would be similar. I just can't remember which mode is best for such things.

Now, I know that for something on sticks that is locked-down you should turn it off. Also possible this will turn out smooth enough I won't need it.

Motion-picture cameras ... who is using those any more?? ;) Seriously though, they definitely post-process stabilized those shots when using film cams, or digital without IS.

I'm sitting in front of 9 Sony F55s right now that I'm prepping for a concert shoot. The only lenses with stabilization are the two Fuji Digipower 99, because it's a 99x zoom. Stabilization is never used on sticks, Steadicam, dolly, gimbal, etc, because it can't tell the difference between a pan and a bump, so you end up fighting with it.

Thanks.

99x zoom ... wow! That's some serious reach, my friend. And 9 cams is quite a lot. The most I have edited was an 8-cam concert. Didn't shoot it, but produced the video and DVD.

Need someone to do the edit by any chance? Multi-cam is one of my favorite formats to edit. :)

-Tim

Test! Try each way and none with your dolly. Which result do you prefer for use in post.

IS tends to give lag and overshoot which can be distracting.