Wavy Gravy

[Harry Simpson]

Is this what they call roll or what? I was trying out my new Blackbird - first flight and can't help be notice the shimmer wave while panning. Is the only way around this to pan more slowly??

The video is at

Fly Test to Demonstrate Ripple on Vimeo

Look at the video full screen to see it.

[Greg Fiske]

Or shooting loose and correcting it in post with Mercalli.

[Harry Simpson]

Greg - What you mean by shooting loose?

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

Yikes Harry! That made me sea-sick just watching it! :)

You've simply got to learn to maintain the camera horizontal to the horizon.

Also it look like you have not set up the steadicam correctly. When it is set to perfect balance, it will not hardly roll or weave at all, and as long as you keep your arm/hand steady it will remain rock steady as you walk/run along. Also make sure that the camera aperture/shutter speed/ISO values are locked at setting before you begin walking.

The begining where it rolls, or endings, or any glitches in sequence, should all be edited out in post, so that the completed clip only shows level and very smooth footage with no rolls or jerks.

It takes practice...but practice make perfect.

[Jon Fairhurst]

Yes. Practice and better balance will help.

Also, try shooting short segments with intent for the scene. Within a given scene, make sure to move slowly. Some of the faster moves in your video show rolling shutter and judder. Also, if you constantly have some motion within a small clip, you will get the most natural result. It's hard to stop and be as still as a tripod, but by continually moving, you will maintain that floating feel.

[Charles Papert]

To further the concept of "intention"--practice should be based around simple and repeatable concepts. Set up a target and walk slowly towards it, then back away from it, and repeat. Ad infinitum. Simply walking around and pointing at things doesn't lock in the basic concepts. You need to be able to track your progress. The line exercise--walking in a straight line--is the Steadicam version of playing scales when learning an instrument. Deadly boring, but you have to start somewhere.

Everyone who buys a stabilizer should get Jerry Holway's Steadicam Operator's Handbook. While it is geared towards full-size rigs, all of the concepts are the same.

[Harry Simpson]

Thanks for all the helpful comments. That was my first balance and first flight and I did most everything wrong I realize. Only reason I posted the clip was to show the shimmering visual effect and talk about how to control that if there is a way. I know the stabilizer and my backyard video content sucked....I just wanted to discuss the shimmering that appears about three times through the clip.

[Jon Fairhurst]

I didn't notice a shimmering. Could you list the timestamps?

[Greg Fiske]

Originally Posted by Harry Simpson

Greg - What you mean by shooting loose?

The rolling shutter correcting programs end up creating borders around your footage in their maximum settings. DSLR's really only resolve around 720, so one option is to shoot at 1080 and deliver 720. It allows you to crop your image in post and stabilize the footage (which crops a border 5-15% of the image). Or you just reduce the image to fit the frame and you essentially get the same IQ. I've found that the stabilization software adds a bit more production value to a correctly stabilized shot, and makes it look expensive.