Camera Shake

[Ashok Mansur]

I'm finding it difficult with tele lens, rail (to support lens & cam)in the full tele i.e. 100-400 the magnification will be 60X,I'm holding the pan bar with remote, my pulse will shake the cam. Such minute shake will be noticed in the end result.if I leave the pan bar there won't be any shake but for panning & tilt I have to hold it. I did tried with diffent drag setting still no results.
I have Manfrotto 519/525, XL2, Rail,ZR1000 remote.100-400L IS,70-200L 2.8IS. Is there any remedy for it.

Ashok

[Ryan Avery]

Originally Posted by Ashok Mansur

I'm finding it difficult with tele lens, rail (to support lens & cam)in the full tele i.e. 100-400 the magnification will be 60X,I'm holding the pan bar with remote, my pulse will shake the cam. Such minute shake will be noticed in the end result.if I leave the pan bar there won't be any shake but for panning & tilt I have to hold it. I did tried with diffent drag setting still no results.
I have Manfrotto 519/525, XL2, Rail,ZR1000 remote.100-400L IS,70-200L 2.8IS. Is there any remedy for it.

Ashok

Bean bags on the lens often help with shake, but the weight is something you have to watch. Don't tear the lens off the mount with the added weight. I would suggest using the provided lens support ring that comes with that lens and hook it up to a monopod to serve as a lens stock. That assumes you aren't panning or tilting though.

[Steve Siegel]

Ashok,
Weight helps, but you can't completely eliminate the shake. It's in the math (400X=400 shake). Try to lengthen your pan arm, touch it lightly, and keep your forehead off the viewfinder.
You are probably going to edit, so take out the shake "in post" with a stabilizer program. If you don't have one, try the product of DigiStudio. It is inexpensive.

Steve Siegel

[Cole McDonald]

I shoot everything as stably as possible, knowing that I'm gong to run any shots that are handheld and will need smoothing and any dolly/crane shots through the Smoothcam function of Shake (now in Final Cut).

[Bob Hart]

Extra dampening mass is probably the only answer and that of course means weight and extra work carting it about.

You could try another pan-and-tilt arm out the front (not in front of the lens obviously) and rest some of your body weight across the centre pivot point of the tripod and work the pan and tilt like a seesaw action with downwards pressure on both front and rear pan-and-tilt arms.

Your own body mass is being used to dampen the springiness of the sticks.

It is a curse of a method because you mostly have to stand to the side of the camera and viewfinder if working to a low set tripod.

With the camera at head height, it is handier to have the front arm close to the lens so you can work the zoom and focus with fingers whilst resting on the arm. You adopt a sort-of tarzan posture and effectively swing from the two pan-and-tilt arms using a reversed grip on the rear tilt arm.

If following a dynamic subject like a bird, you can also try holding the rear pan-and-tilt arm onto your shoulder and using your legs and knees for raising and lowering while your front hand bears down onto the front arm.

Extended pan-and-tilt arms also help.

Do not take too much notice of my comments as my interest has been more in following dynamic subjects like aircraft in flight. I am using a 50mm-500mm Sigma via a 35mm adaptor to Sony Z1, so the real magnification comes down to just under what you are trying to achieve direct-to-camera on the Canon. I am also using a very old wooden legged fluid-head Miller so am probably cheating a little too.

[Ashok Mansur]

I have rail support almost like Rons rail, it'll help to get support to lens & cam aswell as finding a better centre of gravity. Well I'll check in the software in the post processing.