Glidecam with HD1/HD10

[Bryan Suthard]

Has anyone used a Glidecam with their camera? I am looking at the Glidecam 2000 Pro and wondering if anyone has had good results with the stability in moving shots.

Thanks,

Bryan

[Charles Papert]

Try a search for "Glidecam". Should return many, many threads.

[Bryan Suthard]

I've tried the entire forum search and there are a lot of posts about adjustments being tricky with certain cameras and wonder how it is with the JVC. I am really wondering if anyone has used a Glidecam (any model if not the 2000) with the JVC HDV camera with any results (good or bad).

Thanks,

Bryan

[David Newman]

I used a Glidecam PRO 2000 with an HD10U, for the San Diego division of the 48Hourfilm Project. It worked perfectly, although I did all my balancing before hitting the set (it took about half an hour.) One trick I learned : only go for a rough balance using the camera mount sliders, then use on camera weights for the tweeks (i.e. moving the shootgun mic forward or back a couple of millimeters would often do the trick.

[Gabriele Sartori]

I had very good result with the glidecam 2000 pro and the HD1, only problem I put a quick release plate identical on the glidecam and on my tripod so that I can move the camera quick. Although I can balance the plate, the little higher center of gravity makes the camera to float a bit too much. I'm still VERY happy though.

Gabriele

[Charles Papert]

A bit off topic here, sorry: David N., was the 48Hour Film Project able to project your film in HDV or did it have to been downconverted?

[David Newman]

Charles, all the delivery formats where SD. We used that to our advantage as we could shoot with slightly larger framing (i.e. sloppy/fast setups) then crop in post. About a third of our film was done this way. It still looked great when projected on the big screen.

[Heath McKnight]

David,

Is the Glidecam a good device for the HD10? I'm interested...

heath

[Charles Papert]

Interesting, David. So if I understand you, you were able to reframe 1/3 of your footage during the edit? That's impressive for a 48-hour film...generally, I can barely get a quick color-correction pass done on mine before the deadline, let alone tracking individual shots.

We (that is, me and my partners at Instant Films) are looking to add HDV and 16:9 compliance to our festivals in 2005, which is exciting.

[David Newman]

Heath,

I don't know if it is bettter then any similar device, but the GlideCam worked out well or us.

Charles,

There wasn't time to do much else, we did very little CC, only basic contrast and brightness tweaks.

[Ben Buie]

<<<-- Originally posted by David Newman : Charles, all the delivery formats where SD. We used that to our advantage as we could shoot with slightly larger framing (i.e. sloppy/fast setups) then crop in post. About a third of our film was done this way. It still looked great when projected on the big screen. -->>>

Great point David, that is one huge advantage of shooting HD (even HDV).

That is a big reason we went with the HD10 for an hour-long docu-drama we started shooting last April. We only had 10 days to shoot, a 2-person crew, and an $8k production budget. Shooting with the HD10 saved us in many spots because we were able to crop in post liberally, and also get really good slow-motion results.

Also, ConnectHD worked great for us.

Anyway, we will be releasing it in about a month.

That 48-hour thing is insane, don't know how you guys do it.

Oh yeah, back on-topic. We have great success with the SteadyTracker Light and the HD10U. Haven't tried the Glidecam. We went with the steadytracker because it seemed more versatile and quicker to setup, but that was based off of pictures, manuals, etc. We only tried the steadytracker.