windy sunny day. How to

[Jim Froom]

Have a Pilot. Training with 5d MII. About 7 lbs up top.

I'm finding it very difficult to try to shoot in the sun (amongst the other learning issues of steadicam).

Blue sky and bright sunshine today. Went out when the sun was high (about 2:30pm).

Couldn't see the LCD 80% of the time because of glare. Pretty impossible to frame anything. Just looked at a 5-8 minute practice walk around. Worse thing I've shot to date. 90% unusable.

Don't have a clue how I'm going to frame anything in the sun. If I hood the monitor (don't even know if it's recommended) it's another something for the wind to catch. It was windy gusty today which added to my problems.

I'd love some suggestions.

Anybody developed a wireless face monitor? (that we can afford)

[Bryan Cantwell]

Not exactly what you asked about, but this is currently the lightest & best solution on a DSLR: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/625808-REG/Zacuto_Z_FIND_Z_Finder_DSLR_Optical_Viewfinder.html

[Jon Fairhurst]

The Z-Finder rocks, but it is only really good on a shoulder rig. On a steadirig, you need to avoid touching the camera.

[Bryan Cantwell]

D'oh! Missed the steadi-reference...

[Buba Kastorski]

well if even Mr. Brown himself tried to monitor first steadicam prototypes with wired fiberoptic glasses,
you can try do the same thing, and today to make video glasses
New iTheater 50" Video Virtual Glasses OLED for iPhone on eBay.ca (item 230438762881 end time 19-Mar-10 06:13:12 EDT)
wireless, will cost you maybe $150
RangeVideo!, Wireless video solutions.
because summer time I shoot at least couple hours every weekend outdoors,
so I was thinking about that possible solution myself (i like toys:) and already got wireless set from Range video, not the best quality, but for the purpose will do;
but you can always just put the hood on your monitor and it will partially solve the problem.

[Dave Gish]

Originally Posted by Jim Froom

If I hood the monitor (don't even know if it's recommended) it's another something for the wind to catch.

Originally Posted by Buba Kastorski

but you can always just put the hood on your monitor and it will partially solve the problem.

Try making something out of black coroplast and gaffers tape. In fact, you may want to make multiple hood depths to balance glare vs. wind.

Black coroplast is great stuff. It comes in handy many times. I got a bunch on ebay:
BLACK COROPLAST ( 32 pcs. ) APPROX 12 X 12 INCH

[Nick Tsamandanis]

LCD Protective Films | Photodon.com

Have applied an anti-glare film on my Pilot's monitor and just ordered one for my Clipper.

[Jim Froom]

Dave Gish: Good ideas. Spent a little time looking at the glasses and others. Too bad they aren't in local stores so one could try them out.

The wireless part looks like it might be more complicated, but we'd have room to mount something on the bottom of the sled. Make an a/b switch to send to wireless or monitor or splitter to do both. Days like this make me wish I was an engineer.

I called Tiffen and one fellow said that some people have a person carry a wind shield when they are out side. Guess I could do the same with a sun shield. But not sure I can afford a person or two for shielding.

[Mark Schlicher]

LCD monitors are notoriously hard to view in daylight. Glare and brightness are both issues. I don't know how bright the Pilot monitor is, but the Flyer monitor is 500 nits I believe and it is not fun in full sun. Coroplast sunshade will help but you will still have challenges. Some big rig operators swear by with their "green screen" CRTs for the simple reason that no LCD comes close in brightness, not even the multi-thousand dollar high end monitors.

The problem with glasses and such is that you need to be able to watch the terrain out of the corners of your eyes when operating, for safety.

As for wind, a grip holding a 4x4 flag upwind is helpful. So are "antlers", which is a weighted, T-shaped device that is clamped to the camera, designed to tame the inertial in the pan and roll axices (axes?). Commercial Antlers are expensive but homemade units can be fabricated. Buy the Steadicam Operators Handbook for details. Another trick is the make the sled more bottom-heavy. Finally, gripping the post more tightly may be your best/only option in some windy circumstances.

[Jim Froom]

Guess what we need is glasses that just show in one eye. Watch the camera with one eye and the terrain with the other.

I'm guessing there isn't going to be anything that really works when in the bright sun. Yesterday, I tried shooting using the lcd on the 5D instead of the monitor. It might work at times. There is at least something see in the sun.

I was afraid there wasn't going to be any magic fix for shooting in bright sunlight. I wish the marketing people would quit over selling their products. They make it sound like you can see the preview in the sunlight which I knew deep down was probably stretching the truth.

I'll look into the tee / antler idea. I have been playing with different weighting options and will try more weight on the bottom next time I'm practicing in the wind.

thanks for the suggestions.

[Dave Gish]

Originally Posted by Jim Froom

Guess what we need is glasses that just show in one eye.

When Garret Brown invented steadicam, he tried glasses with video in one eye only and it didn't really work that well. I think he said it made him dizzy.

Many professional steadicam operators use CRT monitors, which are the best in the sun, but they cost around $14K (just for the monitor) and are big and heavy.

For smaller steadicams, we're stuck with LCD monitors and hoods.

[Simon Wyndham]

This idea won't work in windy conditions, but you could get an assistant to follow you around with a large umbrella in very sunny conditions (keeps you in the shade too).