3 Overlooked Steadicam Tips

In this video I’m going to give some tips and speak on 3 different things that I felt I overlooked early on in my career, but are of course, very important for a steadicam operator to have in mind.
Those three things are...
1) In and out & Side to side balance
2) Inertia (and how it relates to steadicam)
3) Camera height (and what difference it makes)
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:20 In and out balance (how to)
2:03 Side to Side Balance (how to)
3:20 Inertia (what is it?)
5:25 Increasing Inertia
6:14 Decreasing inertia
6:47 Camera Height
8:42 Examples
15:22 Outro
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[@joelsoh2144]

Great tips!
One thing I try to keep in mind, is to have as little an impact on the shoot day as possible. This means minimising the amount of time between transitions from steadi to sticks/handheld, i.e not having to strip everything down, change all the accessory positions and swap base plates just to go back and forth. Unless you have the luxury of having a dedicated camera just for steadicam, I find the easiest way to achieve this is to keep the camera as close as possible to the non steadi build (within reason). By keeping the Arri bridgeplate on the camera, it means that transitioning from my steadi to sticks is as quick as un pluggling a few cables, and sliding the camera off my steadicam, and on to sticks. While it adds a little bit of height onto my build, I compensate by having my gimbal as close to the topstage as possible while still allowing me to dock (I noticed you could have probably done this in some of your builds too). Other things that help with this transitions is having QR plates for monitors, and I have found Jerry Hills evf bracket a God send, so you can still fly with the EVF on the back of the camera.
If having the camera directly on your steadicam plate is very important to you, perhaps investing in an SOS plate will help with the transitions between steadi and sticks. It does mean that you will have to wait until the very end of the day to leave as you will have to collect your plate from the AC after wrap, come at the start of the day or even to the gear prep day to include it in the original build (as sometimes steadi is only 1/2 of the day).
It is a very good point that you brought up to be aware of the height and COG of your steadicam build, but productions will LOVE you if you are able to get the shots and still be really, really efficient in the way you work and operate.
Happy flying!!

[@JamesMarin]

Thank you for the tips and for the comment

[@Steadibeats]

Great tips! I’m a big offender on camera heights. These are gonna make my life so much easier

[@JamesMarin]

As you can see I was too 😂Its just one of those things that unless someone tells you to be aware of it, its not something that you think would affect what your doing. Thanks for watching Avery !

[@steadiknight_]

Thanks for this video. Amazing tips! Specially for a starting steadi op

[@JamesMarin]

I'm glad you found it helpful Stephan!

[@matiaswajner7937]

Thank you!!!!

[@JamesMarin]

You're welcome!

[@weardo100]

Love these tips!! will definetly keep them in mind. do you perhaps have any tips for how to walk with the rig? I just can't seem to get rid of the horizontal bobbing of my shots...

[@EugeneMaynard]

👍🏾🙏🏾

[@anaphael1538]

You have a very nice weight for your steadicam, it looks like its not that expensive as the practice cages. Where did you find it an could you go in some detail on how you fixed your camera on there? i cant wrap my head around that. Im shooting in end of April with an amira, and i want to get used to heavier things than a rigged out bmpcc4k. So any tips are welcome

[@JamesMarin]

I believe I purchased it from someone named Janice Arthur from the steadicam forum. Though I will admit I don't like it as much as some newer options. There is a new cage that looks like a camera and you can put your dslr in the front of it. I don't know the name of it but again I believe if you ask around in the forums or facebook groups you will find what I'm talking about

[@feelgoodplc]

@@JamesMarin haha casual. Janice Arthur is a legend of an operator

[@JamesMarin]

Ive been lucky to have met many at this point :) @@feelgoodplc

[@overkillphil514]

Helpful, but I would have prefered more showing and less telling.

[@JamesMarin]

Hey Phil! I appreciate your comment and you're totally right! I wish I had a proper camera with me every time I have time to shoot a youtube video 😂