Show Notes
Episode 2 covers an introduction to tripods, one of the most important accessories you can have with your camcorder. If you don’t know your way around a tripod, this episode is for you!
- Wobbly shots, while all the rage these days, are nauseating and should only be used sparingly.
- Tripods have three legs
- The legs are usually collapsable and extendable
- Holding a camcorder at the end of your arm and pointing at yourself does not produce a pleasant picture
- The camcorder attaches to the tripod’s head
- Pivoting the head so that the camcorder angles up and down is called vertical title
- Pivoting the head so that the camcorder moves level to the horizon is called horizontal pan
- Raising and lowering the head without changing the tilt or pan is called pedestal up & down
- Many tripods have a spirit level which facilitates getting the tripod level. This allows more accurate reference for tilts and pans
- Do not adjust or setup your tripod with the camcorder attached, disaster could result
- When extending the legs less then their full length, use the thicker part of the leg for greater stability
- Some tripods have convertable feet/spikes on the ends of the legs. The rubber feet are for hard surfaces, or those that might be damaged, the spikes are generally for outdoors or heavy carpets
- When you plant the tripod, place one leg aimed directly at your subject, this can help save your camera lens should the tripod be knocked over
- There are many types of tripods, including mini-pods designed especially for travel
- Monopods, while not as stable as tripods, can also improve the stability of your video and may be more convenient to carry
- You can also improvise means to stabilize your camcorder, for example, a simple sandbag can be used to cradle your camcorder and compensate for an uneven surface.
Next episode we’ll be talking about something else.
These videos are in Quicktime, H.264 codec. Sorry Windows users, the final version of QT 7 for Windows isn’t out yet, but the preview release works and can be downloaded from the same URL. We were hoping the final version would be released before this episode hit the streets.
Video files hosted at Archive.org - Internet Archive
H.264 Quicktime - Large, 720×480, 150mb
H.264 Quicktime - Small, 360×240, 44mb