marjamar
lvl.4
United States
Offline
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The problem with just about every benefit is the costs. Using the Z-Axis is what gives the floating look to shots, but it has always come at a cost of limited movement. Gravity is hard to overcome in the real world, but just like in the real world, when you do it right, it is fun and very entertaining in those shots that it works in. Understanding the limits that allow any type of glidecam/steadicam device to work in is pretty much true for using this Z-Axis device as well. For me, that means a good deal of trial and error. I haven't owned any of the body mount z-axis stabilization rigs, but I have sure bought a bunch of lesser types over the years. In just about all of them, learning their "tweaks" almost invariably forced me to find my "tweaks" in tern. Without z-axis stabilization in the mix, it forced me to learn how to walk in a "gliding" manner instead of the hip-hop way most of us do. But, by having something help with tilt, and rotation, it did make quite a bit of difference in many of my shots. Now that I have a rig that does have z-axis, I am enjoying the effort in finding the best ways to make use of it. On a bike, bumps are best absorbed by z-axis isolation, but you can still get harmonic effects where instead of damping you see more of an oscillating up and down effect happen. This is why I wish I had a bike with full suspension, to catch some of the ups and downs in that suspension before it gets to the bike camera mount.
Even though I have used the camera mounted to the bike without the z-axis, I don't have a good feel for how well it worked. This is because the mounting point was to an extension mount which added it's own set of vibrations to contend with. Now that I am firmly mounted direct to the handlebar, I need to revisit shooting without the z-axis to see if it is generally better or worse. Which I plan to do, but not sure how soon that will be with a heavy workload coming up right now.
It is fun to experiment, and finding things that help make better looks to my videography efforts are always appreciated, at least by me, even if by no one else. More video clips will come I'm sure.
-Rodger |
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