GLIDECAM HD-4000 SMOOTH SHOOTER

For a upcoming movie project that I can’t really discuss yet (more on that in the fall) I have been hired as the Director of Photography (I think I got that title because I own a Canon 5D mkII!). Shooting starts in October and whilst talking to the director and producer about the project we talked a lot about stabilization and the look and feel of the movie. While “shaky cam” has it’s place in certain movies (I advise you to check out Channel 4’s “Dead Set,” a TV movie in the UK), we were looking for something a little more stable, so to speak. Shooting with a DSLR is much different that shooting with a traditional camera, especially when not mounted to a dolly or other industry standard camera tracks. It’s not designed to be used as a video camera. Period. It’s a still camera. There is no easy way to keep your video’s steady without investing in tripods (very stable, but can’t really follow subjects easily unless you are in a static place), monopods, DSLR Gunstock Shooter or other kits designed to make your video’s smoother. And you to give companies like Zacuto and Red Rock a lot of credit as they have done a great job in making some brilliant products that are well worth your money as a indie film maker.

But after reading the screen play and started to envisioning certain scenes with the writer and director, we knew we would need a device that allowed for long shots of walking, sometimes up and down stairs, and a lot of follow shots, which, after filming with the Red Rock Micro shoulder mount, needs something with significant stabilization.

Hit the jump to read more

As we are on a budget, we started searching for a reasonably priced stabilization system and often kept coming back to the fig rig. While a great concept, we were not convinced it would work up and down stairs. The director did some research on certain body mounted Camera Stabilization System that would suit the Canon 5D mkII and found the Glidecam HD-4000/Smooth shooter to be highly regarded by its users. The director decided to give it a try and very much liked it and ordered it right away. Today I got my hands on it.

For those who do not know much about it, here is some blurb from the Glidecam website. And hopefully the image with give you a better representation of what it is exactly.

The SMOOTH SHOOTER system works by isolating your body’s motion from your camera, while your camera is balanced in a relatively motionless and isolated state. The SMOOTH SHOOTER’S Support Arm can be boomed up and down, as well as pivoted in and out, and side-to-side. It is the combined booming and pivoting action of the Support Arm, which isolates your motions from the camera in a way that creates smooth camera footage.

You combine the Smooth Shooter with the Glidecam 4000:

When using the Glidecam 4000 Pro in hand-held mode, it is your arm that carries all of the weight. However, when the 4000 Pro is used with the SMOOTH SHOOTER, it is the SMOOTH SHOOTER’S Spring-loaded Support Arm that carries all of the weight. Because of this, you will now be able to shoot for extended periods of time, whereas before, the stress associated with hand-holding the weight reduced your shooting time.

Without really setting the Glidecam HD-4000/Smooth shooter up correctly I decided (because I am impatient with new toys wanted to play before it rained) to take her out for a quick test with my Canon 5D mkII. See the results below. I am using the 24-70mm F/2.8L at 70mm so see how much shake there would be and I was purposely was a little heavy footed going down stairs and on uneven surfaces (where I actually was watching the floor not the screen – hence the shaky turns) but I was quite impressed. I need to balance it out properly though, especially the “smooth shooter” spring tensions… There are much better demos than the one’s below, I was just playing. The side to side sway of the video is me not really paying attention to what I am filming but rather watching my footing. I need a spotter…

Here is a quick test running through my house. I tripped twice because of dogs but it is still pretty smooth.

Update: Did some balancing and the results are much better. Until I walked into the pinball machine at around 21 seconds and then tripped over the dog (again) at 30 seconds and then got stuck in the hallway at 42 seconds!