Very Long distance shooting

I'm wondering if anyone is doing something similar:

I have need to shoot over great distance.

Mostly to shoot surfers on sea or dogs on the hunting ground etc.

There is some options but they have problems.

I have BMC 2.5 k body that i would use with Canon 70-200 IS. Given the 2.3 crop i get about 460 mm.

I should support it on a tripod manually with this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/8 ... e:IN+STOCK

Or maybe even motorised something like this:

http://www.servocity.com/html/mpt2100-d ... ystem.html


Over this distance i find it mostly hard to stabilise by hand.

Any ideas?

I have that lens on my bmcc. I even use a kenko 1.4 extender. And I feel no need for that kind of support. The camera weighs a lot more than a dslr and deals with the weight of that lens easily. I would feel very uneasy going vice versa.But I'm speaking od the f/4 of that lens. The 2.8 of that lens might be different. It's a lot heavier. I'm using the f/4and it's fine.

Others may disagree.

EDIT. I'm also just referring to lens support. You absolutely need the camera on a tripod. Handheld you will get nothing but mush at that distance.

Margus,
I come from stills, mainly large format photography (4x5). Due to the "sensor size" the lenses tend to be long (150mm is a normal lens) and as I mainly do mountain photography, the stability is paramount. I know it's crazy to mention on a cinema forum but, few things can rival in stability (vs weight and cost) a good set of legs with a 75mm halfbowl and a 520 manfrotto leveler with an arca swiss clamp. It's pretty cheap and you can always use the setup to level a video head or a gimbal.
Perhaps... as an out of the box option...

I'm also thinking of something like that mounted on this gimbal i showed before:

This is basic set
http://www.ken-lab.com/stabilizers/2012 ... kit-detail


This is a bit cooler set.
http://www.ken-lab.com/stabilizers/2012 ... kit-detail

Why i look at the 8 and 8x8 is that they handle 30 degree pan in one second without breaking pan.

So generally if one would hook this to BMC and attach it to some sort of gimbal that lets you
pann etc. it should be solid.

Expensive of course

I was pointing those electronic options as i have found that panning with long distance is somewhat tricky.
When object like dog is running like mad and you have to flow it on the field then you would like to
have smooth pans.

Maybe this Sirui PH-20 would be optimal for pricing compared to other solutions.

I'm thinking getting one for testing someday.

Hey,

Great that you asked,

I have a setup I use to shoot hunting videos:

BMCC EF 2.5k
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens

I sometimes use the 2x Converter canon makes, which gets me approximately 1,840mm (920mm without converter)

I use a monopod (any would do, preferably light weight) as it is easy to assemble, the IS in the lens works great, the only unfortunate thing is that its not a fast lens, which I would prefer to be 2.8 at least for the low light shots.

I guess if you are shooting long distance in a situation where you wouldn't need to be whisper quite a tripod of some sort would work with a neat fluid head.

Cheers

Ideally i would like to have setup where i put cam up on the gimbal head.

Have RC radio like controls one hand for pan and tilt the other zoom and focus

The Canon 70-200mm with IS (second version) is actually stable enough to shoot handheld at almost 200mm (on the BMCC). The IS in that lens is just amazing, and the optical quality is as well.
I've used that lens to shoot handheld from a sailing boat and we got decent shots. But depends what project you're on and what's too shaky for that film. I was really happy with the shots for mine, but would def recommend a tripod as earlier mentioned-

Hi Margus: If you haven't already seen it, you might enjoy reading John Brawley's detailed post about shooting with long lenses:
http://herefortheweather.wordpress.com/ ... ng-lenses/

-

Would love to see what you come up with and some footage at the end of the day.

Keep in mind that you can't stabilize air turbulence. Shooting on a warm day over distance just results in a boiling mess.

Yes that i know.

Mostly i shoot evenings and cold weather so this would not be a problem.

Ideally i would have some kind of gimbal head like i posted in earlier link combined with
gyro. Gyro demos on makers site is really exiting stuff by itself. I'm sort of speechless still.

I probably will start just with this fibre gimbal and 70-200mk2.

For me the problem comes from rapid pans where dog runs on the field covering 300 meters
in relatively short time. Surfers are much slower

So mostly you have 10 minute take where you would like to zoom, focus, pan and tilt.
This is the reason i have pointed to some electronic means if used by one operator.

Will see how it will turn out or if i will find solution that is nice in reasonable price usability
combination.

What about a Kenyon Labs Gyro Stabiliser ? They call it the invisible tripod.

I've used the Canon EF 70-200, 100-400, 400, and 600mm on the BMCC. Pic attached is the 600 (with mount reversed to get the balance right). Only on sticks and IS is the way to go. I didn't have a gear that would fit around the focus ring, so I locked focus instead. Did some panning and following of dragracing cars, it's not easy, but I find if you can start the pan early and catch the subject, and end the pan later, I was successful at tracking a subject for a short distance. One thing to keep in mind is balance on the head is KEY. If you can get the balance perfect the operation will be easier. Never tried a gimbal setup but that sounds like a great idea.

600bmcc.jpg (67.66 KiB) Viewed 2555 times

This is with a Sachtler head that has more than enough weight capacity than this rig (came in at around 30 lbs.). You definitely need a proper solid silky smooth head. I've used Manfrotto heads and they don't kick it.

What about a Kenyon Labs Gyro Stabiliser ? They call it the invisible tripod.

Yes this one i pointed out earlier on one post.

8x8 one had 30 degree in one second panning rate and that should do the trick.

I've used the Canon EF 70-200, 100-400, 400, and 600mm on the BMCC. Pic attached is the 600 (with mount reversed to get the balance right). Only on sticks and IS is the way to go. I didn't have a gear that would fit around the focus ring, so I locked focus instead. Did some panning and following of dragracing cars, it's not easy

This is with a Sachtler head that has more than enough weight capacity than this rig (came in at around 30 lbs.). You definitely need a proper solid silky smooth head. I've used Manfrotto heads and they don't kick it.

On picture your setup seems mental

I know it is not easy this is why i started my search and was interested what other have experienced.

Yeah it was a bit of a monster with such a small camera body. I'm used to cameras that are bigger and heavier (Alexa, Phantom, etc) which helps with the balance. For the BMCC, I actually velcro'ed a .5 pound weight to the Swit battery to help get the balance perfect. I mounted to the head via the reversed lens mount, and I also used a redrock lens support as close to the front element as possible.
It's totally possible to do it, productions shoot action on long lenses all the time. It really comes down to using a proper head for the rig (my rule of thumb is the rig should be around half of the head's weight capacity, so rent a mitchell, sachtler or oconnor if you can), and getting the balance as close to perfect as possible. And if you're gonna need to pull focus, figure out a ring adapter to use with a follow focus, your hand is too shaky for such a long reach. Or, rent cine zooms like Angenieux, Zeiss, etc. that have the focus ring and aperture rings geared. This all costs money of course, but if the shot requires it, at these lengths and weights you need the proper film industry standard equipment designed specifically for this. Prosumer gear will not be sufficient and very disappointing.
What would have been helpful for me was to have my AC pull focus, and add an additional front pan bar to the head, so I'm panning and tilting with both arms. But we didn't have the gear for this setup that day.
You'll also need a helping hand or two. This stuff is heavy and hard to move around quickly.

I'll probably start 70-200 and see how it goes.

Totally, 70-200 is a great lens. Consider renting the Canon EF 2x extender, it's cheap to rent. This will give you longer reach if you need it. You lose stops though.

One stop would be fine as i hardly shoot outside all open specially for distance and speed.

It will take me some time but i will re post if i gets something shot.

Have to order this fibre gimbal and 70-200mk2