For this tutorial we where introduced to a new piece of equipment. The steady cam junior which is used to increase steadiness when shooting. At the beginning of the lecture we watched a short extract from a tape introducing the steady cam. This gave us the advantages of using the equipment and the art it requires to master.
We had a steady cam in class which we studied. We looked at all the features which included a spirit level, built in monitor, hand grip, the stage, battery compartment and battery weight compartment. We also looked at the Guide and gimbal which are vital to giving the steady cam its flexibility.
The most important thing to learn about the steady cam junior is balacing the weight this can be done in a number of ways. The two main ways of doing this are to adjust the upper and lower Spar which shift the weight in the desired directions. Another way to balance the cam is to adjust the side trims, this moves the stage which the camera is balanced on, one for side to side and the other for forwards and backwards. Stop blocks can be used aswell to change the angle of the lower spar. The battery and weight compartment located on the lower spar has adjustable weights which can be set for the desired balance.
Myself and Jeri Jang went out to practice with the steady cam junior, we took some shots of ourselves walking. We also used the steady cam for a shoulder shot. We found it difficult to operate sometimes. The cameras we use (the mini DV cam and the pd170) are either to heavy or to light and it has been difficult to find the right balance for shooting.