Steadicam

[Guest AndreaAltgayer]

Hi everyone,

 

When you're using a steadicam, how do you keep in focus as you're moving?

 

Regards,

Andrea

[Phil Rhodes]

If you're doing live television camerawork, sometimes it's done using a control attached to the gimbal. Sometimes a zoom control goes there. Often, though, it's such a wide lens, and such a small sensor, that the image will remain acceptably sharp without adjustment.

 

In other circumstances, such as TV drama, there's likely to be someone pulling focus manually, using a radio remote device.

 

The equipment installed on the camera is similar (or even identical) in both instances; the difference is where the control comes from.

 

And no, you can't practically shoot 35mm-sized sensors on steadicam and hope to pull your own focus at anything less than about f/20.

[Lynn Magnuson]

Interesting. I'm an independent filmmaker and have not moved up the big rigs yet. Love Steadycams though and hope to learn to operate one competently soon. I was wondering how focusing, etc. was done too. Now I know.

[Daniel Mimura]

Remote follow focus operated by the AC/focus puller. It's expensive and (relatively) heavy, as well as needing power, which is not provided on lightweight cheap steadicam rigs, requiring you to add even more weight (a v-mount or Anton-Bauer battery---smaller batteries generally don't have the amperage to pull the motors). There are cheaper follow focus units in the past year or two like the red rocks micro...I messed around with a friend's, and it pulled an SLR lens fine, but I doubt it would work on a cinema lens. (I live in Seattle, which is the northern most major city in the USA...it gets cold and you need a torquey motor to pull a cinema lens b/c the lubricants inside stiffen. Maybe it's not a problem in Johannesberg!

 

I use a Bartech Focus Device (aka BFD), which is available from most rental houses.