No monitor on film camera 'steadicam' hack ideas....

Stephen Perera · December 18, 2019

OK so I want to shoot a tracking shot of a runner with my Aaton 16mm on a ProAim (Belgium made) Flycam Redking steadicam which I've just bought for a great price (mint condition at 150 euros placed on my door) via Wallopop from Spain.....

....my Aaton weighs 13 lbs for this shot (Aaton XTR XC + Leica Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8 + battery)....so the problem is the following....I dot have a monitor.......

I'm not worried about focus as I will work at f8 / f11 and keep in the depth of field zone by operating parallel......BUT......I want to know i am framing the runner in the middle of the frame and don't cut off the head etc......so......I'm thinking of a couple of stupid ideas as a solution........

1. attaching a GoPro to show me that my subject is in frame or 2. (this gets better!!!) attaching a laser pointer (one that can be seen in bright light) and trying to keep the dot on the runner and then getting rid of it in post hahahahaha yes, a ludicrous idea but what the hell.....this is 'no budget'

so...any other solutions that may be more....elegant?

Aapo Lettinen · December 18, 2019

If your aaton does not have video tap, you can use a small cctv camera on the viewfinder to get some kind of preview image to work with. Then use the brighest monitor you can find. No matter how old or bad quality it is

Stephen Perera · December 18, 2019

1 minute ago, aapo lettinen said:

If your aaton does not have video tap, you can use a small cctv camera on the viewfinder to get some kind of preview image to work with. Then use the brighest monitor you can find. No matter how old or bad quality it is

send me links to what you mean? I cant visualise this Aapo......its just to know I have the person in the frame!

Edited December 18, 2019 by Stephen Perera

Aapo Lettinen · December 18, 2019

I dont have images available but basically you just fit a cctv camera over the eyepiece with some kind of tube which keeps it in place and does not let any light in. You need to test the cctv to find a lens which works the best with your eyepiece so that you can see the whole viewfinder image nicely. The viewfinder optics focus the image close to infinity so you can use normal cctv lens. No macro needed

Aapo Lettinen · December 18, 2019

The tube solution can be as simple as a toilet paper roll's center tube with some gaffer tape to hold the cctv camera in place. That fit over the eyepiece and adjusted for framing

Stephen Perera · December 18, 2019

hahah good ideas! remember though Im going to stick the camera on a steadicam so Im not going to be using the eyepiece at all hence the absurd stuff i came up with!

Tyler Purcell · December 18, 2019

They actually make a viewfinder eyepiece that is designed to hook something onto it. I have one of them and it looks like a regular eyepiece, but it has a threaded ring on it. One could use that to hook a camera onto it, if you could build/find a receipticle.

I've shot steadicam without a monitor before, it sucks. The rangefinder idea (with a go pro) is pretty good, but getting the right framing will be tricky. If I was in a pinch, it's probably what I'd do as well.

Guy mastrion · December 18, 2019

I pulled off something very similar a number of years ago - I rigged a small crappy digital camera with a "viewfinder screen" on the back to the top of a camera and then used the zoom function to best approximate what i was seeing in the view finder as a test/set-up to help guide framing. It worked out well enough.