Hunter Mossman

Histogram and false color are the way to go. Expose to the right without clipping the whites and you should get the most out of the sensor. I always have my meters on set for red shoots but rarely bring them out anymore.

Unfortunately when it comes to heads there's a reason the good ones are so expensive. If you want smooth pans and tilts you'll need to spend the $ to get you there. Do some comparisons. Look for a refurbished fluid head and save up. In the mean time you can always rent. You can usually get a 100mm ball mount Sachtler or Oconnor head and sticks for around $35-$50/Day. Take a look at Libec, Cartioni, and Vinten as well.

Do you mean using the sun as your back light? Could you be a little more specific? When you say timing do you mean what time of day would the sun give you the best back light? If this is the case depends on where your shooting and what the Sunrise/Sunset times are for that area. the best thing to do is go to the location you'll be shooting with a still camera, DSLR etc. and shoot a bunch of test shots throughout the day. make sure you record the time of each for each still and then look through them and decide what times provide the best angle and intensity of light. Do this scout fairly close to your actual shoot dates as the suns path and timing changes from season to season. Also take into account the typical weather patterns for the area cloudy, overcast etc. Do as much planning as possible but remember that the weather will do what it wants. Be prepared with as many tools as you can afford to adjust and manipulate the sun to do what you want it to. When using the sun as a back light I tend to silk it off with a china (1/2) or 1/4 silk to knock it down a bit. and then add some fill with an HMI through some diffusion or kicked into a Griff or white card onto the subjects face in order to expose for the background. Reflectors and other bounce will also work well. HM