This week’s session entitled “The Art of Stabilization” was on the latest image stabilization devices by Steadicam and Sachtler, and was being led by Mike Sutton, a Boston area Steadicam operator who now works at Rule.  There was a serious drool factor when I walked in.  They had a Sony EX-1 on a Steadicam Pilot, a Panasonic HDX900 rigged out on Mike’s own Steadicam Flyer, and a very SEXY Panasonic GH1 DSLR (fitted with a PL-mount Cooke Cinema lens) on a Sachtler Artemis Rig.  I spent the minutes before the workshop started checking out the setups and resisting the urge to whip out my credit card.  Mike did a great job of going through the evolution of these devices, how they work, and what tools you need to use them in the business.

For those that don’t know, these devices (typically all referred to as Steadicams, which were the original manufacturer) allow for very smooth camera movements with the camera mounted on a gimbal that attaches to the operator by an iso-elastic arm.  The camera op can walk, run, climb stairs, etc. creating smooth camera moves that would be nearly impossible with a camera dolly or shooting handheld.  When done correctly the results are VERY nice, and really up the production values.  You can see one half of the 13-minute single take Steadicam shot from the 1998 movie “Snake Eyes” here.  It’s not a fabulous movie, but this is a technically amazing open to the movie.

Now, I do not NEED a Steadicam type device, and traditionally people would specialize in Steadicam because 10-15 years ago the cost of entry to own a rig was $25-$50K for a full-size camera.  But now the cameras are smaller and the rigs are much, much cheaper.  In fact, the available Steadicams for an EX-1 sized camera (or a DSLR like the 7D) are between $2500-$4000.  That’s a big jump from ten years back, and you really don’t sacrifice much (if anything) in the quality of the setup.  So this got me to thinking of all the times I COULD use one.  Certainly great for work on shorts, features, music videos, etc.  But how about the corporate and documentary work which is really my bread and butter?  I guess I could see breaking out a Steadicam rig for a walk-and-talk interview or b-roll.  But it’d just be another tool to deal with, which few of my clients are asking me for at this point, and using these rigs often involves an extra camera assistant.  Not to mention the fact that there are several great Steadicam ops in the Boston area (a couple of whom I have worked with in the past), and for times that I NEED some Steadicam work, it’s probably better and more cost effective to hire them.

That was the rationale I used to (try to) convince myself I don’t need one of these rigs, but we’ll see. Rule Broadcast said if they get enough interest they could probably arrange one of the Steadicam Training Programs at their facility, so maybe I’d try it out at least…

It’s great for me to go to these events because it really is important to stay on top of what new tools are out there.  I encourage anyone in the business who lives in the Boston area to attend Rule’s Learning Lab series.