Hopefully they have done something and ordered a Steadicam kt, although on YT there are various tutorials on using a tripid as a 'Steadicam'
They won't have. A Steadicam takes years of practice to master, it's a skill you learn, not by watching youtube tutorials. And I won't comment on your using a tripod as a stabiliser idea...
Exactly.
The issue looks to be one of experience and training. Buying new kit won't get round that - and isn't the solution.
There's no reason for handheld to be that bad - you just need to have someone who knows what they are doing holding the camera. Looking at the clip - it appears they aren't helping themselves by working at the wrong end of the lens and too far from the presenter. The closer the camera is and the wider you are the more you reduce the visibility of wobbles. And you need to be able to hold a camera steady in the first place. It also helps if you have a pretty wide angle lens on the camera to start with - the last thing you want to do is go handheld with a tight lens that's been specified for tight close-ups at a reasonable distance.
There are plenty of shows that work handheld, without Steadicams or other stabilising devices, with no major issues. Look at Top Gear, think back to the Big Breakfast.
Buying a Steadicam, and putting someone with little/no experience into a harness is also a great way of wrecking their back... (You usually have to schedule in breaks for Steadicam ops as well as it is a physically demanding job which you can't rest from in the same way that you can with a normal handheld camera)
** EDIT **
However this shouldn't be that much of a surprise should it? Unless News have recruited new camera operators for NBH, they don't have a history of running handheld in the studio. (Sportsround used to hire in a non-News camera op for their handheld stuff) It's not something they've done much of in
TVC - so to expect experienced ped ops to suddenly pick up a camera and work handheld is a bit of an ask I guess. It
Last edited by noggin on 13 February 2013 11:28am - 3 times in total