best way to hold a camcorder (photos)

One thing i have discovered is the best way to hold a camcorder. First thoughts was a hand through the side strap. Erm ok but that means holding the camcorder up at almost eye level to hold fairly comfortably ,but this tires one out.

Next was to put it on a straight grip as below



this raises the camcorder higher but the angle soon makes the wrist ache, also gives little suppot to sidways control; movement of the camcorder.

Next was to get a grip with finger holds at an angle to stop this sideways loss of control

hope is may even help with holding a camera

so onto a pistol grip as shown below



now getting somewhere as I can now have better control of holding but the angle not right so onto a small ball head



so now end up with



which is far more colmfortable to hold. Took a bit of finding out but now no need to hold it up high but better at waist height.

Sony do a hotshoe microphone but it is fairly expensive so making do with this for the time being

Re: best way to hold a camcorder (photos)

That seems a lot of trouble to go to

My SIL takes many good videos, especially when they are on holiday and doesn't go to all that fuss.

Re: best way to hold a camcorder (photos)

Plus you tend to miss the moment. I found this when using a Sony handycam back in the late 80's. I was so concerned about the filming that I didn't appreciate the experience itself.

Re: best way to hold a camcorder (photos)

Mags. have you looked closely at them, are they videos taken from one spot? Nothing wrong with ones like that.
If you look on youtube most are like this anyway even on a tripod or some sort of support

There are very few taken while the person is walking or recording for a long time hand held while on the move. I had to search really hard to find one i could study.

This is what I am aiming for, going on a walk holding a camcorder comfortably and keeping it steady. As you can appreciate there is quite a bit of difference between both methods, so i want to be prepared to use either if and when necessary

hope this explains why this setup

.

Re: best way to hold a camcorder (photos)

I think also having a comfortable holding style would help with keeping a stable picture, wouldn't it? Especially if you are taking action footage, say of birds in flight, for example

Re: best way to hold a camcorder (photos)

That is more like what is called "panning" following the subject more often than not from a fixed position either on a support or hand held.

Not exactly what I may want to do always in the future.

This is one of my first efforts which failed miserably , yes I am not ashamed of showing as a bad example

Video doesn't start right away,, about 17 seconds in
it starts, another balls up I made. So in future hopefully I have a little more experiece with this
type of video



As you can see it bounces along and swings from side to side absolutely unwatchable . Gosh how come I made it so bad ???

Re: best way to hold a camcorder (photos)

If you don't mind me saying so, I think you are being a tad harsh on yourself. Its a good job, all things considered - you had a lot of obstacles to overcome, so watching your step as well as keeping an eye on what you were filming, couldn't have been easy. I think you did well, and you learned from it, so its all good.

Re: best way to hold a camcorder (photos)

What's required, in 2021, is one of these.

Incredible ...

Re: best way to hold a camcorder (photos)

[ I note that in that video Dood all the videos are from static points ,typical of most videos you see. Even on the bike is still a static shot of the front of the bike as it goes along.
you don't see example of him actually walking with it.

The only moving shot was on a pre built slider. he could have held it in one hand and passed it through to the other hand like this then see how steady it is.



that little camera might be good but the person making the video avoided the hard shots such as walking along and holding it steady

Re: best way to hold a camcorder (photos)

In my opinion your set up is far too top heavy and unstable for hand held videography.

There is a cheap way of holding the camera, a light and microphone with out all the extensions you have made.

It is a simple L shaped bracket designed for just your sort of set up. I apologise in advance for the photos because I just whipped it up to show you.

This is the basic bracket they come in various price ranges and qualities.



I don't have a bigger camera like yours but this gives you the general idea, however it would easily accomadate your camera. The mic could be attached to the fitting adjacent to the light or replace the light.



As you can see this one has two mounting points for flash, light, mic etc but others have more



The bottom mount has a wide range of locations as can be seen from the light shining through the slot (auto focus on wood but it is clear enough for this purpose.



I have shown you this or a similar one before but because the camera is lower the whole device is far more balanced and easier to hold steady.

It would be a big improvement ergonomically on your current set up and you can do without half the adapters you have added to the mic for example.

You could even screw a hand grip into the bottom mount if you wanted to use both hands

I think this one was only a few dollars on Ebay