jerry check your PM.

I'd like to say that this this is a good example of these lenses in use, but it's only really an indicator. This was the first time out with the real long one and following the subjects smoothly was something I got better at as time went by.

As the TCON 300 has a pre-focus stage it has to be set manually to a basic setting, then the auto focus takes over, however on a few of the clips here I didn't do that well enough, the result being slightly fuzzy images and some chromatic aberrations. I'm not going to beat myself up over what needs to be done to follow subjects 300 yards away though!!

Anyway, it's not too bad. All of these clips use one of the three lenses in the OP, the long lens ones are pretty obvious, the hand held and crane work is all the WCON08 at full wide zoom setting, and everything else is the TCON14 on a monopod.

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In almost all cases I used this twinset, it allows stills to be fired off via a remote whilst videoing.

It's been a while. Tried posting a couple of times, but these internet cafes are the pits sometimes.

Am working on my cranecam tripod at the moment. The only real modification I made was with the castor/rotation set-up. I simply cut the headstock/gooseneck off a pushbike, inverted it and welded it onto a piece of pipe that is a friction fit over the speaker stand tube. Then I cut off the spokes of the wheel, and the hub becomes the pivot point for up and down motion, while the gooseneck and forks are the lateral rotation. Both have adjustable greased ball-bearings, and the motion is smooth as silk.

Working on a caliper and disc set-up for both rotation and rise and fall to allow the crane cam to be locked in any position. Will post some pics shortly.

So busy with work and filming lately, and just bought a new PC for editing. QuadCore overclocked to 3.97 Ghz. Will catch up to you later. Thanks for the inspiration Jerry.

Cheers, Norman.

Sadly, Jerry had a bit of a hissy fit, chucked his toys out of his pram and went home when I questioned the usefulness of a bracket he's invented. He's not been seen or heard of since.

Good to know there's other crane builders out there though - make sure you post some pics of your rig when you can.

__________________
Crane operators stick it in the air and swing it around...

Why did I become a Video Editor? Well, To cut a long story short....

Sorry to hear that Andy. I'll post some pics when I get connected at home. The keypad on this machine I'm posting on is driving me nuts.

Cheers.

Crane cam works excellent. Just heading to Sydney to film some live theatre. I used the cam to film the Human Mandala event at the famous Woodford Folk Festival. It worked great until the deep bass of the didgeridoo sent the crane jib trembling. I thought I might have caught it on a tree limb, such was the lack of control when the didj hit the lower notes.

Will get back to you all shortly. cheers.