I used my 14-24mm f/2.8 Nikkor on the D4. The Hi-hat was wonderful for use in close and in small spaces. I had to take special care to warn of its presense because it’s so small, and had a $5000 camera on it.
The Marshall 5″ HDMI monitor works very well with this setup, allowing easy exposure checking, focus, and viewing; it also provides the option of flip-image (useful for the jib setup).
udin
Garden Grove, CA:
It was HOT.. I drank 5 Mountain Dews
I spoke about the connections between climate change and some aspects of human disease.
Today I finished the preliminary shot list for the 2 day shoot, and the other details are being finalized. We’re going to advertise this project, which will hopefully extend high-quality works of art to be enjoyed by underpriviledged children. The bus would travel to many locations and host a variety of other functions:
– Traveling Art Museum
– Mobile Art Classroom
– Corporate/Private Events
– School Activities
– General Use for Public Art Appreciation
– Independent Curated Art Exhibitions
I’m very proud to be the DP for this project, and wish it all success.To Jaydee Dizon, who asked me to participate: thanks.
Another convenient feature of this Hi-hat/apple box combination is the ability to rapidly and securely obtain up to about 5-7 seconds of smooth truck/slider motion with my 8 ft slider, simply by dropping the combo onto the slider’s dolly.
I can secure the hat in 3 different positions to the drilled 1/4″ holes in the large apple box as shown, whether collapsed or extending the legs.
Here is the 8′ slider beneath the #2 lg apple box, bolted to the Hi-hat and camera
Sandbags are used to further stabilize the slider when appropriate
The #2 small apple box is used as a counterweight or to provide quick angled shots by placing beneath other boxes
The bolt holes are clearly marked in order to speed setup of the rig in the field
This makes it unnecessary to detach and re-attach the Hi-Hat, and it’s and easy to take off the camera via the quick -release baseplate camera to put it on a cinema rig, for example. This means that there are many more options for developing and executing shot lists.
This ingenious tool allows stable placement of the camera in very tight locations, such as vehicle interiors; it also doubles as a fully functional video tripod, achieving full height when put on a desk, table or other secondary support. A full, complex rig can easily be mounted onto this hi-hat as it is rated to withstand a load of up to 165 pounds.
I can put a wide variety of photo or video heads on the hi-hat; because of the 75mm bowl, it’s easy to set up Dutch angle shots and to level the head to the horizon- or to the included bubble level. The leveler can be used whether or not the bowl is employed, due to its location on the base.
Construction: build quality is excellent. It’s very versatile in terms of height options due to the adjustments possible in each independent leg, and the swiveling rubber mounting feet permit bolting or spiking of the hi-hat as shown below, when desired.
I highly recommend combining a hi-hat with a good fluid head to get the most out of both- they were born for each other and are a wonderful asset in addition to jib and slider for achieving the kind of camera motions which contribute to the production value of projects.
Manfrotto 502 AH fluid head, custom wood apple box (platform)
used 3/8″ flathead hex bolts and wingnuts
side view
included: Rode Stereo Videomic Pro on articulated arm and 5″ HDMI monitor
there are 3 attachment points built into the unit
William Hooks
maximpactphotography 