Accessorizing

As with any piece of gear, there are loads of accessories available for your camera. And while many are fun frivolities, others are necessary for a serious production. Pick out your camera before you start shopping for any of the following items, though. Different cameras have different needs, and you don’t want to buy an expensive accessory only to find it has the wrong type of connector, or is the wrong shape for your camera.

Tripods

There is absolutely no substitute for a good tripod. A tripod is also essential for some complex camera motions, such as smooth pans with simultaneous zooms. Camera movement is part of your visual vocabulary, and most camera movements require a tripod. Shooting without one limits your vocabulary.

The ideal video tripod has a fluid head for smooth movement and easy-to-find handles for locking and unlocking each axis of the tripod’s motion: pan, tilt, and pedestal (see Figure 4.25). Check for stability and sturdiness and make sure the tripod can support the weight of your camera, along with anything else you may need to have onboard (audio mixer, microphones, small lights, and so on).

Figure 4.25

A fluid head tripod designed especially for DSLRs by Sachtler.

90 The Digital Filmmaking Handbook, 4E

Advanced Camera Rigging

Getting the shot you want can require more than a tripod. Check out the “Advanced Camera Rigging and Supports” section in Chapter 10.

Field Monitors

Back in the old days, the only person who got to see what was being shot was the camera operator. Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to find half the set gathered around a monitor, or group of monitors. Higher-end cameras send full-HD video out through HDMI cables, while lowerend cameras use analog outputs. For more about monitoring video on the set, check out Chapter 10.

Remote Controls

Many cameras can be controlled remotely with a USB cable connected to a computer. At the high-end, special proprietary remote controllers are available from camera manufacturers as well.

Microphones

All video cameras—even at the higher end—have marginal microphones, so you’ll need to replace these with professional units designed for the type of shooting you’ll be doing. We’ll discuss mics in Chapter 8.

Filters

You can use filters to change the color or optical properties of the light in your scene. Most filters screw directly onto the threads on the end of your lens, although some have special mounting brackets and some are built into the camcorder itself.

In general, using filters to create special effects should be avoided, since those same effects can usually be done in post. However, there are a few types of filters that are useful during production:

nUV haze filters

nPolarizing filter

nDiffusion filters

nNeutral Density or ND filters We’ll discuss filters more in Chapter 7.

DSLR Accessories

There are many accessories designed specifically for DSLR cameras that shoot HD video and we go over them in detail in Chapter 10.