Experience with Gimbal for D500 on boat

rmp

Anyone have experience with a gimbal on a boat with a dslr the size of a D500?

Nikoniser

You need to be a little more specific, a Gimbal mount is usually for long telephoto lenses, and frankly the size of the camera makes almost no difference. What is the exact application you have in mind ?

framer

What size boat? Cruise ship, yes, work great on your balcony. Using a tripod on a public deck can be done but it gets nuts in Alaska at glacier time.

framer

rmp

This will be a fishing boat: 35 to 50 foot. A tripod is not a possibility. I will be shooting handheld and some videos. Still shots I can manage by using a high shutter speed, but I need some help with the videos.

paulr

Having sailed in both the Irish sea and North Sea on a 44 foot yacht rather than a Gimbal head I used a Manfrotto 561BHDV-1 monopod with the small Fluid head at the bottom to stabilise the camera. I would have more concern about protecting the camera from sea spray rather than stability

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Ironheart

Are you pointing the lens out to sea, or are you videoing people on the boat? The reason I ask is to find out if you need to stabilize the camera to the deck, or to the horizon. Thanks!

paulr

Did both The monopod stabilised the camera motion I used it in the North Sea shooting Oil rigs at night with a 10 foot swell on, No fun and you only use the eye-piece for so long before you feel queasy..Used a D810 with 70- 200 lens and AquaTech weather shield. Oil Rigs have a 500 meter exclusion zone around them for safety and Terrorist Protection, get closer, and they are warning you on the radio! with Gun Boats roaming round, I assue you, you do as your told with these guys.

rmp

I will be photographing and videoing (is that a word?) a family fishing trip. The target will be both the jumping sailfish and the people on the boat. I have the weather shield covered. It is the motion for the video that I am trying to compensate for.

paulr

Not easy rmp, the rules are you always hold on something just incase, that leaves you one hand to operate your camera, unless you are lucky enough to be on very calm waters. sounds like you need quite a wide angle lens if you are working close to people.

Ironheart

Right. When filming people on the boat, you will want the camera clamped to the boat itself. Otherwise a gimbal will reference gravity as the boat moves up and down, side to side, and everyone watching will get seasick. You will also have a helluva time tracking anyone on the boat. When pointed out at the ocean you will want a gimbal, as the boat will be moving but the target will be relatively stationary in gravity. I would use a "steadycam" type gimbal for two reasons. One, a motorized gimbal will take up more space, a precious commodity on a boat, and two, there are no moving parts, motors, electronics to fiddle with in a salt water environment. The third reason is cost, motorized gimbals are 10-100x the cost of a counterbalance/steadycam type (which is really a glorified weight).
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/884808-REG/revo_st_1000_pro_video_stabilizer.html

These types of gimbals need to be balanced with all of your rig ahead of time, and if you switch lenses or even zoom out vs in, the balance point may need to be shifted. Just ask Spielberg how much of a pain it was to shoot jaws ;-)

rmp

Thanks Ironheart. That sounds like what I need, as I am pretty sure I can not afford Spielberg as a consultant. :-)

Pistnbroke

There are two things here...the device above is to allow the operator to move the camera ..the inertia of the camera above the piviot matches the inertia of the weight below. Now the gimble arrangement on the stove in the boat galley is what you want ...the kettle stays level and does not fall off the stove due to the heavy counterweight below the stove base.
You are going to hold the handle steady and the weight will swing with the movement of the boat which is great for looking out to sea but does not mean the crew will be in a fixed positon in the frame . For that you will need to be mounted to the boat

rmp

Good description, Pistnbroke. I am beginning to think I need three GoPro making videos and my D500 (when it gets here) making videos and stills. I will put one GoPro underwater in a Troll-Pro aimed at the fish (I hope), one mounted to the boat aimed at the fishermen, and one aimed at the ocean where the fish is likely to jump (I hope).
The D500 will be my "sidearm." If that does not do it, I'll give up and go fishing. :-)

paulr

Good luck with the PP thats where the time comes in,

Parke1953

rmp who ever hooks on to a fish put a GoPro on that persons head. They will always be looking where the fish is.

paulr

Does that apply to thr Fish too LOL

rmp

Do not suggest that too loudly, someone in our group might want to try it.

paulr

I think its been done already, they seem to put Gopro;s on everything