I am a tripod snob and I am very picky with fluid pan heads.

The tripod pan and tilt head is the most important part of the camera chain, in my opinion. If I put it all together in order of importance I would say, one tripod, two camera, three lens, and four viewfinder. Of course you can shoot all hand held, but for what I do and my style of shooting, the camera support is extremely important. The point I am trying to make is the fact that even if you have the best HD camera and biggest lens, you cant hold or compose a shot with a bad fluid head. The pan and tilt head then extends to slider, crane and dolly use as well.

When operating a television camera covering sports, the pivot point is most vital part. I need to know exactly what is going to happen when applying force to a pan arm. The pan head must be perfectly balanced and super smooth in tilting and panning, especially when doing both at the same time. The sum of these parts equals predictable and repeatable movement and the end result is exactly what I want.

The pan head I use to cover Boston professional sports is the Vinten Vector 70. I have been using the same Vector 70 for over ten years and it still performs like the day it left the factory. It is the secret to my signature shot, following the baseball super tight as it leaves the yard. The 70 model has been updated by the 700 and 750, but until the Vector 70 is taken away from me in Boston, it will be my personal favorite. (I actually wish Vinten re-releases the Vector 70TG …the “TG” stands for “Totally Great”, not what you may think…)

So…… there’s a brief glimpse into my tripod insanity. Until you understand the “feel” of the perfect pan head, you will continue to think I am crazy. Please read the rest of my blog before you watch the video blog review below.

I have said many times before that I feel the tripod is the one television tool that I could not live without. I use a tripod as much as I use a camera and I use both almost everyday to earn a living.

If I am going to carry around all the extra weight that a tripod creates, it is going to be the best. And simply put, Vinten is the best.

Over the years, I have used many brands. Cartoni, Miller, Manfrotto (Bogen), Satchler, O’Connor, and Libec. The only head the comes close to the “Vinten feel” is the Satchler. The Vinten Vector series for large studio cameras and Vision series for ENG cameras are as good as it gets. The UK based company knows what they are doing and best of all, they are listening to crazy people like me!

In addition to the perfect balance and buttery action of the Vinten is the fact that the company makes a very durable product. When taken care of, a good Vinten will be the last pan head you ever buy.

I was discovered by Vinten a few years ago because of this website and since that day, Vinten has sponsored and invited me to NAB twice. I have spent time with people who work for Vinten and now I consider them my friends.

I asked the Vinten team last year if they were thinking about making a pan head for DSLRs. I was not totally happy with the feel of the Vinten ProTouch range they were marketing for light weight cameras. The ProTouch heads, in my opinion, were similar in design and feel to the Manfrotto 501 and 503 heads. I did not like the stick and slip feel of the ProTouch range when using cameras like the Sony EX1 and Canon 5dmk2. But, these heads were priced very low, so you get what you pay for even if there is a Vinten logo stamped on the front.

Avoiding the ProTouch range, I was using my expensive Vinten Vision 3 with the smallest user-changeable spring available to make it work with a DSLR. It did the job, had the “Vision Feel” I was after, but was not the solution for light weight cameras. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Vision 3!

I wanted a Vision range pan head that worked with lighter payloads, but could still be adjusted using the perfect balance knob (when the camera got heavier with accessories) and perhaps, was a bit cheaper. The HDSLR market may not widely adopt a pan head over $1000, no matter how perfect it was. But, the demands for a nicely balanced and professional level tripod head were present since the Canon 5dmk2 DSLR was being used in high end production. These DSLRs weigh in at about a pound when not loaded with accessories. So what tripod can perfectly balance such a light weight?

Vinten answered with the Vision Blue. This head is affordable and just under $700. You get a lot for your money here. This inexpensive Vision Blue model functions with a DSLR like a $5000 Vision head functions with a Sony F900 HDCAM! This opens the market to lower budget professionals who can finally spring for a professional tripod.

You can go to Walmart and see just how hard it is to pan and tilt a non-fluid head. If you are just using the tripod as a locked off shot, fine. But you can also use a rock or tree stump for that.

The next step up is to spend a few hundred bucks and get a fluid head that is not really that “fluid”! If you have been using an inferior tripod fluid head for years and you get on location with a Vinten Vision, you will finally understand the point I am trying to make. Once dialed in, It will change the way you use a tripod and the words “finesse” and “silky” will come to mind.

If you are a Kessler CineSlider or Pocket Dolly user, you will have a blast preforming pans and tilts as you dolly left and right. One of my favorite shots in television and film is when you focus on a subject, move the camera down dolly track and pan with the subject keeping it centered in the frame. It is possible to do this with the Vision Blue because of the perfect control you get. There is no sticking or slipping in this head and as you apply pressure, the move remains consistent all the way through the tilt or pan. The weight of the camera as it moves on the head is canceled out by the inner spring in the Vision head.

I have been using a Vinten Vision Blue prototype with my Canon 5dmk2 DSLR for about a month on various shoots. I am very impressed by the Vision Blue and I am happy Vinten is offering it at a lower price. I am also using a Petrol PCBP-1 hikers backpack to get the gear in and out of locations. For the first time, I used a magnifying eyepiece on my Canon 5dmk2 made by Letus called the Letus Hawk.

At the time of this blog review, the price at BH Photo and Video New York for just the Blue head is $697. The cost of the head and the 75mm tripod, floor or mid-level spreader and soft bag is $1199.95. This is much cheaper than the $2,300 I spent seven years ago on my Vision 3! And… I had to change my own springs inside the head when using different cameras!

I tested the head with very little weight, just a bare 5dmk2 with battery and small prime lens. The Vision Blue’s perfect balance knob was set to its lowest point and just managed to balance the less than one pound camera. The only way you could find a problem with this is if you had a camera that weighed half a pound. The Vision Blue would still work, but you would feel the spring push back a bit. Not a big deal, but this tripod system was not built for the iPhone!

The tilt friction control was a bit tough to roll into when I got up around seven, eight or nine. This is also a problem with other Vision heads I have used. You can still get up there, it just takes a little more force to roll the dial. This has never been a deal breaker for me and part of the internal design of the head.

It is not necessary to buy the legs if you already own a set. The Vinten Vision Blue head is the most important part. You could use any 75mm sticks made of aluminum or carbon fiber from another company. I really like the Manfrotto telescopic carbon tripod legs. You can find them by clicking here.

When I tested the Blue with a matte box, monitor, Letus Hawk viewfinder and larger lens, I had plenty of spring left to match the added weight. The head counterbalance system canceled out the change in center of gravity when tilted up and down. The force I applied to the pan bar was equal though out the tilting action and it was very smooth.

This is all a big deal because until now, there was no Vinten Vision range pan head that could handle a tiny camera and still have the perfect balance. This is the first time the internal spring works with you and does not fight back.

Post any questions you may have to the comment section of this blog.

I had some fun with the Fastec Imaging HiSpec2 color hi speed camera shooting a “fake” lacrosse commercial. The commercial was a copy of the Paul Rabil 111 MPH spot that my buddy Dave sent me on YouTube. It looked as if the real commercial, shot by Maverik Films New York, was captured using a Phantom camera. You can watch more of their work by clicking here.

Dave’s son, Dylan, plays lacrosse in New Hampshire. We traveled to a local lacrosse field and set up to shoot the commercial. I brought the HiSpec2 color camera, a set of Vinten sticks and the Sony VAIO laptop computer running the hispeed capture software. I had a Nikon 16mm f2.8, 55mm f1.2, and 200mm f3.5 lens.

We shot for just two hours! No lights, just the sun. We had to wait a few minutes for clouds to clear and have consistent sunshine. Dave brought some water so that we could wet down Dylan’s hair and lacrosse strings to get the “hi-speed sweat effect”.

When we finished on the lacrosse field, we shot in the locker room for the first two shots on the spot. I used the Canon 5dmk2 shooting at 30fps with a Canon 85mm f1.2 lens for just these shots. We were in and out of the locker room in about ten minutes! For locker room lighting, we used a clip-on light with a bare 60 watt light bulb (you can see it on the lockers in the background). The key source was a florescent worklight with 1/2 CTO gel gaff taped to the lamp. No KinoFlos on this shoot. This “commercial” had a zero budget thanks to my friends at Fastec for letting me play around with the camera system.

If you are wondering about pricing, this camera can be rented for about $500/day and you can buy one for around $20k. A Phantom may shoot better pictures, but the rental on one is $2,500/day or you could buy one for $150k! Do not quote me no these prices, you can ask Fastec directly by clicking here.

I really wanted to shoot this spot to prove that a very expensive hi-speed Phantom is not necessary for doing this sort of work, as long as 720p HD is enough. When shooting this sort of stuff for the web or even broadcast television, the Fastec Imaging low-budget HiSpec cameras may be the perfect solution.

I will post my version of the Paul Rabil 111 MPH Maverik Lacrosse commercial at the bottom of this page. The following video below is the actual commercial shot (with a big budget for sure) by Maverik using a hi speed camera system. Watch this video first, so you can see what inspired Dave and I to get out and shoot our own version with Dylan.

I am not the only one out shooting spoofs on this great commercial spot. Watch the video below for an attempt to imitate the look and feel of the real commercial. I loved the sweat stains!

At some point, these high speed cameras will become more available for almost anyone who wants to shoot at fast frame rates. The above YouTube video was inspired by the very well shot and attention stirring professional lacrosse advertisement. I am looking forward to see what people do with these cameras when the price drops.

Now, here is my version of the Paul Rabil Maverik commercial. Dave, Dylan and I shot this entire thing in a couple hours and I edited it using Final Cut Pro. I used the Eureka “Vapor Across” transition for the white flashes. I made a few changes to the shots and enhanced the sound a bit to match the white flashes. The last few fast action shots at the end of my version were shot at 718 FPS, but I speed them up in post 2,000 percent to get them back to normal real-time speed!

Be sure to download the video in the links at the bottom of this page to view the commercial spot on your computer screen at full resolution 720p HD. The video will play much smoother off your hard drive. These Fastec Imaging cameras are silky smooth when it comes to slow motion playback.

This video is also available on Vimeo. Click Here to view it.

Back by popular demand… I talk to a camera, introduce a cool TV subject, shrink myself down into a little box in the lower right corner of the screen and explain what is going on.

I work in sports television using sick equipment. Using the insane television gear is often the best part of my job!

I hop on camera at Fenway a few minutes early to make sure all my gear is working properly before the game. I am paid to follow the action and I need help to do it. The equipment must be dialed in and balanced correctly so I can lock onto fast moving objects. Most importantly, the video engineers in the truck must properly control the camera. I can’t do it by myself!

A few months ago, I was hired by COX communications to shoot a behind the scenes video of what it takes to get multi-camera live coverage of college basketball on the air. I normally operate a camera with this crew covering the action for regional television on ESPN or Big East college sports television.

The company is a big fan of my video blogs and asked me to create the mini-documentary in the same style I capture for fun on my website!

I made the suggestion that I shoot with the Canon 5dmk2 DSLR. I needed to shoot run-and-gun, with a single camera and be a one man crew. I found the DSLR to work very well in low light and the small form factor was easy to move around. I used a single Bogen mono pod for stability and tracking shots. I used only one lens, the Canon 16mm-35mm f2.8. I shot in manual mode and controlled exposure using the dial on the back of the camera. I tried to keep the ISO under 1600.

All audio was captured with a Rode video shotgun mic. This video was shot before the Canon 5dmk2 firmware upgrade, so I had to run the camera in auto audio gain with no metering. The sound is ok, not great. But keep in mind that it was just me, with the single DSLR to capture as much as I could. I asked all the questions and gathered all the footage.

The truck we used on this game is standard definition. It shoots 4:3 with Ikegami HL-59 hand held cameras and Ikegami HL-387 hard cameras with Canon and Fujinon box lenses. We use all Vinten pan heads. Cox also has a high definition truck for sports and is building an even larger HD truck with Sony HDC series cameras.

We also set a DVD to record the entire game with the director’s track. You will hear Mike Narracci calling the shots during the live broadcast towards the end of the video. Using multi-camera editing in windows on the screen helps to show you just how much is going on during the production.

Best part for me was storming the court with all the fans at the end of the game. I had the Canon 5dmk2 high up in the air on the mono pod!

Please post any questions below using the comment section of this page. I will try to answer them soon! Special thanks to John Parris, Ray Lepre, the Cox crew and editor Anthony Finucane.

You can read the Cox Sports blog with additional information be clicking here. If you want to see this truck set up from my point of view (using the ContourHD wearable HD camera) click here for the video blog.

I met a bunch of people whom I had only known using social media like Twitter or my website. I was happy to place the @twitterID with a face. Many great individuals around the world and I found this NAB to be very valuable to build up relationships with people in the trade.

I still have one day left to chat tripods and television (Wednesday), so if you are in Vegas, please swing by the Vinten booth in the Central Hall for a quick hello. If you are interested in a new tripod, I would love to demonstrate the perfect balance feature on the Vision series pan head.

I edited a real rough video blog of my experience around the NAB event and tried to highlight equipment that I was interested in learning more about. I used my Sony SR11 with the Sony V1 wireless lav mic system. You will notice that I lost the mic clip early on, so I had to get creative attaching the thing! I will shoot Wednesday as well speaking with the Letus guys and a few other companies making excellent equipment for television and filmmakers. Special thanks to my buddy TJ for his help the first day.

Video blog sponsored by Vinten.

Philip Bloom is not in this video because he became very ill whilst in Vegas. Hope you feel better Mr. Bloom!

I have just finished setting up the Boston Garden to cover Bruins NHL hockey this afternoon. After the game, we strike the television OB truck and I drive back home. I then pack all my gear to catch a flight out of Logan Airport Sunday morning non-stop to Las Vegas.

I am not going to gamble. At least not at a casino… I am going to gamble with some serious cash buying into a new camera system. Digital cinema, broadcast HD, high-speed…. not certain yet. Or maybe I will hold onto my money and just wait.

This will be my second NAB. Last year, I had a great time at the convention chatting with people I met through my website or Twitter working at the Vinten and Letus Booth. I got to stand behind products and people who I have a great amount of respect for. I created videos for Vinten to showcase their new products and I had my laptop with me to show off the “Letus Look“.

This year’s NAB will be very similar. On Monday through Wednesday next week, I will be mostly in the Vinten booth. Vinten is my NAB 2010 sponsor and I am honored to be representing them. I use Vinten products everyday to earn a living and I was excited to work for them and represent their quality products. I was discovered by Vinten a few years ago when I posted a positive article about the Vinten Vector 70 pan head to the internet. I use this super smooth, perfectly balanced, and very responsive fluid head to track high speed objects in my broadcast sports coverage.

Take a look at the Video below to see some of my work at Fenway Park in Boston.

I will have a Sony HDR-SR11 with a Sony UWP-V1 wireless mic system to capture what I think is cool at NAB. I am planning on wondering around the floor interviewing people and getting some information onto my website for those who could not make it to the event. I will also be posting some video to my site from the Vinten stand as well talking about some new stuff they have for 2010. I will edit at the stand on my Mac Book Pro using Final Cut Pro and hope to upload the content on event WiFi or at the hotel after hours.

I will also spend some time with Letus, JAG35, Kessler Crane, Zacuto, KinoFlo, LitePanels, 3Ality 3DTV, Vision Research, Fletcher Chicago and BH Video. If you are interested in seeing some footy I have shot using equipment from these companies, just let me know. I may borrow an iPad just for this purpose!

I am looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting the Twitter tweeps I chat with daily. Speaking of Twitter, that will be my main form of communication all week, so keep an eye on my feed @tomguilmette. My Sunday night, Monday night and Wednesday night plans are not firmed up, but I am attending the Vinten party on Tuesday night in the Voodoo Lounge for sure.

In other news, I have a Kessler Crane CineSlider with ElektraDrive and Oracle motion controlled time lapse demo unit and have tested it out. Amazing product, but I have not had enough time to create a video review yet. I will be chatting much more about this innovative and unique device after NAB!

I have used the Letus Extreme, Elite and Ultimate 35mm lens adapters. I use them almost everyday in the Boston area for broadcast television, features for sports and sit down interviews for documentaries. I am very happy with them and until now, I had never tried the Letus Mini.

I borrowed a Mini from a friend to test with my Sony HDR-SR11 AVCHD camcorder. I used only one lens, the Nikon 55mm f1.2, full manual. I mounted the adapter on a Vinten Vision 3 tripod and used spring number 3 for balance. I did not use any rod support system. I did not need it in this set up.

Many of you who read my web page would ask the obvious question… why not just use an HD DSLR camera to shoot this type of stuff?

Well, my answer is simple. Use an HD SLR if you own one. You can shoot in 1080p full raster, different frame rates, and use the expensive image stabilizing auto focus “L” series glass. But if you already own a small HD camcorder and do not want to spend more money on another camera body, then buy the Letus Mini. You get what you pay for. This adapter is a baby Letus Extreme. Built to last with solid metal and includes super sharp optics.

Many of you may have a few manual lenses sitting around in the attic collecting dust. If you want to get the shallow depth of field “filmic” look in your home videos or possibly professional images, the Letus Mini might be the answer for the long run.

I still recommend a full sized Letus adapter if you are operating a larger camera like the HVX 200 or the PMW-EX1, but the Letus Mini is perfect for the smaller “handycams”.

I did a review on the Jag35PRO adapter almost a year ago, and I love it for its price. You can watch the JAG35PRO video here and read the detailed blog here. It works and many people are shooting great content with a Jag adapter. But, there are no mirrors or prisms inside the Jag to flip the image. The JAG35PRO that I tested was made from plastic and the adapter was light hungry. I found the vibrating motor to be a bit fiddly as well.

The Letus Mini is also much sharper than the JAG35PRO in my tests with the same Nikon lens. The Letus Mini preformed quite well in fading light and even with its solid build, I found it easy to move around without support rods.

I shot tonight during golden hour in one of my favorite places. I have shot video blogs at this stream before, including the JAG35PRO video, and I never get tired of it. The changing seasons in New England always presents something new for me to shoot. And when the sun is setting, the shadows get long and the place is blasted with orange beautiful light.

Having trouble viewing this video on my site? Try VIMEO instead by clicking here.

Please feel free to post any questions or comments below.

You can get more information on the Letus Mini and order it at a new lowered price at Letus Direct.

I am about 80 percent television technology guru and 20 percent sports fan at the moment. I love using the top of the line high definition camera equipment that costs more than my house. I get pulled deeper into the job when a newer camera is given to me or I see a Phantom high-speed or 3D camera entering the game. Sports is a breeding ground for new television tech and I am on the top of the wave. The problem is, I’m shooting the wrong subject matter! I want to be 50 percent television technology and 50 percent natural history documentary creator.

I’m not complaining, but I’m defiantly not living my dream!

I work atop the left field roof at Fenway Park covering the Boston Red Sox. The perch is on the fifth level and it is the most exposed position in the entire ball park. I track a mating pair of red tailed hawks as they search for food and build a nest. I watch storms move in from the West. I am the first to see lightning and the first to run from the roof when I witness the buildings around me getting struck. That part is fun.

But I am at Fenway to cover a baseball game, not in Africa waiting for an animal to appear at a water hole.

I am one of 10 cameras inside the ballpark that bring the action into your living room and we are documenting sports history. I am paid to track the ball through the play and lock onto players in the dugout or on the field as the announcers talk about them. I have shot nearly 800 games.

Take a look at this ten minute video blog I shot over the summer of 2009 from the $100,000 Sony HDC-910 broadcast HDTV camera with 75x Canon telephoto zoom lens. You will understand why I often stand behind the camera at the ball park wishing I were covering wildlife in the middle of nowhere… with the same camera.

My director, Mike, gives me a lot of freedom as a camera operator as I shoot the game. I must thank him for letting me try new things and shoot stuff other than what is happening on the field.

Video footage courtesy of New England Sports Network.

Hey, I’m back on the grid for a minute borrowing someone’s wireless…

Right now, it is -1F or -18C for you metric folks. Earlier today, I shot some footage for fun about a half mile off a mountain road in northern New Hampshire. I wanted to see how the Canon 5dmk2 would react to the cold, especially the batteries. I was not surprised when my Vinten Vision 10AS gummed up with the frigid temperature and the Canon batteries only lasted about half the time I was use to.

But this was cold. Some of the coldest temperatures I have ever shot in and with a windchill that ripped right through my heavy clothing. I found that even the most basic functions, like removing a lens cap, was a pain (it froze on the lens). The only thing that would have been worse, would be if weather moved in. But it was a crystal clear day, with a brisk winds. I was thinking how much better things would be if I had ski goggles on!

As many of you know, I am working on an Astro-Timelapse project. Over the last few weeks, I have captured some amazing stuff. In fact, when I watch the ten second or so image sequences, I get so excited that I want to skip sleep all together and set up another remote wilderness timelapse!

One thing to know, shooting astro-timelapses during the winter months of New England is not easy. I have scrapped using stepper motor dollies and panning/tilting motors because it is so painfully difficult. I have mad respect for all of you who brave the cold and do something you love despite feeling very uncomfortable.

Three things I have learned over the past week:

1. Do not use the exhaust from a generator piped toward the camera lens as a heater. This will leave a greasy and oily residue on the outer element and could foul up the lens and the camera! I tried and failed!
I have used a hair dryer set to low mounted on a c stand powered by the genny to warm the lens with excellent results.

2. A great way to acclimatize your camera and lens as you travel to a freezing cold night timelapse location is to mount it to the roof rack as you drive. This method has saved me frost and condensation because the dry cold air rushing past the lens and camera does something to help! Yea…really. It works for me! I use a Bogen magic arm and leave the lens cap on. Of course, safety chain the camera to the roof rack in case the magic arm loosens up! I am not responsible for lost or frozen Canon 5dmk2s…

3. Canon batteries seem to have about half the life when using in temperatures around 0F. Unless you keep them warm, they will not provide power all through the night. Even two of them in the Canon grip. I have started using a small, very quite Honda 1000i generator. Not just to provide heat for the anti-frost/fog lens warmer, but to provide power to the camera.

I feel bad in advance for the poor sucker who will someday become the highest bidder in an eBay auction for my used 5dmk2….

Here are a few screen grabs from my last astro-timelapses. I am going to start placing more recognizable structures in the foreground and avoid using all trees. I plan on shooting at night this weekend at a New Hampshire farm. I have gotten permission from the owners, now I just have to pick a clear night.

You can have a little fun with moonlight when the moon is just below the horizon. When you set the Canon 5dmk2’s white balance to 5600K, you get a red glow. If you set the camera to 3200K, you get a blue glow. My naked eye could barely see this light, but what I could see looked like it was blue. See the pictures below.

3200K White Balance. This is the color temperature for indoor light or tungsten light. You get a close-to-real-life blue look to the sky.

5600K White Balance. This looks almost like a sunset. I really like setting the camera to “daylight” color temperature to get this effect.

Oh and one last thing, I was visited by a UFO while sitting in my car. This is the only picture I could snap off. The ugly and slimy fellow stole my microwave!

The Astro-Timelapse Project will be complete by Fall 2010, perhaps earlier. I am not planning on showing any of the footage until the project is complete. I have a composer creating an original music score for the piece. With all this hype, this thing better be good!

I have been blogging up a storm about this little camera and I have received a ton of emails about it. I have been asked several times by people to post footage from inside a building. How will the camera react to the low light and different light color temperatures?

I mounted the ContourHD 720p camera to my head (using a miner’s head lamp strap and light) and walked right into the workplace looking for TJ Powers. He is hard to track down these days now that he got his promotion.

When watching this video, take a look at the CMOS jelly effect, it is very obvious. Also, this little 720p camera does not do well in low light. I am looking forward to testing the new 1080p version of this camera in similar situations. If it works out and looks good in low light I could go undercover for Dateline NBC!

Notice that as I enter rooms with outdoor light streaming through the windows, the camera maintains a 3200K white balance. The camera really is quite intelligent.

All audio was recorded with the 720p ContourHD built-in mic. Sorry about the music, but it was getting late and I am not feeling well at the moment.

Yes, this TV station bought four Vinten Vision 10 AS tripods!