That weekend is a real dilemma I want to get the Sedan Nats in Houston that Sunday but the finals are on Saturday and that is a long drive. Its supposed to be over early so they can have the concert but I just don't know if I can film there drive and film the next day as well. So if I do get up there it will probably be on Friday. I've been planning on going to the Nats since May. I wish they hadn't scheduled them on the same weekend. We'll see maybe I can find someone that will go and help with the driving. If I could sleep on the way to Houston instead of drive I might be able to do it. Usually my feet will only go one day but at San Antonio I had a seat stick like the golfers use and it helped a lot and its a lot easier than lugging a chair or stool around. My camera rig is fairly large and bulky now.
There is an articulated arm that holds up my monitor/viewfinder that I added just before I went to San Antonio. Worked out great. Way more adjustable so I can keep the glare off that lcd monitor. I need to find some anti-glare film to put on that puppy as well so I don't see my face in it as much. But other than a few minor glitches it works great. That pod is on 3 legs and has a fluid coupling at the bottom. Its super smooth and easy to move. In fact I need to tighten it up just a tad. With the additional weight its even better as it acts like a flywheel once you get it moving. The arm for the monitor provides another place to grab onto the thing and that makes it better as well.
I was thinking about getting a shoulder held cam but now that I have this all put together I'm going to look at compact prosumer cams instead and just mount it on my pod. I wouldn't be able to get smoother pans or less twitching with a shoulder held. I like to use the zoom and get a nice fat image of the cars. If you try and do that without some kind of stabilization its going to shake all over the place. My legs shake and I'm old so everything else is a little twitchy as well so this is perfect for me. Add the seat stick and I have a portable platform I can sit down and film pretty much anywhere.
It works great sitting in the stands at a race as well. Just lower everything down and put the monitor down low pointing up so it doesn't bother people and go to town. I tried it out a couple of weeks ago at a dirt oval race near Dallas. Worked great got some excellent footage. The place was awful dark though. Thats why I want to upgrade to a prosumer camera to get bigger chips and better low light performance. As well as faster zoom with more speeds and a real focus ring. I hate trying to focus a camera with a joystick.
Sparx came up with a killer banner to hang on my EZ-Up when I'm at the races. I'm having some made up so I'll have them for the next time I go to film.
Griz