Travis' videos: how did he do them?
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 7:39 am
Most of you have probably seen Travis' videos here: http://www.gpsmountaineering.com/mountaineeringvideos
Some of them are pretty harrowing! On all or most of them he seems to have the camera attached to his body or to a helmet, since his hands are obviously free for scrambling. I am thinking of rigging something like that myself and was wondering what kinds of experiences Travis as well as other climbers have had with attaching the camera to your body. I mentioned it to my brother, who has attempted something like this while snowboarding, and he said the vibrations were simply awful. But on the other hand I believe his camera is older and doesn't have any anti-vibration technology.
If this is practical, I am thinking of having a few vests made that would accept a sort of aluminum bracket at the front for mounting a small camcorder you could use while walking and keeping your hands free.
Until now, I have been using a monopod with my camcorder:
Despite appearances, I don't use it as a walking stick. I never liked walking sticks. I just shorten it up and carry it around until I want to make a shot. Then I extend it and set it in the ground and it keeps the camera pretty steady. The camera is very light weight. I can also use the monopod to hold the camera while walking, gripping it in front of me with one hand like a baton. I think it makes the movement a lot smoother than if I was just gripping the camera by itself.
I have made two short videos so far:
On San Jacinto, it got so cold near the top I had to give the monopod to a friend to carry (it wouldn't fit in my pack) and stow the camera away, so when I wanted to tape something I had pull the camera out and use it without the monopod. That's one reason it's a lot more shakey in the San Jacinto vid. Now I carry gloves with me everywhere and I'm going to sew loops into my packs so I can just hang up the camera whenever I can't carry it anymore.
But I would also like to work out some kind of hands-free way to do this as well.
Some of them are pretty harrowing! On all or most of them he seems to have the camera attached to his body or to a helmet, since his hands are obviously free for scrambling. I am thinking of rigging something like that myself and was wondering what kinds of experiences Travis as well as other climbers have had with attaching the camera to your body. I mentioned it to my brother, who has attempted something like this while snowboarding, and he said the vibrations were simply awful. But on the other hand I believe his camera is older and doesn't have any anti-vibration technology.
If this is practical, I am thinking of having a few vests made that would accept a sort of aluminum bracket at the front for mounting a small camcorder you could use while walking and keeping your hands free.
Until now, I have been using a monopod with my camcorder:
Despite appearances, I don't use it as a walking stick. I never liked walking sticks. I just shorten it up and carry it around until I want to make a shot. Then I extend it and set it in the ground and it keeps the camera pretty steady. The camera is very light weight. I can also use the monopod to hold the camera while walking, gripping it in front of me with one hand like a baton. I think it makes the movement a lot smoother than if I was just gripping the camera by itself.
I have made two short videos so far:
On San Jacinto, it got so cold near the top I had to give the monopod to a friend to carry (it wouldn't fit in my pack) and stow the camera away, so when I wanted to tape something I had pull the camera out and use it without the monopod. That's one reason it's a lot more shakey in the San Jacinto vid. Now I carry gloves with me everywhere and I'm going to sew loops into my packs so I can just hang up the camera whenever I can't carry it anymore.
But I would also like to work out some kind of hands-free way to do this as well.
