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Smartphone Gravity Stabilizer Rail DIY Construction and User Guide By Lynn Packer, May 2015 How does a reporter—who was not trained to shoot and edit professional news video—create professional-‐looking news stories with a smartphone, a device not designed for electronic newsgathering (ENG)? Well, reporters can learn how to shoot. And smartphones can be modified to close the gap with pro-‐grade camcorders. My workshop and manual cover the training part. This user guide explains ways to wring better video and audio out of smartphones. So, what makes video look amateurish, and unprofessional? • Unintentional, shaky, jittery camera movement. • Intentional, excessive, panning, tilting and zooming. • Unnecessary change of position while shooting, such as walking. • Poor framing/composition. • Failure to shoot sufficient wide, medium, close-‐up and cutaway shots. • Bad exposure, focus, and white balance. This guide deals with the first three items on the list: Unwanted, unwarranted and unnecessary camera movement. And it describes the DIY construction of a gravity stabilizer bar or rail (length of steel bar with holes in it) that could help some video journalists better control their smartphone cameras. (See page 5.) Mounting a smartphone on a tripod and similar devices is the best way to stabilize the built-‐in camera. Tripods should be used whenever possible. When covering many stories, especially breaking news, there’s not enough time to set up a tripod. Most if not all shots are hand-‐held. The camera operator’s body becomes a human tripod—or bipod, too often a wobbly one at that. Step one: stabilize your body. Keep your feet at least shoulder width apart. Hold and steady the smartphone with both hands while keeping elbows tight to your ribcage, locking your arms in position. Concentrate on keeping your body motionless. Breathe in and hold your breath just before beginning the shot and continue holding it for the duration of the shot. Or until you turn blue in the face. Breathe slowly and carefully during long takes. Shoot video like you’re shooting a rifle. When I was in the service the U.S. Army was between standard rifles. So I was trained on the M14 and, later, the lighter M16. We were taught the obvious: The more stable your body the more accurate the shot. Standing, like most of us do when shooting most news footage, is the least stable position. But it’s also he easiest position to assume. Kneeling yielded far more accuracy. Sitting was somewhat better than kneeling. The prone position, with elbows tight to the ground, was the best. The lesson for camera operators: Stand as steady as possible to minimize shakiness. Lean against a fixed object, like a wall, when possible. There’ s no law against shooting news footage from the knelling, sitting and prone positions when conditions permit. Step two: Stabilize your camera. Cutting to the chase: Smartphones, for ENG work, are too light and too hard to grip. No handles. No heft. When I first became a reporter—a mobile journalist—in 1968, I shot 16 mm film with a Bell & Howell, key-‐wind, “Filmo” camera. Filmos, were based on a design from the ‘20s, and weighed about 8 pounds, almost as much as an M16 rifle. It’s 31 times heavier than an iPhone, which weighs a svelte 4.1 ounces. The Bell & Howells were heavy to lug around, but their mass really helped stabilize hand-‐held shots. (Tripods were used very infrequently to steady Filmos. I only used on with my extreme telephoto lens.) Smartphones need a lot more mass and handles. Adding them is fairly easy. It’s the primary purpose of my gravity stabilization bar described later in this guide. Besides my dirt-‐cheap, do-‐it-‐yourself stabilizing rail with handles there are many excellent products on the market that make it easier to grip and control smartphones. The first of four types is simply a frame or holder with a single handle. The single-‐handle rigs provide the minimum level of control. Don’t leave home without one. Hold the handle with one hand while steadying that hand or the side of the smartphone with the other with elbows held tight to your ribcage. 2 The second, and I think the best category of rigs on the market, are those with two handles. The iOgrapher, for example has two handles as well as two cold shoe mounts on top for lights and microphones, a lens mount, plus a threaded tripod screw hole on the bottom which can also be used to add a third cold shoe mount or to bolt on other accessories or added ballast. The iOgrapher is made out of lightweight ABS plastic which I consider a disadvantage to its heavier, metal competitors. But that drawback can be easily remedied by bolting on added weight, such as a lead bar, using that tripod mount screw hole at the bottom of the case. One of the iOgrapher’s metal (aluminum) competitors is the mCAM case. It’s heavier, but it lacks true handles. The thick frame sort of serves like handles. At least it’s easier to grip than a bare-‐
naked smartphone.) If I used an mCAM rig I would screw a conventional handle into the tripod mount on the bottom and then drill and tap a 1/4-‐20 hole on the side to accept a second handle. Presto! It can have two actual handles! (Handles with 1/4-‐20 threaded studs are available on EBay.) Another mCAM plus: it comes with a 37 mm wide-‐angle lens. (Wider angle lenses, by themselves, have a stabilizing effect. It’s why GoPro cameras, which are usually used on the move, have an extreme wide-‐angle setting. And why it’s so difficult to get steady shots with a telephoto lens without a tripod.) Because the mCAM body is metal and well constructed, the end user can customize it by drilling and tapping holes for other accessories and ballast. Because of that I would probably pick an mCAM over an iOgrapher. The steadicam is the third type of stabilizing device. (Steadicam, like Kleenex, is a brand name, but I use the term to refer to all the brands that use a gimbal and counterweights and their combined mass to steady walking—tracking—shots) Several manufacturers offer smartphone steadicams. They are very cool but have very limited usefulness for electronic newsgathering. Even the mini steadicams are relatively expensive, take a lot of practice to use effectively, take up a lot of space in your accessory case, and are only needed very infrequently for news work. They’re better suited for filming movies and commercials. The fourth rig for steadying shots is the shoulder support. It replicates the look and feel of professional camcorders that are usually shot from the shoulder. Experienced news camera operators who switch to smartphones may prefer shoulder rigs. Video journalists, for the short term, would look more professional using a shoulder support. 3 But over the long term people at news scenes will get used to seeing news footage being recorded on smartphones. Big ENG news cameras do have presence. They sort of announce, “We’re here at the news scene and we’re pros.” The downside is that high visibility may alter the story being covered. And scare off some interviewees. Journalistically, less visible, more discreet and sometimes fully concealed cameras enable more authentic video. But it doesn't matter. ENG camera shrinkage will continue. The public and VJs will get over the fact it doesn’t take a large camera to capture adequate news video. We’re just at the beginning of the smartphone newsgathering revolution. Digital and Optical Image Stabilization Camera jitter can be reduced electronically with camera image stabilization, either done digitally via software or optically/mechanically in the lens or image sensor. The iPhone 6 comes with digital image stabilization and the 6-‐plus adds optical. For other iPhone users, the FiLMiC Pro app, among others, adds digital image stabilization that can be turned on or off. Because image stabilization eats battery power and because it should be turned off when using a tripod anyway, many video journalists may want to leave it off at all times. That way they’re using more of the sensor’s pixels that are otherwise reserved for stabilizing images. (Because digital stabilization throws away pixels, some cause a noticeable drop in image resolution.) Experiment with stabilization on and off. You may find you can shoot adequately steady video without any electronic stabilization. Perhaps even better. The camera’s aperture affects stability. Digital and optical stabilization mainly come into play in low light situations, when the camera’s auto exposure opens the iris to let in more light. The depth of field is reduced and the image becomes much more vulnerable to shaking and jiggling. The Packer-‐Design, Do-‐It-‐
Yourself Smartphone Mount The concept behind my smartphone rail is to add mass to the smartphone while also providing a place to mount accessories such as lights, microphones, 4 bubble levels, supplement cameras like GoPros and even more weight. (Gravity is one way to replace digital and/or optical stabilization.) For example, an M14 rifle, weighs in at about 11.5 pounds, about three pounds more than an M-‐16. During rifle training I could easily hit bulls eyes at 400 yards with the heavier M14. The lighter M16 was much less accurate at that range. It’s simple physics. Heavier objects at rest resist movement. M16s were designed for close combat, not long-‐range accuracy. (Light weight was a design priority. Bye bye wooden rifle stocks and steel parts. Hello plastic stocks and more aluminum components. Goodbye some stability.) Androids and iPhones are too light and trim for ENG work. Bulking them up with rigs like mCAMS and iOgraphers help fatten them up. In the alternative, VJs and MoJos who want to customize their own mounts can build their own smartphone gravity stabilizer bar. Parts: • Steel flat bar 1 in. wide X 12 in. long X 1/8 in. thick. (The bar weighs almost 12 oz. almost triple the weight of an iPhone.) • Options: Use a 1.5 in. wide bar to add more weight. Lengthen it to 14 in if your anticipate bolting on more stuff and it will fit in your backpack. (Longer is better to a point. More length adds weight and smoothens panning action.) • Aluminum bar could be used and is easier to cut, drill and tap but partly defeats the purpose of adding mass. • Drill ¼ in. holes as shown in diagram for using bolts and nuts to secure accessories. (These holes accommodate the use of 1/4-‐20 bolts to use with nuts.) • Drill holes using a #7 bit as shown in diagram to thread using a 1/4-‐
20 NC tap for using world-‐standard tripod mount screws. (Tap and die sets with the bit and tap are available at Lowes and Home Depot) • Buy a smartphone tripod mount adapter with a handle. (I bought a RetiCAM tripod mount with a hand grip because it’s all metal and heavier) Use the adapter by itself to mount a smartphone to the top of the bar. Use the leftover handle as one of two handles that screw into the bottom of the bar at either end. (Smartphone tripod adapters can be purchased separately without handles.) • Buy another handle. You can also make handles out of 1” round wood dowels and either use 1/4-‐20 bolt inserts to replicate commercial handles or merely use wood screws to secure them to the bar. • Purchase one or more cold shoes to bold to the bar to mount any accessories that mount with cold shoe adapters. • Purchase a bubble level to glue to the top of the bar. Or get one with a magnet. Available on eBay and Amazon. 5 Construction: Cut the flat steel bar to between 12 and 14 inches in length. Round the corners with a file. Drill handle holes 1/2 in. from both ends. Use a #7 bit and tap to 1/4-‐20 thread size if you plan to use commercial handles. Drill to 1/4 in. if you plan to use wooden handles and wood screws. The right handle is positioned so the operator can reach the video start button with his or her thumb. Some VJs may prefer putting the second handle in the middle rather than the far left. Drill and tap a 1/4-‐20 hole in the middle. It can be used to mount the bar on a tripod, to add an accessory below the bar or to bolt on additional ballast. And be prepared to add quite a bit of weight. The gravity bar, phone, handles and a couple of brackets still only weigh about a pound and a half. My guess is 2.5 to 3.5 pounds total would provide good stability. 6 Next to the center hole drill two or three 1/4 in. holes for mounting a shotgun mike. Extra holes will provide some flexibility if other accessories are mounted on the bar. Drill a 1/4 in. hole about 2-‐¾ in. from the left side of the bar for an LED light. The hole’s location may need to be adjusted depending on the size of the light. Flat steel stock at hardware stores is usually really grungy. Clean the bar with lacquer thinner, paint thinner or acetone, clean again with alcohol and then paint. Satin black paint may match the color of some of your accessories. The Biggest Winner The trend, with a few blips along the way, has been to make newsgathering equipment smaller, lighter and cheaper. And to capture increasingly higher quality video. iPhone resolution, for example, has climbed steadily from SD 240 to SD 480 to HD 720 to HD 1080 and, no doubt, soon to UHD 2160. Even though my iPhone 5 can shoot 1080, I would still shoot most news footage at 720, at least at the moment, and possibly well into the iPhone UHD era. Shooting poor video at 1080 is a lose/lose proposition. Well-‐shot video (good framing/composition, lighting, exposure, focus, stability) at 720 is win/win, producing good-‐
looking shots that don’t take up too much of the pipe. While lowering resolution may seem like a step in the wrong direction, adding weight may also, at first blush, seem like a bad idea. But it’s the price to pay for added stability. While the Packer-‐design, smartphone rail with handles more than triples the weight of an iPhone, it’s probably not enough. How much added ballast or weight is needed is largely dependent on the shooter. Video journalists should experiment and practice. I recommend adding at least another pound to reduce/dampen shake for static, hand-‐held shots. Add another two or three pounds to achieve a poor-‐man’s steadicam effect for stories that necessarily involve a lot of panning or trucking shots. I add weight with one-‐pound lead ingots. They can be bolted or taped anywhere there’s space on the rail, the nearer the camera the better. (Every mobile journalist’s tool kit should include a role of 2”-‐wide gaffer—not 7 duct—tape. Well, full rolls may take up too much space. You could roll two or three yards onto a 2” length of PVC pipe.) The small ingots can also be sourced on eBay and Amazon. The Future of Smartphones for Newsgathering It’s not just a passing fad. Like it or not video journalists armed with smartphones will continue replacing videographers at an increasing pace. There is simply too much financial pressure on television stations around the world to cut costs. There is too much pressure on newspapers to provide online video in their attempt to survive. And they’re not going to hire full-‐blown camera crews to get it. And there’s too much opportunity for entrepreneurs to create new, leaner internet video news operations that don’t have to pay big bucks for professional ENG cameras, full editing bays and live trucks when smartphones can do most of that, often just as well, sometimes better. Sadly, there has already been a loss of professionalism because of layoffs and cutbacks. It will likely get worse. The technical capability of smartphones—to shoot and edit— now vastly exceeds the skill level of most reporters who are becoming or will become mobile reporters. It will take a lot of training and practice for them to catch up. If they don’t there will be an increasing flood of amateur video posing as news footage hitting the airwaves and Internet. * * * * * 8