Before You Do Your Next Gripper Close Video

[richcottrell]

I was just looking at another gripper close video and I started thinking... what are the hardest parts of filming one?

I have never filmed one, but I make my living as a television camera operator shooting professional sports.

From my uneducated POV, having never shot a gripper close video, It seems to me the two things that always seem harder to shoot are:

A) the stamp on the bottom of the CoC or Tetting gripper, and

B) the actual shot of the gripper being 100% closed.

The close is an action shot, and sometimes it is hard to see this when the gripper is even in your own hand, but...

Stamps on the bottom... these shots could easily be done better and faster!

Part of the problem with filming these stamps is you are looking at something that is silver on silver, and unless you were allowed to put some paint on these letters/numbers, the only thing that can help you or hurt you is the lighting.

That can get complicated... so lets look at a simple solution.

First consider these things that make this shot of the stamp either difficult to get right, or time consuming:

1) the camera is in AutoFocus

2) normally one person is holding the camera while one person is holding the gripper. Even if the same person is holding both, the distance between them keeps changing so the camera is always trying to figure out what to focus on. They are also both moving in space so the camera is constantly trying to find focus.

3) Even without autofocus, when your shooting something close up, even a change as small as 1/8 of an inch between the camera and subject can be the difference between a shot that is in focus and a shot that is out of focus.

Here is my simple solution in a few steps [and yes, this works with the iPhone as well]

1) Leave the camera in Autofocus

2) Before you even start shooting the video, set the gripper down on a table or other flat surface. [the less clutter is better]

Ideally, you will have one person to operate the camera, and one to close the gripper.

3) Now get that shot of the stamp first.

Get the camera and zoom out as wide as it gets.

Do not zoom in to get the shot, but instead move the camera in as far as you can and fill the frame up with the shot of the stamp.

Your camera's auto focus will eventually realize your trying to shoot something up close to the lens and it should stop hunting for focus.

You might still have to tweak where the camera is to get the stamp into sharp focus, so now move the camera slowly.

Depending on your camera, you might find you will have to move the camera back a little to have the stamp fall into focus.

Or you might have more room to move the camera in closer to get an even larger image of the stamp recorded.

If your able to rest some of the camera on the table as well, you will also eliminate most of the image vibration.

4) Once you have the camera on that perfect shot of the stamp, your camera and gripper are ready.

When your grip monster is ready he/ she gives the signal, you start recording the video, only now you will get the shot of the stamp right away.

You get a perfect image right from the start of which gripper will be closed, and once you move the camera back to the wide shot of the person taking the gripper off the table, the camera should find focus fairly fast.

No more “did you get it?’ “can you see it?”, because you know you have that shot before you even start recording.

[jchapman]

You can also pack a little chalk into the stamp to give it a white against silver contrast.

[ultimatemk309]

Any tips on getting the camera(phone) to focus if you have it set stationary?

[acorn]

The other big one is shoot from below angled up. Otherwise the setting hand always obscures the set.