The video is Priority one!

[Skip Talbot]

The recording issue is one of the reasions I'm going to try using a large harddrive camera this year. I'm just going to let it record the entire chase, that I way I won't have to worry whether or not its recording. I'm also going to try and tweak my software to produce audio alerts if the camera is not recording.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Fortunately for me I have been able to remind myself about the recording issue and have never missed something big. The challenging part for me is to not let my big mouth get in the way of the storms audio. Ive always been a vocal person deeply driven by my passion for the chase, and its a hard thing to contain.

Only 1 more month....

 

[Dan Robinson]

It's kind of ironic about the audio issue. I keep quiet 99% of the time as that is what I prefer - but of nearly all video I've sold, the few seconds where I'm talking is what ends up getting into the production. It's a balance - you want some 'pristine' shots with natural sound, but some brief, relevant commentary is OK every once in a while, as it makes the footage interesting for producers.

 

[Paul Hadfield]

Even though my video has not been professional quality, video is video regardless and i've found that to keep the video unit continuously attached to the tripod is key to being one less thing to worry about. Per the picture, I also keep the legs as retracted as possible for ease of movement and so I can quickly stow the whole unit flat on the backseat. If you are going to run stationary for awhile, consciously position the subject left of center or just out of frame instead of center so that it moves across or you'll only get half the scene. The lower stance also adds drama from a worm's eye perspective. Challenge is dealing with foliage when it is up. This also makes shooting from the hood or roof manageable.

 

[Darren Addy]

The thing that's been killing me (with still photography) is tripods. A lot of the time, I don't have proper time to set up a tripod, and a tripod is occasionally required for the best shot. I find myself reluctantly flipping to 800ISO and clicking off a ton of photos in the hope that one of them won't be motion blurred. Not the optimal method by a long shot.

Think of this as the anti-monopod. Instead of pushing down, you pull up while stepping on the washer. I think I'd use a discarded platter out of a hard drive as the "washer" and put one at standing level and another to put under my knee at kneeling/eye level. I'm gonna make one and see how it works.

 

[Shane Adams]

I simply look to make sure the tape's actually moving.

 

[Paul Hadfield]

The thing that's been killing me (with still photography) is tripods. A lot of the time, I don't have proper time to set up a tripod, and a tripod is occasionally required for the best shot. I find myself reluctantly flipping to 800ISO and clicking off a ton of photos in the hope that one of them won't be motion blurred. Not the optimal method by a long shot.

Try this... Holding the camera with your right hand, take your left hand and put it on your right shoulder. Rest the camera on your elbow and slightly pull your arm/elbow towards you so that the muscle contractions make your arm stiff. Simultaneously lean into the viewfinder and with the help of your neck muscles, you become locked in place. Picked this up off a local news photographer and it works surprisingly well if nothing else is available for support.

(edit: and without meaning to steer too far off from the original subject, this technique could easily be applied to hand held video)

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

I have made many mistakes in the "heat of the moment" ... Often with the urge to build a self-kicking machine afterwards.

The most PAINFUL of such "camera" screw-ups was on 9-22-2006 in central MO. An E-F2 tornado was in front of me, by 1/2 mile at 1/4 mile wide north of St James.

I had my HD (Sony FX1) with the tornado (tagging debris) in frame and looking pretty. I zoomed into one of the 4x8 lumber plywoods sheets flipping, then zoomed out and BANG - Huge power flash with a shower of sparks - right in the left of the frame, as the power poles went down up the road. I was in my glory, and on the top of the world, being on the supercell since it was a TCU field and not producing UNTIL I after had my camera on it.

The real "kill-joy" came while sitting down to my steak at outback and reviewing the video (or trying to). I saw the wall cloud, then many shots of my leg, the floor of my car, the seat ... Then, saw the shot rise up and just before seeing the tornado, video stops and I see the seat of the car, bag of chips again.

I realized at that moment, nearly vomiting my steak up ... That I was so hopped up on adrenaline that I saw the tornado in my viewfinder all in it's focused HD glory, but not the record-indicator saying "STBY" instead of "REC" the whole time!

Speaking of "stuck in tunnel vision" ... Basically when I was supposed to record, I was on pause, and when I was supposed to be on pause, I was recording. All I got was the start and tail end of the event, and some audio of me swearing and talking to myself with the car seat / bag of Doritos.

Later on, I was offered a LARGE sum for any video of the tornado ... Ofcourse, I had to say "Nope, did not get it." (did not want to make a fool out of myself).

To this day ... This still HURTS.

Please don't do this yourself = Make SURE you see the red "REC" indicator in the view finder!!!!!

 

[Greg Campbell]

Think of this as the anti-monopod. Instead of pushing down, you pull up while stepping on the washer. I think I'd use a discarded platter out of a hard drive as the "washer" and put one at standing level and another to put under my knee at kneeling/eye level. I'm gonna make one and see how it works.

The trick works fairly well. Try a long carriage bolt too; 6 inches or even more. The extra lever arm length increases camera stability.

OTOH, there's no substitute for a good tripod. For fast setup, use a quick-release head and several QR plates. (Ebay has decent Bogen compatible plates for ~$5 each). Attach a plate to each still/video camera you have. You can whip the tripod out of the back seat, seperate the legs, and plonk a camera onto it within seconds. If the extended tripod is too long to fit internally you can build a roof carrier from PVC pipe.

-Moo

 

[Bill Hark]

I can certainly sympathize as I have made a number of mistakes "in the heat of the moment" over the years. When watching a big tube, it is easy to forget to make sure "record" is actually on and the focus is on infinity. It is also easy to leave focus in manual and then forget to focus for infinity. Video can look great on a small video screen yet be blurred on a regular screen especially with high def. Even framing can be screwed up. You may not notice those powerlines or bush that is blocking part of the frame that can be easily fixed by a few steps in one direction. I've also gotten great sharp video of a smashed bug or raindrop from a dashca, after I forgot to set the focus.

I think trying to do both stills and video makes a difficult situation worse. One or the other (likely both) will suffer. Also, be careful swapping tapes and memory cards during the event and after downloading. Nothing worse than taping over a great tornado. Recently, I discovered that I was missing a whole day of pics from a July 2008 vacation to Savannah Georgia. Apparently, I completed one memory card and swapped another. In my rush to download pics some earlier pics of a house for my mother, I forgot to download one day of pics including some cool cemetary pics. Later, I downloaded the rest of my Savannah pics and erased the cards. It was only by accident that I never erased the pics from the cemetary which I found a few days ago while cleaning my laptop bag. If I had found the card earlier, I would have assumed I had already downloaded the cemetary pics and would erased them.

Bill hark

 

[Verne Carlson]

For a tripod that's always deployed and ready to use I've had good luck with a Bogen lighting clamp and tripod head screwed onto the luggage rack on top of the car. I clamp it to the outside roof just before initiation and then when I need to video I use the whole car as the tripod legs.

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

Fumbling with the tripod (especially in the heat of the moment) is the worst.

When the chase gets hot, I simply have my tripod opened (legs extended) and leave the camera on it / quick release as there is no time at that point to fumble.

I just extend the legs and set it down and shoot ... No need to be "neat" at that point.

 

[Dan Robinson]

If you have a van, SUV or wagon, you might be able to do a simple mod to allow storage of tripods fully-extended:

http://wvlightning.com/blog/april1007a.shtml

This has helped tremendously with setup and takedown times in the field.

 

[John Farley]

And of course, always have the batteries charged, or have spare ones. I now carry spares for my SLR and automatic photo cameras, but do not have one for my video camera (which is a little outdated and I am thinking of replacing at this point) - and that cost me last June 4 when I got 30 seconds of video of a 20-minute tornado. And I would not have gotten even that much if the tornado had not lasted so long - long enough for the battery to rebound from its original crash and get another 10 or 15 seconds of video 10 minutes or so after the initial crash. At least I got some OK snapshots, though in the very low light near sunset under a massive supercell, that was a little tough, too.

 

[Paul Harrop]

I am a TV station chaser and staff photojournalist. News video is what I do, and storm chasing is a passion I am lucky enough to get paid to do. When I am chasing, I navigate, shoot, maintain the live feed and do phone reports. I have a reporter that drives me. Aside from relaying ground-truth information, my main video priority is to make sure we get it on live, but secondly it is to make sure we have it on tape on both my dash cam and my "big" XDCam. I, just as the next guy, have 'double clicked' and not rolled on something I needed. The biggest thing I can tell you is to just make sure that you stay focused; not just your camera - but your head. Watch your timecode. If it is not advancing, you are not recording. Once you get past actually recording, the next big issue I would raise is natural sound. 3 chips and HDV is great, but if your nats mic is crap, then it might as well be on a home video camera. Buy a nice mic. That does not necessarily mean super-expensive, but spend at least a few hundred dollars. If you can, shoot with headphones on so you know what your nats are. Your video will be far more valuable to producers if the nats are crisp, clear and punchy. There is nothing I despise more than someone screaming "OMG" to the point of overmodulation on storm video.