Human bipod?

[CamInit]

Just had this idea while bathing. ;p

It evolved from the idea of street shooting at chest or waist level using Wi-Fi remote composing and triggering. Is it feasible to hang the camera around the neck or strap around the body and use it as a support. Compose thru' the HP or tablet, then hold your breath, and remote shoot using the 2 second delay. Will this be more stable than holding up the camera using hands? This could be an alternative to the string tripod idea in the absence of a proper tripod. :think:

Did a quick google, idea don't seem to have been suggested before. I wonder if this has been explored and discussed here or elsewhere?

 

[eleveninth]

i think this might be the same concept as the string and coin technique.

 

[catchlights]

[video=youtube;hjqPuHFoqhE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjqPuHFoqhE[/video]

 

[CamInit]

The string tripod requires one to use their hands to pull upwards against gravity and maintain the tension. Might not be so easy for heavy bodies and lenses for long exposures. It is also susceptible to forwards and backwards movement. My idea is to use the human body to brace the camera and left it hanging, stabilized by adjustment of straps, body posture and breathe holding, composed and triggered by remote HP/tablet viewing. Ideally, one could take long exposures/bracketing as long as they could keep still and hold their breathe. This is the theory, but I wonder about the feasibility in practice. Will it be even better than string tripods? Hmm... :think:

 

[catchlights]

[video=youtube;EDsx3-FWfwk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDsx3-FWfwk[/video]

 

[catchlights]

[video=youtube;icKZZUKBBsI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icKZZUKBBsI[/video]

 

[CamInit]

catchlights, the issue with all the approaches in the videos is that they need you to hold using your hands as support. Most likely not work for long exposures say, longer than 5 or 10 seconds.

Heck, I think I'll try it out and see how well I can do it. If I can pull it off, it will come in handy...

 

[stuck]

catchlights, the issue with all the approaches in the videos is that they need you to hold using your hands as support. Most likely not work for long exposures say, longer than 5 or 10 seconds.

Heck, I think I'll try it out and see how well I can do it. If I can pull it off, it will come in handy...

It doesn't matter whether you hold your hands out in front of you or not. Even if you hold your breathe, your body (more specifically your muscles) will still make small tiny movements at rest to maintain muscle tone and posture. All these micro movements that you normally do not observe will show up on long exposures where the camera needs to be absolutely stable.

 

[CamInit]

It doesn't matter whether you hold your hands out in front of you or not. Even if you hold your breathe, your body (more specifically your muscles) will still make small tiny movements at rest to maintain muscle tone and posture. All these micro movements that you normally do not observe will show up on long exposures where the camera needs to be absolutely stable.

Ah... that's interesting. Not aware on the tiny muscle movements part. Will take that into account. Maybe try leaning, sitting, etc and see how it goes.
It doesn't replace the stability of a tripod of course, but I'm curious how much of an improvement it can be over existing well-known methods.
Should be fun to experiment... trying to freeze like a statue for shots...

 

[stuck]

Ah... that's interesting. Not aware on the tiny muscle movements part. Will take that into account. Maybe try leaning, sitting, etc and see how it goes.
It doesn't replace the stability of a tripod of course, but I'm curious how much of an improvement it can be over existing well-known methods.
Should be fun to experiment... trying to freeze like a statue for shots...

There will be improvement for sure. But not enough for a 5s long exposure. Some folks can handhold 1s under the right conditions, but anything above that would be superhuman!

 

[Octarine]

Ah... that's interesting. Not aware on the tiny muscle movements part.

Hold your breath, listen to your heartbeat. You will notice something Now, what will happen to a camera strapped around your neck and hanging / resting on your chest?

 

[kei1309]

Hold your breath, listen to your heartbeat. You will notice something Now, what will happen to a camera strapped around your neck and hanging / resting on your chest?

it will go "ba-thump, ba-thump"

 

[daredevil123]

In the end, if one expects to do long exposures like 5 or 10 seconds.... bring a tripod.

 

[An drew]

You can try to be a Human Tripod but not easy to master this skill.

 

[stuck]

You can try to be a Human Tripod but not easy to master this skill.

Not difficult - look around your workplace - usually a couple of them sticking around, in all shapes and sizes. Haha

 

[jtsky]

You can try to be a Human Tripod but not easy to master this skill.

:bsmilie::bsmilie:

 

[An drew]

Not difficult - look around your workplace - usually a couple of them sticking around, in all shapes and sizes. Haha

Haha so true!

 

[alwaysjerricky]

My friend suggested me this method a few months ago. I used it for taking short length videos (as I didn't want to bring along my tripod) and it seems like the videos are more or less stable. And it helps too with the IS/OS/VC on the lens.

 

[86proshooter]

Might as well place the camera on top of your friends head. :bsmilie: