Must-Have Gear for Handheld Video
- Handheld video stabilizer
- Shotgun microphone
- Portable LED light
- Huge memory card
- Sling-pack camera bag
- Mirrorless Camera Accessories You Need Right Now
- Plan a Solid Video Shoot with These Pre-Production Tips
- How To Shoot Quality Video Footage
- 4 Must-Have Accessories for Shooting Video
- Beginner's Advice for Using a Gimbal
- Tips for Better DSLR Video
photo by molchanovdmitry via iStock
I love that our modern digital cameras have amazing video capabilities in addition to their superb still imaging. Many of us may not have ever thought too much about shooting handheld video before but now that we have the ability, we should all be looking at adding video to our digital repertoire.
Since video is motion pictures, it makes sense for us to try to have our camera free to move about, too. Certain gear for handheld video will help make us more mobile and make that mobility usable for creating viewable handheld videos.
photo by Renphoto via iStock
What do you need for handheld video? Whether shooting video with a DSLR or shooting video with a mirrorless camera, there are few items that will definitely assist us in how to improve handheld video. Here are some great options of gear for handheld that I found:
Obviously, while proper technique is absolutely vital for great handheld video, using some of these accessories will give you options for techniques you may not have without them.
3-Axis Angled Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer from Ikan
When Steadicam first came out in the 1970s and saw widespread use in the 1980s for film and television, it revolutionized the industry for mobile cinematography. While Steadicam is an impressive and expensive brand name product, you can get results that increase the steadiness of your own handheld video productions by means of a gimbal.
The Horizon Pro 3-Axis Angled Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer from Ikan is an electronically balanced 3-axis gimbal that will smooth out most of your handheld video shots with modern DSLR and mirrorless camera rigs weighing up to about 7 pounds. It’s also relatively inexpensive making it a good fit for many serious videographers.
Being a 3-axis gimbal is an important aspect of how to shoot handheld video, since it dampens movement up and down, side to side, and yawing or pivoting. It comes from Ikan which makes and sells their own videography accessories for serious video cinematographers. Being their own manufacturer, they can offer extremely well designed gear for reasonable prices.
Editor's Tip: If you have a GoPro, you can easily use it as a handheld camera with The Handler Grip. This official GoPro accessory is just $30, yet gives you the functionality to do some selfies, record vlog-style videos, and give viewers your perspective as you shoot photos and videos. This grip floats, has a quick-release base for rapidly switching out mounts, and has a bright orange cap so you can easily spot it in the water. It's an ideal accessory for adventure-minded individuals that don't want to pay an arm and a leg to make their camera more functional!
Rode VideoMic Pro
Shotgun style microphones are an excellent choice for shooting video with a DSLR or mirrorless camera handheld because it mounts directly to the camera and points in the direction of what’s being filmed.
I like the Rode VideoMic Pro for its compact size and excellent sensitivity, being just under 6 inches and 3 ounces and having a frequency response of 40 Hz to 20 kHz in a supercardioid pickup pattern.
What that all means for you and your handheld video is that you will capture excellent audio along with gimbal smoothed video. While some photographers may be under the impression that their fine camera has a good enough mic for serious video, the reality of the matter is that we need better mics for the highest quality video productions. Thankfully, they’re not very expensive, so it is a no brainer, more or less, to add one to our handheld video gear.
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Aputure Amaran AL-MX LED Light
Next order of business is to light up our handheld video shoots with portable lighting equipment such as the Aputure Amaran AL-MX LED Light which is hardly bigger than a man’s wallet.
Handheld video has its own set of logistical problems, how to get enough light on the subject is an important one to handle. Handheld, portable, cool operating, battery powered LED lights are among the best alternatives for how to improve handheld video.
These lights are very small and lightweight, the face is about credit card sized and it weighs about 10 ounces. Their color output is variable from 2800K to 6500K so you can seamlessly blend the on camera light with ambient lighting. The built-in battery will power the cool temperature LED bulbs for about 30 minutes per charge.
ProGrade Digital 325GB Memory Card
In order to effectively capture high quality handheld video in the field, we want to use the best video capture mode our camera has, but that takes up a lot of card memory, so we want to have a very high capacity memory card.
CFExpress is the memory card choice for most of the higher end prosumer and professional digital cameras due to their fast read and write speeds and their near indestructibility. An excellent example of a high capacity CFExpress memory card to use during our handheld video shoots is the ProGrade Digital 325GB Memory Card that is also backwards compatible with XQD cards using cameras that have had the proper firmware update. With 1500MB/s read/write speeds, this card will be able to keep up with your high quality video mode recording.
Freelance™ Tactical Sling-Pack
Since you’re out shooting handheld video, you need something to carry all your gear for handheld video. The sling-pack style of camera bags is secure as well as being easy and quick to get into and out of for your gear.
Hazard 4® makes a fantastic series of tactical bags that are very durable, offer great equipment protection, and are easy to use. The Freelance™ Tactical Sling-Pack is small enough to be very comfortable while large enough to hold all your handheld video gear such as lights, batteries, and filters.
Now, you’re all set to go out and capture some great handheld video with your new DSLR or mirrorless camera.
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