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Got this one from Eugenia vimeo.com/eugenia here at Vimeo. Sorry for the crapy sound!

1) I use two thin, stretched out rubber bands (about 2 inches when relaxed) work the best, a gossamer connection between you and the tripod
2) In general cranking the pan resistance up yields the best results.
3) The smoothest pans happen when the tension is enough that the ruuber band is stretched to 75% of it's max (about 8-10 inches) when panning.
4) The rubber band also allows the head to slowly come to stop as the band contracts after you've stopped panning.
5) You can bundle several around the pan arm on your tripod and never be without.

More no budget tutorials here: vimeo.com/album/11663

Happy Panning,
Jay Boy
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  • Stephen Lewis 3 months ago
    Sweet trick!!!
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 3 months ago
    Thank ya! Thank ya! Actually, thank Eugenia.
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  • dwyzak 3 months ago
    Your good at these jay Boy.
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 3 months ago
    Thanks man! I'm a big dork & like doin' em. I'm gettin' up at the ass crack of dawn tomarrow, to start one for a DIY dolly system.
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  • Wow....who da thunk?
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 3 months ago
    Yeah, right! Cool little trick.
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  • Alex Grenier 3 months ago
    that tripod didnt look low budget
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 3 months ago
    Ha haaaaa! That's great! No, that one is not! The one I had the camera on is the bang 'em up pod. Just got the Manfrotto & haven't had the chance to use it yet. The rubber bands are low budget. That counts... Right?
  • Alex Grenier 3 months ago
    Well I guess, but you cant really do much with just a rubber band. But cool video anyways. :-D
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  • Garrett Brown 3 months ago
    Hey man, great lil tip from Eugenia, and thanks for putting it on video. I'm assuming you filmed this with an HV20, and i was wondering what settings you used for rendering it for vimeo, cause it looks great. Thanks again!
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 3 months ago
    Thanx man! Yep HV20! Had the window open and some extra lighting in the room, which helps a lot!

    Camera settings: Just filmed at 60i, neutral (it's best to color it up & tweek it in post) and used the "Cine Mode" setting.

    Editing with Vegas Pro 8
    Project settings are as follows (everything stays the same except what's mentioned below).
    Template: HDV 1080-60i (1440x1080, 29.970fps)
    Field order: None (progressive scan)
    Rendering quality: Best
    Deinterlace method: Interpolate fields

    I applied sharpening, some saturation adjusting & some contrast adjusting, that's it.

    Render as:
    MainConcept AVC/AAC (mp4)
    Frame size: 1280x720
    Profile: Main
    Frame rate: 29.970
    Field order: None (progressive scan)
    Pix asp ratio: 1.0000
    # of reference frames: 2
    Choose variable bit rate (Max 5,000,000 & min 4,500,000)
    Audio: Sample rate is 48,000 & bit rate is 128,000

    Hit ok, save and your good to go!
  • dwyzak 3 months ago
    Didn't realise Main Concept would do HD. Been using WMV myself and it's a little pants, cheers for the tip-off, gonna give it a blast.
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 3 months ago
    Time for BIG pants!
  • Eric Anderson 2 months ago
    FYI Jay Boy... "pants" is brit for crap.
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  • Brian Boudreau 3 months ago
    Thats cool never would of thought of that.. Thanks
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 3 months ago
    No problem man!
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  • Pedro Miguel 3 months ago
    thanks Jay. Nice trick!
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 3 months ago
    Right on! Glad you liked it!
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  • Clan McCloud 3 months ago
    Big thanks to you and Eugenia for the technique.
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 3 months ago
    And a BIG thanks to you for watchin'! Glad you liked it.
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  • rastAsia 3 months ago
    Dats a priceless tip JayBoy. Thx Euginia too. Love your elaborate tutorials.. also on Remy's Shoebox. Props up!!
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 3 months ago
    Thank you Rast! I can call ya Rast, yeah? That shoebox is a
    cool effect to use. I just made another one, but it's too short. Can't focus on close ups, so I've got to get a bigger one.
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  • Alpha60 3 months ago
    That's friggen brilliant.
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 3 months ago
    Thanks friggen a lot! It's amazing how smooth the pans are using this trick.
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  • Eugenia Loli-Queru 3 months ago
    Guys, just a note, because some people who tried it can't reproduce the smoothness and they now post videos on vimeos saying that "it doesn't work". The thing is, you ALSO need a tripod with a fluid head. You can't get the smoothness you need with a stock photography tripod, as these usually don't have fluid heads.
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 3 months ago
    YES! YES! YES! Cheap tripod = cheap (not smooth) results! In with crap! Out with crap!
  • Hoop-CA, USA 3 months ago
    Just to be clear, Eugenia, I never said 'it didn't work'- I said "I was missing something"

    After re-watching this video and noting that I don't have a fluid head video tripod-after thinking back to my technique, I was not stretching the band enough---even though I am on a cheapy tpod, I am going to try it again. I appreciate everyone's friendly tips; it does help.
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 3 months ago
    Alright kids, easy does it! I think there has been multiple people with some questions on this. It's ALL MY FAULT! I forgot to mention the official Vimeo rubber band.
  • Hoop-CA, USA 3 months ago
    You need your own cable television show; you are hilarious.
    We're cool; it's all good.
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 3 months ago
    Alrighty then. Didn't know if you guys where gonna' have to put on the gloves & get into the ring. If it comes down to it, I'd like to shoot the vid on that one!!! :o
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  • stw254 2 months ago
    Nice! Thank you ELQ and JB for filming it.
  • Jay Boy's Random Cutz 2 months ago
    No problem! Glad you liked!
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  • Nicolas Bryant 2 months ago
    Thanks for the trick I really have difficulty with smooth pannings, I'll try it as soon as the sun gets out again :)
  • This works well with a good tripod. A crappy pod is not gonna' produce smooth pans, even with this trick. Glad you liked it!
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  • absolutely brilliant!
  • Thanks Oskar! I've always wanted to visit your city of Reykjavik! Beautiful place, Iceland. You lucky bastard you!!!
  • :) Oh you should.. But Reykjavik is not where you wanna be if you visit Iceland. You wanna go outside of town and see mother nature at her finest ;)

    But really, super good tip. I'll also be building a dolly soon and I loved your instructions in that video as well. Thanks a bunch!
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  • eladbari 1 month ago
    Frikkin Sweet! :]
    i like those kinda tricks :]
    i guess the faces of ppl would go weird, at first, when they see u pull out those rubber bands on set :] hehe...
  • Thanks man! It's always fun to see the looks you get when shooting out and about & using these tricks.
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  • Andrew Kufahl 17 days ago
    I move the rubber band up closer to the head. It takes a little more effort to get the pan started, but I think it produces a smoother, more controlled, pan. Also, by moving it closer to the head I notice less wiggle/jiggle in my pans (probably something to do with the pull-force being applied closer to the rotation point, which is more stable than when you are applying pull-force one foot away from it).
  • Yep! Trying different sized rubber bands is a good experiment as well. Pans will also be jerky do to not having enough weight on the tripod and tension adjustment being too tight or loose. Thanks for the tips as well!
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  • hb-videography 11 days ago
    thanks for teaching, great one. !!!
  • You are welcome, Daniel son.
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