Documentary Rig - Canon T2i, BeachTek, Rode Video Mic, Z-Finder
I am about to leave Northern California to head out for a 5 day assignment in Los Angeles to direct and film a documentary project. This will be a challenging project because I am going to be filming in situations where I probably won't have the luxury of attaching mics to everyone beforehand and will have to be very mobile to catch the real life action as it happens - so this means sometimes going handheld.;)
Here's the rig I came up with - not too fancy but functional. The camera body is my trusty Canon T2i, in its hot shoe I've mounted the Rode VideoMic. Normally I film using a dual sound setup that relies on wireless lavalier mics and the Zoom H4N but because I needed to be able to record more spontaneously I went for this mic after I experienced a little bit of drama with another Rode I will tell you about in a second.
If you are wondering how the audio workflow will work - it's pretty simple "sync sound." The Rode VideoMic of course captures the audio and through the mini-jack cable sends the signal to the BeachTek. I then have another short mini-jack cable that takes the output from the BeachTek and sends it to the T2i - so the audio is being recorded along with the video file. I am sending the T2i a stereo signal but the left channel has a 20HZ tone added to it which is how the BeachTek defeats the Automatic Gain Control function built into the T2i. During editing I will split the channels apart and throw away the LEFT track.
To the T2i body I will attach a Canon 24-70mm 2.8L USM lens which I rented specifically for this project. When not using the 24-70mm I will be working my standard lens which is the Canon 50mm 1.4. To the T2i I have attached another rented piece of equipment - Canon's BG-E8 battery grip with a couple of Canon LP-E8 batteries. The grip adds a nice amount of weight to the camera, helping with stabilization, and comes with an optional battery holder designed to hold 4AA batteries which is nice for an emergency situation.
Below that is mounted the Zacuto Z-Finder loupe which allows me to see the LCD screen no matter how bright it is outside and makes possible pin-point focusing. ( I believe I have the 3x model) Because I am using the battery grip I also had to rent a special extended frame for the Z-Finder which raises it up so that it can sit level with the T2i's LCD screen.
Screwed into the bottom of the Z-Finder's Gorilla Plate is the BeachTek DXA-SLR audio adapter. This device defeats the T2i's Automatic Gain Control function and gives me the ability to monitor sound as it is being recorded. I had a few difficulties getting it set up properly but in the end I think the majority of my issues had to do with the shotgun mic I tried to use at first before I settled on the Rode VideoMic. That mic was the Rode NTG-2 which is very nice for voice over work but just wasn't delivering enough signal strength to use the BeachTek effectively.
I have a small quick release plate for my tripod screwed into the bottom of the BeachTek so that I can quickly rest my arms and shoulders after hauling this package around. So, like I said, this is for handheld work and as you can tell I don't have any rails or shoulder mounts but I think just the increased weight alone will help me get steadier shots than I would just using the T2i without any of the additional gear. Frankly, this is going to be a bit of an experiment - I will use my traditional setup for sit down interviews where I have the time to set things up in advance.
DSLR's require a lot of extra steps to use them properly but the results are SOOOO worth it. For instance, I actually have at least 3 things to make sure I turn on and set correctly if I want to get useful video out of this rig. First I have turn on the Rode VideoMic (it has a small power switch that is easy to overlook in the heat of the moment but fortunately if it's not powered on I won't hear anything in my headphones so that should clue me in, ha ha!) - Next of course the camera has to be turned on (I'm unlikely to forget that one!) and finally there's a power switch on the BeachTek. The BeachTek has a variety of dials and switches on it too which must be set properly to get the desired results but for the most part it's set it once and forget it.
Actually there's a fourth power button on the Battery grip but since I don't use any of the controls I just leave that one off. Look for my next post where I will share how everything worked out.
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Reader Comments (3)
So I am back from my trip to Los Angeles where I tried out the new documentary production rig, here is the bottom line - it didn't really work for me.
The main issue was the whole vertical "stack" of gear was too unstable...the BeachTek box and the connection between the Z-Finder Gorilla plate and the battery grip didn't stay tight and so pieces would shift out of straight up and down (vertical) alignment. I think what was happening was that the connections between devices were loosening as I traveled to and from locations.
If you think of the microphone, camera, battery grip, Gorilla Plate/Z-Finder, BeachTek, and tripod quick release plate as being like a 6 story building, some of the "floors" wanted to shift around creating a very unstable situation. Also the plate was no doubt way too small to hold so much gear steady.
I probably could have figured out these issues but in a production environment you often don't have time for that kind of thing so I went back to my regular setup based on wireless lavs and dual audio and a bracket from a company called, Bracket1.
The one piece of gear I would keep is the Canon Battery grip which is a very convenient device, I particularly liked how batteries could be exchanged by sliding out a drawer from the SIDE of the device. This means I didn't have to disassemble my whole rig just to change out batteries. To make it more practical I would definitely suggest getting a battery charger that can charge two BP-LPE8 batteries simultaneously or simply purchasing two of Canon's single battery chargers if that works for you.
Regarding the Canon 24-70mm lens, I have to say I didn't give it a fair shot because that went away too when I switched back to my regular setup based on the Canon 50mm 1.4 lens. I should really rent just that lens again and play with it some more before I make any firm comments. It's one of those lenses that many pros rave about and I don't doubt its quality in the least but personally I didn't find the wide setting of 24mm all that wide nor the 70mm very telephoto as compared to my 50mm prime.
Put another way, the difference between the 24mm-70mm zoom and the 50mm prime wasn't big enough to make me think "WOW, this lens is giving me a whole new set of capabilities I didn't have before." Just moving my body a few feet closer or further away from my subject gives me the same "zoom" capability for free.
I am now more seriously than ever considering just going with a set of primes but please don't take that as a negative review of the lens - I just didn't have time to really work it.
Thanks for the follow up postmortem. I was mulling over whether or not I should build myself a similar rig for my 60d. Then I started looking at that vertical stack and all of the attachments and wondering if I was headed for trouble. Based on your experience I'm going to construct a much leaner kit.
Thanks again!
DS -
I read about this special plate (available on Amazon.com and elsewhere) that is meant to help fight against the twisting action which destabilizes the vertical stack of equipment....here's a link to the one from Tiffen which was recommended:
http://www.amazon.com/Stroboframe-Anti-Twist-Plate-Canon-Cameras/dp/B00009UTKI/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3QQ5WNHFPV3M9&colid=1X9QFMZOMITTL