GEAR, WEIGHT, INJURIES

[dazapper]

I came off a long Discovery series shoot last summer completely wasted. Tendonitis and bursitis in both elbows plus a torn glut muscle (that would be in my butt.) I was wondering where my career was heading since I was a mess. The fall was fairly slow, but I was offered work at the upcoming Vancouver Olympics with NBC, so I took it. Then I had to decide what to do to get ready, having never really exercised in my life.

I'm now at the end of a program called P90X. I saw an informercial in my hotel room while on the Discovery shoot. My intent was to just get into shape, but I've just weighed myself and I lost 14 pounds over the 90 days. My body feels great, I don't get winded any more, and the camera feels lighter. Over the course of the program I missed about 10 of the days because of work, but luckily it's been a little slow. So I took advantage of the downtime and now feel ready for the push at the Olympics.

Rest and recover if you're injured, find a program, get on it, don't give up, push forward.

 

[SimonW]

The code stipulates that a person shouldn't lift more than 16Kgs without help.

Pity the poor Steadicam ops who regularly carry 70kgs!

Steadicam can help with normal camera operation, as can martial arts such as taiji and Wing Chun because they teach you about skeletal alignment.

The weight of the equipment is not necessarily what causes the problems, but how you stand when holding it, and how your skeleton is aligned. One reason some of the smaller female Steadicam ops can hold a heavier rig longer than some of the males is because they use proper skeletal alignment to naturally support the weight while guys more often than not try to muscle it.

In fact any sport where skeletal alignment is the key such as archery for instance), guys are usually slower to pick up the skill. I'd take a look at how you stand when holding the camera and to find someone who knows about that stuff who can help you support the weight in a less detrimental way.

That said, I would like cameras to become lighter.

 

[eb]

A torn biceps tendon and lower back pain are constant painful reminders.

 

[Peter_Lett]

Why can't someone put the smaller camera technology in a shoulder mount design?

Cinehead, have a look at the Sony I mentioned in my first post.
6.3kgs of shoulder mounted XDCam shooting HD vision, up to 35Mbps!

Why am I shooting with a camera that weighs as much as gear twenty years ago, capable of 50Mbps, yet I have never shot anything other than 25Mbps????

And... because I have to carry this lump around, I need a bigger tripod....
so even more weight...!

Another ludicrous scenario....
guys at Channel Ten next door are shooting with XDcams in DVcam mode...
why give guys XDcams and then wind them down to basic mode?
It's like using a ride-on mower to cut grass on a 1/16 acre block!