What the thread found

• Contrazooms can be executed by having an operator run toward the subject while an assistant manually operates the zoom control, starting at a long focal length and zooming to wide during the camera movement.
• Manual zoom control using rotary knobs allows for very subtle zoom movements when the lens is wide open and the camera is positioned close to the subject.
• The Seitz steadicam system with a Heden motor could achieve contrazoom effects by combining full-speed camera movement with iris slider adjustment or rotary knob zoom control.
• The Seitz motor had a maximum resolution of 512 steps, while the BFD steadicam motor offers 4096 steps of resolution.
• Lower resolution zoom motors can produce visible stepping artifacts during slow zoom movements, particularly when adjusting iris and focus simultaneously.
• A rocker-style zoom controller mounted on a gimbal-yoke provides better tactile control for feathering zoom adjustments while simultaneously managing boom height than pressure-sensitive controls.
• Rubber microphone clamps can be used to mount zoom controllers on steadicam rigs, offering easier attachment and detachment compared to screw-based mounting.

Depends on

• The contrazoom technique described required manual operation by multiple crew members and relied on camera movement combined with manual zoom adjustment.
• Testing of the BFD zoom control system was incomplete at the time of discussion.
• Pressure-sensitive zoom control technology had not been successfully implemented for steadicam use according to the participants.
• The specific steadicam rig configuration and lens characteristics affect the visibility of motor resolution limitations.

Gear in this thread

BFD

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