I went to my childrens school the other week to video an assembly presentation that my son was involved in.

I was thinking "it won't take long so I won't need to take my tripod".

Well an hour later, a tired arm and many shaky shots as I kept re-shuffling positions to 'awaken' a sleepy arm or buttock, I wished I had brought it with me!

Tripods are best at giving good, clear and steady images and in a way that your body simply cannot.

Below is a video of different ways to use your tripod with your digital video camcorders:

You'll notice in the first shot of the video as I am using the tripod, that there is a very specific technique involved.

Notice I have one hand on the neck of the tripod, my feet are shoulder width apart and as I turn the digital video camcorders on the tripod that although my feet stay still my entire upper body moves with the camcorder and turning of the tripod.

This has a bit to do with the fact that I am using a fifty dollar tripod and it doesn't have a 'fluid head' on it that higher end tripods have. So I have to use a little more 'body english' to get it to work smoothly.

A camera crane or jib on a movie set is a way of having the camera move and sweep at various height and angles around the subject.

The ones on big budget movie sets will often have a man sitting in a chair actually operating the camera.

As you can see on the video, you can achieve the same effect with a little ingenuity.

For Clever digital video camcorders Tripod Tricks Part2 Click Here