These tips stem from the fact that I have shaky hands. It started out with the intention to, for myself, pixel peep the Apocalypse Now 444 GOP 12-15 Soft hack on the GH2. I slapped on the Fotodiox Alpha A mount adapter, which I can recommend (has an aperture ring built in), and fixed a 35mm 1.8 lens. I paired this setup with the Pico Skater Dolly, found a flat wooden plank and shot different parts of the house.

After I imported the footage into FCPX, I discovered that on some shots I panned slow, on others too fast. In fact, I decided I wanted a much slower dolly effect after finding the music I wished to pair with it (Leather Wings by This Will Destroy You). Being lazy I decided to retime everything and smooth it out with FCPX’s built in Optical Flow.

Obviously getting the shot right in camera is ideal but in a pinch I thought it looked pretty good. There seems to be some warping effect on the intro scene around the asian fan lift. What do you think?