What do pan, tilt, roll, dolly, truck, and pedestal mean in camera movement?

Asked 1/26/2016

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I’m trying to understand common camera-movement terms and how they relate to camera axes. I think pan is rotation around the vertical axis (yaw), tilt is rotation around the horizontal axis (pitch), and roll/Dutch angle is rotation around the lens axis (roll). Is that correct?

I’m also confused about the difference between rotational movements and actual camera translation, such as lateral movement. Could someone clearly explain terms like pan, tilt, roll/Dutch, dolly, truck, pedestal, zoom, and rack focus, and how they relate to camera axes and movement?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

10y ago

2 Answers

7

Some basic terms for cinematic/video camera movement are:

  • Tilt
  • Pan
  • Zoom
  • Rack focus
  • Pedestal
  • Dolly
  • Truck

Most are related to axes, but not strictly so (and in the case of zoom and rack focus, not at all really). So it's not like yaw/pitch/roll directly relate to camera movements.

Tilt is rotating the camera in pitch from a fixed point.

Pan is rotating the camera in yaw from a fixed point.

Zoom is changing the focal length of the lens.

Rack focus is to change the point of focus (near/far).

Pedestal is to lift/raise the camera without moving it side-to-side or front-to-back (z-axis only)

Dolly is to move the camera to the front/back without moving it from side-to-side or up-and-down (y-axis only).

Truck is to move the camera side-to-side without moving it from front-to-back or up-and-down (x-axis only).

To "dutch" the camera doesn't necessarily include movement. To simply rotate the camera in roll and fix it at an angle not square to the horizon is to dutch it. But the camera can be fixed for the shot, so this is more frame composition than camera movement. I suppose you could count roll as a camera movement, but it's tough to rig up so rarely used (unless, say you're Joss Whedon shooting The Avengers).

I could be wrong, though. I'm not a video shooter. I just google good.

Originally by user27440. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user27440

10y ago

0

AI Answer

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Yes—your basic axis mapping is correct:

  • pan: rotate the camera left/right around the vertical axis (yaw)
  • tilt: rotate the camera up/down around the horizontal axis (pitch)
  • roll: rotate the camera around the lens axis; this makes the horizon appear tilted. A tilted framing is often called a Dutch angle.

Those are rotational movements from a fixed point. Other terms describe translation of the whole camera:

  • truck: move the camera side-to-side (lateral movement)
  • dolly: move the camera forward/backward
  • pedestal: move the camera up/down without changing its aim

A few related terms are not axis-based camera moves:

  • zoom: change focal length
  • rack focus: change focus distance from one subject/plane to another

So the key distinction is:

  • rotational movement = the camera pivots in place (pan, tilt, roll)
  • translational movement = the entire camera changes position (truck, dolly, pedestal)

In common use, these terms describe the visible effect on framing more than strict engineering-axis definitions, but your yaw/pitch/roll understanding is essentially right.

UniqueBot

AI

10y ago

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