Steadicam Information

[charles]

: : Just learned experience ;D

[Taylor Moore]

Hey Charles,
When you transport your system from home to the location, how do you do it? Do you break your system right down and reasemble on set or do you keep it fully built minus the camera?
Also do you have a case for everything?

Man I used the Century Wide Angle last night doing some tests with my rig and was very please with the results...seems the wider lens is more forgiving :

[charles]

I used to take the rig just as it is minus the camera. I had been thinking of getting a case for some time but had not found something I was pleased with. It's gotta be just right

Any way, I've think I've found something that will do. I'll be doing some more searches in the mean time to make sure I havn't missed anything.

I've been thinking about using a different case for all three coponents but I'm considering one case for everything. Less carriage

[Elvis]

O.K. Charles, I've got my drop time to be about 2 secs.
But I noticed the balanceing got a lot more touchy.Just fliping out the LCD changed everything. Let alone adding the battery and monitor. When I first balanced it the drop time was very fast 1 sec. Then I realized I had an adjustment on top to raise the camera. Now it has a nice floating type of feel to it. My question is when I have this on a c-stand while balancing it, should I be able to get a perfect center of gravity? Or will it kind of slowly float with weight in one direction or another. It won't stay still in other words. I worked on balance 1 hour 20 min. Second question what is the advantage to the slow drop? Thanks in advanced for any input. 8)

[Taylor Moore]

Hey Elvis,
I have been getting alot of help regarding my rig over at:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisp...amp;forumid=42

Lots of good reading....and the CharlesX2 ;D

[charles]

Here is a copy of my reply to Taylor about the 2-3 second drop time:

"One thing though. The mention of the 2-3 second drop time is standard but it doesn't mean that other times are not used. It all depends on the kind of shot you're aiming for. Some shots require certain momentem in order to pull it off. So maybe a longer or shorter drop time might surfice. Like maybe shooting tall buildings which requires the operator to push up the rig with a little more ease would require, maybe a less than 3 second drop time.

Every operator has a time they are comfortable with. The 2-3 second drop time is a standard and used in practically all types of operations. There are some operators that prefer 2 1/2 seconds or 2 seconds drop time. *

Like I said, its a 'point of choice' rather then 'standard of choice'. Once you get comfortable operating you start adapting certain situations to fit certain style of"


"My question is when I have this on a c-stand while balancing it, should I be able to get a perfect center of gravity? Or will it kind of slowly float with weight in one direction or another. "


First my knownledge of the glidecam is not that vast but I understand that the gimbal cannot be moved, right?
Any way. I think non-movable gimbals are much finicky than normal gimbals like that of the bigger models, i.e. v-16.
The whole purpose is to get near perfect CG as possible. This means that the gimbal should be be just below the center of gravity.

1 hour 20 min is a long time just to balance a rig, I think. I think you should refer to the DVinf forum. There are people who actually have this particular system and like Taylor said, you'll get plenty of info

I hoped I helped? Still here if you need any more info :

[Taylor Moore]

Elvis are you running a V8, my drop time is 3 seconds and really only takes me a few minutes to get there...maybe i can send some pix so you can see how i have mine setup...maybe that will help.

Also Charles, I did the big drilling job and having the video lines hidden makes a big difference. i was sweating during the drilling though.

Do you know anthing about the 12voly gelcell batteries, as my glidecam battery last for maybe 50 minutes.

[Elvis]

I have a Maqiqcam dual articulated arm. *Maybe I need more weight at the bottom? I checked with DV info before when I was researching it Thanks for the input it is all welcomed. 8)

[Elvis]

Charles I have a regular gimble as far as I know. What do you mean by haveing it below the C.O.G. ? :-[

[Taylor Moore]

hey Elvis I found this, maybe it will help.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/search.ph...der=descending