1st flight with Flycam Nano DSLR & Canon 5DmII

A

AAP2140

Member
I just bought a flycam Nano DSLR yesterday for my Canon 5Dm2 after watching lots of promising videos about this low-budgt stabilizer/steadycam.

At first I was a little worried into getting it balanced and putting all the pieces in the right place. Luckily there are lots of video's online about seting-up & balancing the flycam...it didn't came with an instruction manual. what could you expect, such a cheap product.
One hour later I was flying through my house ;)

I must say I am impressed, it's not yet balanced perfectly but it allready seems to fulfill my expectations.

Here's a short video I made during my first test-flight:

Next i'll be flying outside and make some more complicated moves to get a better idea of how good (or bad) it works.

take care
IndieChimp aka aap2140
 
Yeah like you said still some balancing to do... that tilted horizon looks awful :-\ also work on your form and composition. Even though its not a steadicam you should check out the original instruction videos from the 80s. They are quite helpful...
 
you may want to add some weight to the bottom. that tends to help minimize the slanted horizon problems
 
Interesting. Mine just arrived today, and I'll get to tinker with it tonight. :3 Gonna try to fly a D7000, Swivi, and Tascam DR-05. Question: instead of adding weight, would extending the bottom have a similar effect (I'm thinking leverage)? If not, what's the reason for it being adjustable?
 
BTW, just got home and checked mine, and it came with instructions. For assembly, balancing, walking, and maintenance.
 
@ legrevedotcom: true but as I said... I just unpacked the thing and 1h later I walked trough my living room. I wasn't thinking at all about form and composition, just testing its reactions in the biggest moving space I could use at that moment of being - a couple of meters that was ;) -. Outside it was raining all day, so I couldn't go for a long test-flight. More footage is on the way...

I'll take a look at those 80's video's, thx for the update.
 
Might be ... but it seems it is also leaning a bit to the left when I'm moving forward. So I guess the camera should have been adjusted slightly to the right to get a better balance.
 
I hate to tell you this but you may have a heck of a time balancing that thing with a 5D and any decent lenses. I think you'll find that the camera + lens is just too heavy for that stableizer. I ended up selling mine on Craigslist and even when I did I had it returned to me twice because the buyers also couldn't put a 5D on it. You may find you need to upgrade to the next size up which will work better with the 5D.
 
I can balance at least 5lbs on mine (camera, 2.8 lens, monitor, mic, metal quick release), with 6 weights left over. Just need to extend the handle a bit, unless you have tiny hands. A 3/4 aluminum tube from Home Depot and a bicycle handle grip slid into the handle works fine.

The reason you probably had trouble was because of the issue with the gimbal balance. I had that too, and about 1/4 thick of lead golf tape on the front solved it.
 
Blue Bomber said:
I can balance at least 5lbs on mine (camera, 2.8 lens, monitor, mic, metal quick release), with 6 weights left over. Just need to extend the handle a bit, unless you have tiny hands. A 3/4 aluminum tube from Home Depot and a bicycle handle grip slid into the handle works fine.

The reason you probably had trouble was because of the issue with the gimbal balance. I had that too, and about 1/4 thick of lead golf tape on the front solved it.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I swear I spent about a month trying to get my 5D with 35mm 1.4 lens to balance. It would occasionally act like it was balanced and then bob all over the place. Never tried the tape trick mind you..
 
Easiest way to tell is to balance everything facing forward, then rotate it 180, camera facing you. If the Flycam tilts (usually forward), then the gimbal is off. Initially, mine was fine, though after a bit of movement, it would rotate a bit to the left. If I held it at any rotation except straight ahead, it would lean.

The gimbal balancing is the main issue, but the bolts holding the yoke to it, and sometimes even the yoke itself, can be off as well. You can adjust the bolts on the sides of the yoke to center it (may need to add an extra washer), and even add some lead tape to one side of the yoke if necessary to get everything perfect.
 
True blue bomber !

@mrl72: You might have bought the Flycam Nano & not the DSLR version. The DSLR version can take a lot of weight, at this moment I only have 1 weight on each side and I still have 10 weights leftover. So I will be able to attach my 7 inch monitor & a bigger lense + there will be still some weights left over...
I'll put it to the test and share my exp. asap !
 
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