GH4 3 Axis Gimbal or Stick with Glidecam

LyleGorch said:
Personally, for a paying gig, I wouldn't use any of the gimbels from anyone unless it was a situation where I had access to a backup. I recently had to make a choice on this for a project in a very remote location and I had to pass because nobody that I could talk to from any of the big name manufacturers could provide any evidence that their units would work (for long) in even a little bit of rain.
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I think this goes same to anything, if you are using a glidecam/steadicam and it breaks, you wouldn't have a backup available, same goes with the gimbal. I do believe the Came-7000/Came-7500 can run about an hour or so or more with one charge. And if not mistaken, same with the other brands (movi, the ghost, besteady - which has the worst customer service right now, and a few others). You can always get a bigger battery to use with the gimbal, which can help last about 3-4 hours - non stop.

Here are the facebook user group that is very supportive and helpful: https://www.facebook.com/groups/281032868719111/

And there is a tons of users with the came-7000/came-7500 with 32bit controller board and running either a gh3 or gh4 with 12-35mm lens, no problem. The issue most people are complaining that I've experienced with, are either not paying attention when doing research and not read carefully, or they do not understand how to balance the camera on the gimbal. there are several areas that needed to be adjusted before the camera is balanced correctly.

Here's one user with the Eagle eye and Came-7000 32bit controller result : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM3YxYy-qNQ&feature=youtu.be
 
mdifilm said:
And there is a tons of users with the came-7000/came-7500 with 32bit controller board and running either a gh3 or gh4 with 12-35mm lens, no problem. The issue most people are complaining that I've experienced with, are either not paying attention when doing research and not read carefully, or they do not understand how to balance the camera on the gimbal. there are several areas that needed to be adjusted before the camera is balanced correctly.

Here's one user with the Eagle eye and Came-7000 32bit controller result : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM3YxYy-qNQ&feature=youtu.be
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mdifilm, do you know if the Came 7000 or the other eBay units like it are inferior to the Movi, Ghost, or BeSteady? As far as general steadiness.
 
mdifilm said:
I think this goes same to anything, if you are using a glidecam/steadicam and it breaks, you wouldn't have a backup available, same goes with the gimbal. how to balance the camera on the gimbal.
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But there is far far far more that can go wrong with these gimbals especially the cheaper ones. A glidecam or similar only really has two bearings that can fail and they never really do fail without warning. After extremely long use the bearing bay start to feel rough but you can feel it and rectify the problem beforehand.

also, it's a lot easier to damage a gimbal in transit as it's an awkward shape to transport and does not break down easily. I bought the Came H4 stabiliser and can fold it up and have it in its own bag in 5 seconds. In the bag, it's well protected and just over a foot long so easy to transport.

one day, I will probably get a gimbal but for now I think they're not all that well executed and when using equipment for your living, reliability is key.
 
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kinda strange that CAME-TV email me back and said they don't recommend GH to be used with 7500 since it is too big/heavy for it.
 
Bubble said:
kinda strange that CAME-TV email me back and said they don't recommend GH to be used with 7500 since it is too big/heavy for it.
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Weird. It works. I just finish switching my 8-bit to 32bit alexmos and it works well with the gh4 and 12-35mm. Many others also had no problem.
 
Mdifilm
I got my came 7500 yesterday. I'm not able to find in Came tv web page, a CLEAR instructions to calibrate it with my Gh4 with 12-35 lens. I'm desperate.
 
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Go to cheesycam.com and scroll through, you should find plenty of resources on how to balance the CAME 7500.
 
I couldn't upload a picture from my iPad, here's the picture Came-TV sent me, it has a quick release plate (sadly it will not be sold separately). They also will be releasing a BMCC/RED version (Came-8000) but I don't think that will ever come out the same time (it's been delayed since March)... CAME 7800.jpg
 
Hi mdfilm, have you looked at the Varavon BirdyCam? The price difference is there compared to the 7500 (and who knows how much the 7800 would come to), but it's not *extremely* huge. Meanwhile, the entire point with the BirdyCam seems to be ease of set-up and balancing. In general, it seems to be getting really good reviews (and cheesycam did a bunch of posts on it already). So for those (like me, heh!) who like things to work right out of the box (which was also the direction the 7500 was going in compared to the 7000) and are willing to pay a bit extra for that (but still affordable), the BirdyCam looks pretty tempting.

Having said all of that, as you say the 7800 is coming out, and it seems to me these gimbal stabilizers are evolving very, very fast, sort of like LED lights. From my point of view, unless you need one right this second, it makes sense to wait a bit (if you can), because things are moving so fast... just look what happened when people bought the 8 bit one and weeks later came out the 32 bit one for the same price. I mean, those are huge differences that happen in a very short period of time. Of course, at some point the tech reaches a moment where it does what you need it to for your use scenario at the price point you find acceptable and then you can buy without worrying that another one is coming out around the corner, because it does what you need and it makes no difference if a slightly improved one comes around, it's just like cars, there's always a new model, but your car already does all you need it for.

So, my question to you is: do you feel we are at a moment where these gimbal stabilizers are at a point of usefulness and price that's "buy now"? My feeling is that they can still stand to become more user-friendly and easier to set up and balance with different cam/lens/accessory combos - and preferably (though this might be awhile) not much more than $1K (price competition is good - look what happened to the Ronin pricing).
 
Hello, my gut feeling say wait if you can. There are more and more versions of gimbals coming out and making balancing earlier. In fact it's going to be pretty soon that the alexmos software will include auto tuning. If you don't need it now, wait. Or buy a cheap one to practice a bit and learn it.

For or me, I went with came-7000 because I wanted to learn about balancing, tuning and such more than having one useable right out of the box. At least now I have the understanding how it works. (The geek in me) lol
 
Thanks, mdifilm, seems like we have similar ideas :)... I think we'll see exciting things happen within the next year or so!
 
Hi Everyone, here's me with the Varavon Birdycam Gimbal with a GH4 mounted on. I used it to shoot a car expo teaser and it worked decently. It gave me hell the night before because the PID settings seemed very off. I had to reset everything and even clearing the default settings to get it back to working condition. I'll post a review up on this soon!

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Here are my first impressions of it: http://filmbrosmedia.com/varavon-birdycam-3-axis-gimbal-package/
 
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