Allsteady 6 and Gimbal Modes

[melf31]

Hey everyone, thanks in advance for your answers. I'm currently in the market for a 3 axis gimbal and the AllSteady 6 has come up as a potential good option for me. I'm also eagerly awaiting the Ronin M but once you've added the joystick its going to come in about $800 over what I can get the Allsteady 6 for.

There aren't many review (or any really) for the all steady but from what I can tell it seems pretty limited in terms of having access to different modes. There are 5 modes which are pre-programmed to:

User Setting 1: Lighter configurations with full follow. (e.g. Panasonic GH4 and the Sony A7S/A6000)
User Setting 2: Medium configurations with full follow. (e.g. Canon 5D Mark ii/iii camera with up to 24-70mm & 24-105mm lenses)
User Setting 3: Heavier configurations with full follow. (e.g. Canon 5D Mark ii/iii camera with up to 70-200mm & Red Scarlet/Epic/Dragon which requires optional extension brackets or cage upgrades.)
User Setting 4: Lighter configurations with disabled joystick under multirotor or with optional wireless joystick to work on top of tripods or under crane.
User Setting 5: Medium configurations with disabled joystick under multirotor or with optional wireless joystick to work on top of tripods or under crane.

Their idea being that once you receive the gimbal you'll never have to adjust any PID settings since they have presets that should have you covered. However what this means in reality is that you only really have 2 modes to use - "full follow" and "Wireless joystick". Your other 3 modes are taken up with presets for cameras you may or may not use. And if you're operating a heavier camera then its just one mode!

I called Turbo Ace about this and they said they would pre-program any mode(s) you needed for your order, but that would take up one of the 5 slots. That would be fine if you knew what camera you'd be flying for your duration of your ownership of the gimbal but if, say 6 months down the line, you change cameras and you go up or down a weight bracket you'd have to send the gimbal back to Turbo Ace for them to re-program the gimbal. They'd charge for this a rate of something like $150 per hour.

Now I've never owned or operated a gimbal before but it seems a bit strange to me to be kinda locked in to what ever you have when you order the gimbal, unless you're willing to pay up. It would be great to know from other Gimbal owners if the "full follow" mode is enough. The gimbal comes with a thumb joystick btw.

Are any AllSteady 6 owners who can give some feedback on their experience so far?

Thanks

 

[silyn]

That pre-programming seems strange. Is it for a camera or a specific configuration of the camera? I mean what if you change the lens? it's the same camera, but the balancing would be different. Same way, what if you add accessories? All of a sudden it's all different. In such case you need pre-program many configurations. But even a wire can change your balance.

I don't have Allsteady (but operate other gimbals) - I was an early supporter of their Kickstarter campaign, but several days before the deadline withdrew my funds since I couldn't understand many things about their design.

 

[melf31]

When I called them I said I would likely be using a GH4 + speed booster + sigma 18-35 and they said I may need to use the 5D setting if its not working with the GH4 setting (since its a heavier set up). But they didn't go into specifics about how that works. I think that the pre-programming covers the PID settings for different weight ranges and then you adjust the balance when you change lenses or add other accessories.
It seems great to have that flexibility in being able to adapt different camera/lens combos to the gimbal easily, but then you lose functionality. Or you decide what set up you're going to use, stick with it and then have what ever modes programmed in that you want to use for the foreseeable future.