counterbalancing tripod

[scorsesefan]

I'm kind of a newbie to the world of non-"fisher-price" tripods (I have used a cheapo Bogen up until now). Just purchased a Sachtler DV-6 and I would like to know how to counterbalance it properly for my camera (HVX200a, maybe a sennheiser wireless receiver on top)
Thanks

 

[dwilliam]

The way I do it is to put the camera on the tripod. Turn the damping knob and counterbalance to 0. Then you loosen the camera and slide with it till it's balanced (the vertical lock needs to be off of course). You then lock the camera plate. Next thing is to work out which counterbalance setting works best for the weight of your rig. So put the camera to tilt and find the setting that halts the gravity tilt movement. And you're done!

Cheers, David.

 

[scorsesefan]

Thanks, David. I will try it, but do you know where the center of gravity is on the HVX?

 

[dwilliam]

Nope, however you need to adjust the counterbalance every time you add or take away something off the rig (like a matte box or ff). Another thing is to try and distribute the weight evenly over the rig. A front heavy rig with the camera plate setup on the rear will not be counterbalance-able.