Flying the NEX-FS100

DerranNL

DerranNL

Member
For anyone who's interested in flying their NEX-FS100 on the Steadicam Merlin, Blackbird stabilizer or Glidecam HD-2000, I've shared all my balancing settings here:

http://derrannl.blogspot.com/p/flying-nex-fs100.html

On all three stabilizers I'm using the same lens combo (16mm pancake with ultra wide converter to keep everything as light as possible), so perhaps -hopefully- you'll find it a good starting point for balancing your camera on any of these devices. :)
 
Interesting to see.

Blackbird, I don't get why you use the short vertical bar
I use the long vertical bar and the long weight bar (with 2 masses)
Surely spreading the weight adds to the inertia and gives you a smoother flight, while carrying less overall mass

-

How is the 16mm and what is the AF like?

S
 
Derran,

Which do you prefer? I have the Merlin and it seems
a little 'touchy' to me but I am not a real steadicam
op, just use it for a few shots here and there. Dont
get me wrong, the Merlin. Is nice but I've been
hearing that the blackbird with its ability to add
tension to the gimbal is even better for us 'non
steadicam' ops. What do you think?
 
morgan_moore said:
-

How is the 16mm and what is the AF like?

S
Click to expand...

To get this lens in its sweet spot you'll have to stop down so far you won't need AF. The AF is about the same speed as the kit lens. I can't say I noticed any accuracy issues. I haven't used it much due to softness.

If only this lens was better optically as it's great on the Merlin. I also use the 30mm macro on the Merlin which is tack sharp and good AF.
 
Nirv said:
It's a bit of a disappointment.
Click to expand...

It indeed is - but only a bit. This lens - especially when used in conjunction with the wide adapter - is so wide that playing with shallow DOF is not its main application, anyway. Lightweight enough for stabilizer flying, it works best with as big a DOF as possible (between F10 and F22, above which diffraction softness begins). So, even ND-ying is somewhat less of a problem...
 
morgan_moore said:
Interesting to see.

Blackbird, I don't get why you use the short vertical bar
I use the long vertical bar and the long weight bar (with 2 masses)
Surely spreading the weight adds to the inertia and gives you a smoother flight, while carrying less overall mass

-

How is the 16mm and what is the AF like?

S
Click to expand...

I use the short vertical bar on the Blackbird for two reasons. When you have the standard vertical bar, depending of course on your balancing settings, the vertical bar can come very close to the underside of the handle, making it more difficult to put it on and off the docking bracket. Second reason is that I like having a more compact form of the Blackbird. I've used both configurations and I prefer the one with the short bar for this particular camera setup. I also use two counterweights with the standard vertical bar. I also tried flying the NEX-5N on it and used the standard vertical bar and the long weight bar, which worked absolutely great.

I really like the 16mm lens! I'm probably on my own with this, but perhaps I have lower standards. I didn't expect much from this lens when I bought it, only around 200 euros for the pancake and 100 euro for the converter and a few bad reviews when using it on a NEX-5 and NEX-3 camera. But the minute I put it on the camera I was happily surprised. I just came from a camera with expensive Fujinon TH13X3.5 BRM wide lens and although they are difficult to compare lens-wise (fixed lens, ENG wide lens) the 16mm pancake gave much better footage. The TH13 wasn't as wide as I liked it to be and there was a lot of chromatic aberration (also thanks to the camera) and too much barrel distortion at the wide end. The pancake with converter didn't show these problems like the TH13 did. Also, normally I would stay far away from any converter or adapter. They always give you barrel distortion and / or very soft edges and they always cost more then this little wide converter for the pancake. So again, it may be my history with a lens that I didn't like so much on the wide end that it was liberating to have a "good enough" ultra wide lens on the FS100 which was small and light enough for working handheld on a stabilizer. I really like this lens. Even though the converter comes with a price: you can't put a ND filter on it and the 16mm pancake does a lot of focus searching / hunting (sorry don't know the technical term :)). So it's not my ideal choise for my every day work, I have a Tokina lens for that with the Novoflex adapter, but for handheld Steadicam / stabilizer work this is the setup I go for and stick by. Although I do keep looking for a lens with Sony Alpha mount that is light, ultra wide (with a bit of zoom ability) and has autofocus and iris when using it with the LA-EA2 adapter. But I don't think I'll ever find it. I will also have a look at the lens Nirv is talking about (30mm macro for use on the Merlin), but I'm a strong believer in wide=better on a steadicam.

alaskacameradude said:
Derran,

Which do you prefer? I have the Merlin and it seems
a little 'touchy' to me but I am not a real steadicam
op, just use it for a few shots here and there. Dont
get me wrong, the Merlin. Is nice but I've been
hearing that the blackbird with its ability to add
tension to the gimbal is even better for us 'non
steadicam' ops. What do you think?
Click to expand...

The Merlin is indeed very 'touchy'. The Blackbird does have the option for Smooth Control, increasing the friction on the gimbal, but it does affect the silky smooth footage you'll get without using the friction. So i'ts a very nice option to use when you're filming on a windy day or when you're just starting to learn to use a stabilizer. But I noticed that also when you're not using Smooth Control, the Blackbird is easier to operate thanks to the placements of the weights. They are further apart and that makes a big difference.
 
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