GH-1 / Steadicam Merlin 'recipe'

Blue_Food

Blue_Food

Well-known member
Hello everybody…


First time caller; Long time lurker…

I’ve just tried balancing the GH on the Merlin for the first time, and thought I’d share my ‘recipe’ as a starting point for anyone else who might be planning on trying out the combo…

With the stock lens at its widest, plus card, battery, and lens-protector (no QR plate):

Front - 1 x finish
Lower - 1 x mid, 1 x finish
Arc - 27cm approx.
Mount Hole - ‘M’
Stage Position - 0
‘Z’ - 0

Of the cameras I’ve previously used with the Merlin (XM-2/GL-2, HV30 [w/ & w/o wide-adapter]), I’m finding the GH to be the Goldilocks of the bunch, weight-wise…

Hope this is of help to someone! I’m finding these settings to be pretty damned solid, but I’d be happy to hear about anyone else’s experiences before submitting them to Tiffen for the official online ‘cookbook’…

Cheers,

Danny
 
I’ve just been playing around some more, and – somewhat surprisingly – I‘ve found that the gross settings I listed above are actually applicable to the entire range of the stock zoom… That is to say, at any given length, you need only fine-tune the balance using the blue thumb-wheels ….

What’s more, the arc-size that I’ve found to work doesn’t need any adjustment in order to collapse the Merlin snugly into storage mode… Meaning: you can be -- literally -- out of the case and up-&-running, at any given focal length, within a couple of minutes…

I’m looking forward to seeing how the AF features of this cam/lens might help to capture shots that previously would have been impossible in the absence of a remote FF, and a skilled AC (and extraordinarily difficult even if those things WERE present!)

DP
 
Agreed. While I probably wouldn't buy one for my personal use I'd like to see how it looks stabilized and get your thoughts on how it handles.
 
I am curious to know why the steadicam sells for a whopping 850 dollars when you can buy a Glidecam 2000 HD for half the price and it holds more weight. Is there a feature to the steadicam that I am over looking?
 
The Steadicam Merlin is a much more finely engineered and crafted instrument. Just read some reviews on various forums, particularly at DV Info Net. It's the most stable, yet also by far the lightest, handheld rig available. The caliper-style design, along with the light weight, makes it far more comfortable to operate than the Glidecam. If you've tried handheld stabilization rigs, you'd know that they become hard to handle after only a couple of minutes.

Part of the price premium is also the Steadicam brand.
 
The merlin positions the camera weight over your hand, which is much more comfortable than the glidecam, which wrenches your wrist down and is very uncomfortable to hold.

That and all the glidecam stuff seems to be made of compressed beercans and chinese newspapers, whereas the Steadicam stuff is made properly, made to last and by people that know how to make a proper stabiliser. The glidecam is a good toy if its all you can afford, but dont expect it to last, and dont expect operating it to be easy or painless.
 
yeah, you guys are exactly right. I had a glidecam 2000 for 4 years and just sold it because the free floating handle became very rough and I tried to put wd-40 on it and that just screwed it up even more. Not only that but I put my dvx100 on it and threw out my back more times then I can count so I will definitely be looking more into a steadicam. I just really want a rig that will reduce the pressure on my back and one that wont make feel like I need to set it down every 2 minutes to stretch my back out.
 
As with any hand held device, it will strain your arms, even with a decent setup like the Merlin, but it is much less fatiguing, as the weight is right over your hand, you dont get the wrenching levering force that you get with the glidecam.

The merlin with arm and vest is a nice compromise, without spending too much, although I would advise that you get the Pilot as this has a more sled like sled.
 
The Glidecam is really crude and barely works while the Steadicams of all types are pretty well engineered and refined.

I will say that I used to own the Steadicam DV though and while it worked really well, it fell apart and even when I babied it, the tuning controls literally just broke apart while using them, very fragile and brittle plastic.

I would suspect that the Merlin is built much better because I have never heard of any complaints about the fragility of the Merlin. The Pilot looks sweet.

Dan
 
Tiffen have invested a lot of money in improving their smaller rigs recently, I think the older rigs for smaller cameras were neglected a little bit. The Merlin and Pilot are very well made.
 
Good to know because the Steadicam DV broke my heart. I shot some killer footage with it and my little TRV900, made it into lots of broadcast shows but then after using it a couple of times, it just sort of fell apart. That was when Tiffen was buying Steadicam so there was no parts availability and I bascially ended up just throwing it away. Couldn't be fixed after about a year of inquiring.

I still love their products and if you say that their new small stuff is built better, good enough for me. I may try out a Merlin with the vest for the 5D MKII at some point.

Dan
 
puredrifting said:
Good to know because the Steadicam DV broke my heart.
Click to expand...
The DV Steadicam had a short product lifespan. It was discontinued long ago specifically because of design and build issues. The Steadicam JR, which I think was released before the DV, remained the choice product for small camcorders until it was replaced by the Merlin. So please do have some faith in Tiffen; the DV really was the black sheep of the Steadicam line.
 
tackleqb said:
yeah, you guys are exactly right. I had a glidecam 2000 for 4 years and just sold it because the free floating handle became very rough and I tried to put wd-40 on it and that just screwed it up even more.
Click to expand...

lol

i hope you disclosed all that to the buyer...
 
I own a Merlin and I find it very well made, but the plastic parts in the metal gimbal are it's Achille's heel.

Expect to have to get a replacement gimbal at some point during the lifetime of the unit (unless you *really* baby the unit).

Otherwise, it's an amazing piece of engineering.

-X
 
I tried my old steadicam junior with the GH1 today and found them to be a nice match! The wide angle lens @28mm sees the upper part of the monitor ( and the lil green spirit level) so I have to fold that out of sight.... otherwise a good balance!

Sunshade touches the base plate though so no easy zooming. I tried some Nikon lenses and its even better!
 
Hey guys,

I've tried this recipe and for some strange reason the camera flops to the side balancing horizontally. Any recommendations to solve this situation? I'm fairly new to the Merlin. Any additional tips would be greatly appreciated!
 
Anybody have any suggestions on how to weigh down the sled of my Steadicam Flyer so I can use it with the GH1?

Even if I run with 0-1 batteries on the sled, I will probably need additional weight mounted to the camera plate under or over the GH1. Any ideas what I can use?
 
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