Glidcam 4000 tilt capabilities?

[Wilshireblvd]

I do a LOT of my work as a one man band and rarely have the space/time/money on my doc shoots to employ a dolly. I am looking at the Glidecam 4000....and it looks great! (also gonna see if there is anything cool from NAB before I commit) However, I'm curious about its stability when tilting for up or down angles. Say, for example, you want a nice dramatic tracking shot of a church steeple coming from behind some trees (at a nice long focal length). Obviously you need to tilt to get this shot...how is the stability? I suppose balancing it accordingly would work...but I've seen videos where people are tilting it back by hand? Can anyone speak to how well this works? Do you lose some smoothness to your shot or does it maintain pretty well? :dankk2:

 

[soundprostudios]

I'm guessing by your post you mean only the GC4000 pro sled....not combined with the smooth shooter arm/vest?

Tilts are not particularly hard to do with the GC either way. The best suggestion I can make is that if you know you are going to be shooting a number of shots requireing tilts/pans then do two things to your setup.

1) Make your drop time as long as possible. This allows you to tilt the camera up or down with less gravity acting to pull the camera back to level. This makes it easier to maintain the tilt.

This is different than wanting say a shorter drop time if you know you are only doing a level shot, which gravity aids by keeping the camera more level.

2) Try to get the best dynamic balance with your rig possible. Dynamic balance is when the camera can be panned anwhere within a 360 degree rotation and still remain level. Glidecams have been suggested to not be linear in their gimbal system thus not necessarily allowing for a proper dynamic balance. Having said this I can dynamically balance my rig just short of perfectly, with only a slight deflection when panned 180 degrees from forward.

The way that I have seen Glidecam show various tilts seems silly to me in their example videos. To place your hand anywhere but just below the gimbal while operating the rig would quickly add less stability to the shot. Not to say it wouldn't be an improvement over hand held but in comparison to the look a flying stabalized camera looks it would be far less impressive.

A stabalizer is not a dolly btw. By that I mean that if you think you can achieve a wonderfully smooth and slow tracking shot....well, mabey...with tons of practice and several takes. Slow tracking shots are the hardest thing to do with a stabalizer and there is a reason why operators get paid large dollars and use very expensive rigs and even then they would likely suggest a dolly first if that's what the shot needed and was able to accomodate. A stabalizer shines in the ability to do what dollies can't like go up and down stairs, do shots where track would be visible or impossible or for complex scenes. While a stablizer can do locked of shots, slow tracks and the like it is much harder than using the tools that really shine for these sort of things like....tripods, dollies, cranes.

Not trying to dissuade you, just hoping that you understand the possible limitations and giving you some realistic advice.

I have no idea what camera you are looking to put on the rig but I can say with experience that it can be very heavy to handhold the rig with any average prosumer camera (like the XHA1). I used the GC4000 handheld for a few months but could do very little with it in a real need situation because the weight was just too much. After buying the arm and vest the weight is now a non-issue and the footage is actually even smoother because it is much easier to focus on the framing and look of a shot without having to struggle with the weight.

Take a look at all the rigs you can and you'll come to your own conclusions. I'm very happy with the cost to performance I have gotten from the GC4000/Smooth Shooter. It's worked well to add another dynamic to what I can shot....particularly run and gun while still having a nice fluid, professional look to the footage. Handheld can work from time to time but I like smooth work much better.

James

 

[hoarp001]

I would look at the merlin or pilot over the glidecam. The problem with the glidecam is the handle is not directly under the weight, so the weight of the sled pulls your hand down at an angle and it is very fatiguing after about 10mins.

The gimbal handle under the stage is directly under the weight so it dosn't pull your hand in funny angles. The pilot is just like a glidecam 4000 but its got a vest and arm with it. Ive never flown a Pilot but I have flown an XHA1 and a Z1 on the merlin, both on its own and with the arm and vest and bigger rigs.