Glidecam or Steadicam

I just got done shooting a short film which required a lot of steadicam work and the operator had the Glidecam v-25. We were flying the HVX, SuperSpeeds, LEX, bartech single channel and a chrozsiel mattebox and the system worked great! I believe it can hold up to 25 lbs. The system was always balanced and had a very strong build/look. When I asked the operator "why glidecam" he replied with "Thats all student loans would allow me to get at the time"
 
It really drives me crazy when I stumble on any thread trying to compare the Steadicam to a Glidecam. They just don't compare, sort of like comparing a Yugo to a BMW... The steadicam is a beautiful piece of engineering and can be perfectly balance. Each Steadicam is hand made and absolutely worth the extra money.
 
SomewhereinLA said:
It really drives me crazy when I stumble on any thread trying to compare the Steadicam to a Glidecam. They just don't compare, sort of like comparing a Yugo to a BMW... The steadicam is a beautiful piece of engineering and can be perfectly balance. Each Steadicam is hand made and absolutely worth the extra money.
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Some of us don't have extra money.
 
I think the important point is even though you cannot afford an expensive rig, if you know the difference between the models/builders and work you way up you will be fine.

I started out with a SK2 sled then as I made more money upgraded to a provid, a flyer and then a clipper 2. I always knew I wanted a stedicam model and I was aiming for a large rig, I just could not afford to drop 60K right off the bat.

Get experience with the smaller rigs and if you think being a stedicam op is the thing for you, work your way up.

Believe it or not: Operating a smaller rig like a flyer is much much harder then flying a rig like the Clipper or Ultra.
 
Not to hijack the thread too much, but I'm looking at getting a Flyer and would eventually like to move up the line to the larger rigs. I'm taking the Flyer workshop here in a month or so and hope to learn alot there, but the big question I have haunting me right now is this - Say I become proficient with the flyer and smaller cams like the HVX, how easy is the move to a clipper with a larger cam like the red? If a RED job came along would I be foolish to rent a clipper and try and fly the RED without much experience with that specific combo? I realize the thoughts behind the smaller rig actually being harder I just wasnt sure how fast you could step into a larger rig and be proficient.
 
Jeff Anderson said:
Not to hijack the thread too much, but I'm looking at getting a Flyer and would eventually like to move up the line to the larger rigs. I'm taking the Flyer workshop here in a month or so and hope to learn alot there, but the big question I have haunting me right now is this - Say I become proficient with the flyer and smaller cams like the HVX, how easy is the move to a clipper with a larger cam like the red? If a RED job came along would I be foolish to rent a clipper and try and fly the RED without much experience with that specific combo? I realize the thoughts behind the smaller rig actually being harder I just wasnt sure how fast you could step into a larger rig and be proficient.
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I think you would find it amazingly simple to move up to a larger rig.

-A larger rig is more stable and the inertia is easier to control
-It has more controls to help you operate easier (Ride option on the arm, 3 posts, more power options...etc)
-It is not affected by outside elements as easy as smaller rigs.

But:

-You cannot rent a larger rig (At least I haven’t seen it)
-You have be ready for the extra weight (My recommendation is running, get used to having your heart run at 160bps for extended periods.)
-You might be asked to fly more gizmos and learn how to dynamically balance them very fast (Downconvertors, video transmitters, Pana tape....etc.)

I would recommend after the steadicam class practice, practice and practice. When you feel you are achieving a level of operating to be confident, ask the operator community to fly a large rig. You will see there is a very strong camaraderie between operators and somebody in your area will help you out. Check out www.steadicam-ops.com and www.steadicamforum.com

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the info Emre, that definitely helps alot. Didn't realize that the larger rigs werent common at rental houses. Good points on the extra gizmo's and weight. I'll check out steadicam-ops, have already been lurking around steadicamforum quite a bit. Definitely planning on spending 2009 practicing practicing and practicing some more and hopefully using it more and more on my corporate work and for low budget student type work to get some good practice.

Thanks again for you thoughts, reallly appreciate it!

Jeff
 
Got another question. About how heavy does an HVX with say a Zacuto DoF kit weight. Basically a lens adapter rails and a matte box. Would it be able to fly on a Merlin? with vest and arm?
 
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