IndieHardware stabilizer Ver. 2 test results

hi

i've been following your two threads about this stabilizer with interest. this is a very cheap stabilizer, obviously there are some compromises. i have a few questions:

- the handle seems kind of small. is this an issue for you? would it be easy to swap the handle (ie does it unscrew)?

- other stabilizers i've been looking at online (eg Pegasus II mini DV steadicam) have the ability to adjust the position of the camera side to side so as to balance it, where as the indiehardware seems to just allow front / back balancing. does this seem to be an issue?

- what length do you have the kit lens set to in your videos?

thanks for all the information you have generously shared

regards

gonks
 
- the handle seems kind of small. is this an issue for you? would it be easy to swap the handle (ie does it unscrew)?

Yes, the handle does unscrew and yes, it is a bit on the small size, but that doesn't seem to be an issue for me.

When I get that ball rod end I mentioned I'll possibly try a different handle, although I haven't found a place to get screw-on handles yet.

- other stabilizers i've been looking at online (eg Pegasus II mini DV steadicam) have the ability to adjust the position of the camera side to side so as to balance it, where as the indiehardware seems to just allow front / back balancing. does this seem to be an issue?

No. The GH1 tripod socket is on the lens centerline and this seems to be the major contributor to the overall CG. When the LCD is swung out the CG moves a tiny bit to the left but this is easily accounted for by a very slight movement of the weight arm. The lack of side/side movement would be critical, however, if the camera's tripod socket was off center from the camera's CG. (In other words, for a camera other than the GH1 this lack of side/side adjustment could be a show stopper.)

- what length do you have the kit lens set to in your videos?

Great question - I found that the physical length of the lens had a great impact on the camera's balance point. Since this changes with zoom value I've pretty much settled on using a setting of about 30 on the lens (60mm in 35mm terms.) This is just slightly more zoom than 1-1 as seen in the viewfinder.
 
thanks for all that. i'm going to order one!

interesting . . . 30mm is longer than i imagined. i thought you would have been shooting wider given it's intrinsically more stable. i guess my canon fd 24mm f2.0 should be fine then.

i'm glad that nobody stole your deck between videos 1 & 2
;-)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top