Micro Gimbal for GH4, BMPCC, A7s - $699 USD

My CAME-TV single arrived yesterday and with a half hour I was watching back the test footage.

The balance of the camera took five minutes at most, and the out of box settings handled it really well.

The thing is completely silent. I didn't realise it was properly switched on until I realised the gimbal was actually working. I could hear and feel nothing from the motors - very slick.

The Nebula 4000 Lite served me quite well for the past 4/5 months despite my initial headaches with two faulty models and the worst customer service I've ever experienced in my life.

But, with absolute ease this product dominates the Nebula in every way.

Its build quality is superb, the tooless balance is simple, it looks great, it feels super slick and handles well, and the ability to 'force learn' a new neutral position to the software is very useful.

Down sides:

-Handle is not comfortable IMO - I would rather the handle from the Nebula.

-CAME-TV say not to play with the settings since each gimbal is uniquely setup and so default profiles cannot be provided. I think I even heard it would void warranty. This does limit things and some camera/lens combos may require either more or less power on the motors which we are forbidden to do!

The camera in this footage is the Sony A7s with Sony 16mm f2.8 in crop mode with continuous autofocus.

Password:single

 
Last edited:
...Oh great Google! Show me more!!!

Nebula 4200 High Resolution Image

Nebula 4200 5-Axis Gyroscope Stabilizer

- 5-axis gimbal gryo : vertical / horizontal / pitch / roll / yaw
- 32-bit, both single and double handle
- Support for DSLRs/Mirrorless with a maximum load of 1.6 kg
- Wireless controller
- Tool-less Balance
- Bluetooth

nebula-4200-5-axis-gyroscope-stabilizer.jpg
 
clivemcl said:
My CAME-TV single arrived yesterday and with a half hour I was watching back the test footage.

The balance of the camera took five minutes at most, and the out of box settings handled it really well.

The thing is completely silent. I didn't realise it was properly switched on until I realised the gimbal was actually working. I could hear and feel nothing from the motors - very slick.

The Nebula 4000 Lite served me quite well for the past 4/5 months despite my initial headaches with two faulty models and the worst customer service I've ever experienced in my life.

But, with absolute ease this product dominates the Nebula in every way.

Its build quality is superb, the tooless balance is simple, it looks great, it feels super slick and handles well, and the ability to 'force learn' a new neutral position to the software is very useful.

Down sides:

-Handle is not comfortable IMO - I would rather the handle from the Nebula.

-CAME-TV say not to play with the settings since each gimbal is uniquely setup and so default profiles cannot be provided. I think I even heard it would void warranty. This does limit things and some camera/lens combos may require either more or less power on the motors which we are forbidden to do!

The camera in this footage is the Sony A7s with Sony 16mm f2.8 in crop mode with continuous autofocus.

Password:single
Click to expand...

Would you say its worth twice the price of the Nebula (seeing them go for as cheap as 500 bucks used). I want to pick up a gimbal but I want something that is small and lightweight that I can bring along easily. The Nebula 4200 looks nice as well and a little stronger, but I wont hold out on a product that isnt out and test yet when I could get something that works now.
 
ReelFilmGeek said:
I wont hold out on a product that isn't out and test yet when I could get something that works now.
Click to expand...

I doubt it will take very long before these are shipping. This market segment seems to be "blowing up", so the competition should be fierce between now and 2016.
 
TheDingo said:
I doubt it will take very long before these are shipping. This market segment seems to be "blowing up", so the competition should be fierce between now and 2016.
Click to expand...

I Hope not but I need something probably by the end of October so got to go with what is out. Worst case I buy something and use it for a bit before selling it to "upgrade" and lose some money to make my life easier.
 
So I have the Nebula 4000 and I'm selling it. It's fussy with the tuning on the bigger cameras in my opinion. Better people than me seem to get good results with it with bigger cameras but I could just never get the hang of tuning it. Once I started putting the RX100 on it I started getting much better results. I think the motors might be a tad too small on the Nebula 4000 and in the mockups the motors look too small on the Nebula 4200 as well. The Pilotfly H1+ looks like an interesting alternative that is small and discrete but I wound up ordering a Came Single, I'm a little worried that it's probably too damn big but I'm hopeful the new dual IMU's and encoders start putting this gimbals in the performance category of the Ronin's and Movi's.

I think alot of the results you will get comes down to how you handle and shoot with these, just like a steadicam and also how good you are at tuning them. I too think the space is going to blow up and there will be tons of great options.
 
So... after a long hard fight, I finally gave up on the Nebula 4000 and bought a CAME-TV single. The curve on the Nebula was just too steep and the technology passed it up really quickly. I'm in love with the CAME-TV unit... tool-less, quick set up, and no programming required (so far)
here's my fresh out the box experience...

 
Gary Bartholomew said:
So... after a long hard fight, I finally gave up on the Nebula 4000 and bought a CAME-TV single. The curve on the Nebula was just too steep and the technology passed it up really quickly. I'm in love with the CAME-TV unit... tool-less, quick set up, and no programming required (so far)
here's my fresh out the box experience...

Click to expand...
The problem I see in your video is that the yaw motor along with the roll motor are not tuned correctly. And the fact that if you tune the device Came will void the gimbals support and warranty. Look into to your corners. See that jitter? Thats the jitter one wants to tune out. It looks as if your yaw motor is skipping steps. And the only way to fix it is in the PID's. Not only that, but you are moving rather slow on all of these shots. Try to do some fast moves and see how the gimbal responds. Try zooming your lens in a bit and see of the gimbal acts the same.

I still use my N4000 quite a bit. I just haven't seen anything that justifies purchasing a new system in terms of the performance. Maybe the build is better, but the performance gain is just not there. In fact, comparing the newer Came single and the Pilot Fly, both 32bit systems against what people are complaining about the N4000 8bit board and seeing that the Came and Pilot really aren't blowing the N4000 out of the water but most times from what I've seen is the opposite. Nearly ever Came single I've seen has the corner jitter problem due to the Yaw and roll motors not doing what they are suppose to do. And thats mostly on clips where people are trying to be smooth and slow.

I'm no super wizard in the PID's. In fact, the N4000 forced me to learn PID software. But it's not really hard to set PIDs up for a camera lens combo. I have my N4000 set up to fly the Gh4 with 12-35mm and with the ability to go from 12mm to 35mm with or without ND filter with no performance loss. On the fly. Then a third profile to fly the A7s for any lowlight shooting I need to do.

Not defending or recommending the N4000 over any other system. What I'm saying is that some of the newer gimbals were not enough for me to consider the "upgrade". Especially the Came Single, without the ability to set your own profiles. I don't know? Has anybody played with the PID's of the Came Single?

Anyhow, take your new gimbal and try some hard moves and lets see the results. Up and down and side to side. Like this.
https://vimeo.com/126987460

And the result. All of the motion shots are the Gh4 with 12-35 at different focal lengths. We had the Fs7 ready on the Ronin but the day was getting short and the space was getting tight. So we ditched it for the N4000 and Gh4. Then on the Second day in Santee Alley downtown LA, the only way to get the shots were with the smaller system:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNh49WmPCAI
 
Yea Dustlense,
With my CAME Single I def feel I need to get into the settings. a6000 works flawlessly on it. The a7s though creates some micro vibrations at times.

I will probably (but very cautiously) look at the settings.

As I understand it, the settings for the encoders are supposedly tuned to each individual product leaving the warehouse and as such there is no 'default profile' to be handed out to those who make mistakes.
That said, could CAME not just provide some guidance, and say "see this part here - DO NOT CHANGE". Otherwise I'll just wait - I'm sure Emm from Cheesycam will cover it eventually. He has already tinkered with his settings to create an inverted mode (albeit with the camera upside down.

The Nebula 4000 was harder to balance cameras on. It always remained somewhat 'floppy'.

The Came Single hard stops are very reassuring. Because ultimately nobody can tell you with any confidence just how many rotations their Nebula wires have accidentally went through.

The 4200 certainly looks interesting, and they made it tool-less which is a great move. That said, and please allow me to capitalise this...

THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE ACCUSED ME OF FAKE NEGATIVE PROPAGANDA, WORKING FOR A COMPETITOR COMPANY, BREAKING MY FIRST TWO UNITS INTENTIONALLY.

If you want to risk dealing with these assholes, at least you can't say you weren't warned.


Also.... I had constant horizontal drift problems on my Nebula, and with the CAME Sngle this is never an issue.

Last night at a wedding, I timed myself switching from my a6000, to my a7s on the Single. It took 1min40secs including rebalance!
 
I hear ya on tool less balance. But I can balance my N4000 in about 2 minutes. It is what it is. The 4200 looks like a cool device. Keep in mind that the N4000 paved the way for all that followed. They are all decent devices. Better ones to come and worse ones too. But with any gimbal (ANY GIMBAL) to get the best performance out of it you have to have the ability to tune it.
 
Dusty... you underestimate your expertise with these things. Everyone on this forum knew you were a prodigy way back on like page 6 of this thread. Seeing your work was what got me interested in gimbals in the first place. If you give Picasso a crayon and give your average joe photoshop... Picasso still wins, it's not the brush... but the painter. That said, the tool-less design and ease of use of the CAME TV at least now has me seriously considering how I can use this thing to add to my real life work. I never even got there with the Nebula because as soon as I started into the PID setting, it went crazy on me. I know I need to practice alot with this tool, and I have every intention to take advantage of post-stabilization, but I'm confident I'll be getting usable results in the next few months. I'm going to take your shot challenge and post it up when I think it's worthy. Thanks for the feedback brah... seriously!
 
Well broke down and bought the Nebula tonight used on ebay to save some cash, now I just need to pick up a camera for it since my D750 is too heavy and I'm not sure the D7100 will be light enough. Might just pick up the A6000 as with the sony lenses it will have decent autofocus for video which may be helpful on the documentary I just got picked up to work on. All I know is I will get better footage with this for now than a cheap steadicam as I havent mastered operating a steadicam so Ill stick to "easy" mode gimbals for now haha
 
^ a6000 is a good choice. There should be a new model out soon, but "soon" is not good enough if you need it "now". Also consider the RX10 II or RX100 IV (smaller sensor and fixed lens, but no aliasing/moire, slog2, and internal 4K).
 
Samuel H said:
^ a6000 is a good choice. There should be a new model out soon, but "soon" is not good enough if you need it "now". Also consider the RX10 II or RX100 IV (smaller sensor and fixed lens, but no aliasing/moire, slog2, and internal 4K).
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm not one to wait on gear, rather have a camera that I could make money with now. And yeah was debating the Nex 5n or A6000 for now (RX100 IV is also a contender though, however it doe's cost 4-5x as much as the 5n, and twice as much as a6000 if I buy them used). May rent it for a few days to consider because It does have slow motion (een though the high frame rates are limited to 2 seconds of recording time correct?) Really just depends on how well the RX100 can match with other cameras .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top