New Tilta G2 and G2X gimbals

Yes! That looks like an obvious simple solution to the midrange cameras.... why the hell didnt anyone do this before.
I think this might even fly an fs7! The problem has been that the vertical gimbal arm had been sitting behind the camera, but moving it in front clears the length problem (i hope.... :D)

Will deffo be keeping an eye on this one.

To answer your question. I did some searching as well and a few people wrote that they thought the G1 seemed like quality. The biggest issue being tilta Customer Service.
 
I'm not sure I understand the point of a 4lb single handle gimbal that accepts up to 8 lbs, for the same reasons the Puredrifting mentions. Even a two handed gimbal gets tiring when loaded up a bit. It looks very well built, and it's a bit surprising that it costs under 800 bones for the build quality, but...
 
It looks like it has a two handle setup that looks similar to the Letus Helix. Even with the single handle it has two rosettes so you can attach two handles or even a C200 handle or similar. Ergonomically I think it looks pretty versatile, I'm just curious about stability. The fact they're advertising it with the C200 yet not showing any sample footage is what's keeping me on the fence.
 
Angry Leprechaun said:
It looks like it has a two handle setup that looks similar to the Letus Helix. Even with the single handle it has two rosettes so you can attach two handles or even a C200 handle or similar. Ergonomically I think it looks pretty versatile, I'm just curious about stability. The fact they're advertising it with the C200 yet not showing any sample footage is what's keeping me on the fence.
Click to expand...

When I had my Helix Jr. with the C100, the longest most could shoot/carry and shoot steady footage without shakes, without resting, was about 5-6 minutes. I think a single handle with a Steadicam Merlin type vest with the gimbal would be the hot tip. More cumbersome than just a gimbal but also able to shoot much longer than just free holding a gimbal. Guess it depends on what style you shoot but I always get producers who want to shoot 15 minute walk and talks with talent or long character POVs that go forever. As far as Tilta, I would think the quality would be decent as their camera accessories are good but I wouldn't buy one unless I could actually try it with a C200 on-board. Tilta and electronics, I don't know. Once you introduce electronics, it becomes a whole different ball game. Hopefully as easy to setup and use as the Zhiyun stuff? If it uses Simple BGC, run the other way, that software is a nightmare.
 
@puredrifting : bring your C200 to their Burbank store and test it out. They have it in stock. I just picked up one this morning.

tilta2.jpg
 
Give us an impression of how it is... Just been eye-shopping the tilta parts, and combine this with a Nucleus-M kit and it's pretty functional, in the sense that you just need to beef up your front lateral and lateral raises in the gym ;P
 
Capacity of G2x on paper: 3600g

Stripped FS7 II with big battery (S-8U93) and xqd card (no monitor)

- Sony 18-110 with mattebox: 3545g
- Sony 18-110 without mattebox: 3356g

- Fujinon mk18-55 with mattebox: 3270g
- Fujinon mk18-55 without mattebox: 3134g

So if the light MK doesn't make the setup too front heavy, it should be doable :P although no focus posibility :S I think a baseplate with rods and motor would be just about too heavy. Motor with cable is approx. 300g alone. Baseplate and rods probably more...

The 18-110 is supposed to be perfectly balanced to the FS7 II.
 
I admire the basic concept behind gimbals but I can only shake my head at each successive iteration which continues to ignore the basics of human anatomy. The current Movi and Ronin have certainly improved things with the circular cage (I can only imagine Mike Figgis' amusement here, having invented the Fig Rig well before any of this) but these pistol grip versions baffle me. I own the small Zihyun Crane which I have only used with an RX100IV for some specialty shots, and I felt the need to modify that setup immediately. The ergonomics of holding a mass forward and extended from the body is a flawed one due to the principals of leverage, but a necessary evil if one expects versatility in lens height (but if you didn't, imagine a shoulder-mounted gimbal that delivers the usual isolation of pan, tilt and roll, perhaps even with vertical isolation built in?).

I found it unnerving that the pistol grip Crane felt top-heavy in my hand, which while not immediately adding to instability had a cumulative effect on how accurately I could manage inertia of the total object. I fastened a plate to the bottom of the unit which countered the top weight, placing the center of gravity close to my hand (like a Pogocam or Steadicam) and it immediately felt better--and I could set it down easily! I added a Connex Mini transmitter for initial tests as seen below but eventually discovered that the monitoring output shut off when shooting 4K, so I got rid of that.

IMG_4422.jpg

I can only imagine the awkwardness of wielding a larger gimbal with a camera like the EVA1. As puredrifting noted, combining with a lightweight Steadicam arm and vest would work wonders, but the interface between gimbal and arm needs to be worked out so that you have full three axis flexibility to maneuver the device without limitation. The classic Steadicam gimbal (the duality of the term is always a confusing one) would still be helpful in this regard, but the mass would need to be equalized to so that the axes intersect within the center of the gimbal, otherwise it would flop around if you loosened your grip. Easy enough to do if the batteries were relocated to the bottom of the post, but you would also need controls to trim the mass fore/aft, side/side and top/bottom, which means for any weight changes like swapping lenses you are now rebalancing both the gimbal and the overall assembly, which is a lot of work.

Maybe that shoulder-mounted gimbal isn't such a wacky idea after all...
 
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CharlesPapert said:
I admire the basic concept behind gimbals but I can only shake my head at each successive iteration which continues to ignore the basics of human anatomy. The current Movi and Ronin have certainly improved things with the circular cage (I can only Mike Figgis' amusement here, having invented the Fig Rig well before any of this) but these pistol grip versions baffle me. I own the small Zihyun Crane which I have only used with an RX100IV for some specialty shots, and I felt the need to modify that setup immediately. The ergonomics of holding a mass forward and extended from the body is a flawed one due to the principals of leverage, but a necessary evil if one expects versatility in lens height (but if you didn't, imagine a shoulder-mounted gimbal that delivers the usual isolation of pan, tilt and roll, perhaps even with vertical isolation built in?).

I found it unnerving that the pistol grip Crane felt top heavy in my hand, which while not immediately adding to instability had a cumulative effect on how accurately I could manage inertia of the total object. I fastened a plate to the bottom of the unit which countered the top weight, placing the center of gravity close to my hand (like a Pogocam or Steadicam) and it immediately felt better--and I could set it down easily! I added a Connex Mini transmitter for initial tests as seen below but eventually discovered that the monitoring output shut off when shooting 4K, so I got rid of that.

View attachment 129784

I can only imagine the awkwardness of wielding a larger gimbal with a camera like the EVA1. As puredrifting noted, combining with a lightweight Steadicam arm and vest would work wonders, but the interface between gimbal and arm needs to be worked out so that you have full three axis flexibility to maneuver the device without limitation. The classic Steadicam gimbal (the duality of the term is always a confusing one) would still be helpful in this regard, but the mass would need to be equalized to so that the axes intersect within the center of the gimbal, otherwise it would flop around if you loosened your grip. Easy enough to do if the batteries were relocated to the bottom of the post, but you would also need controls to trim the mass fore/aft, side/side and top/bottom, which means for any weight changes like swapping lenses you are now rebalancing both the gimbal and the overall assembly, which is a lot of work.

Maybe that shoulder-mounted gimbal isn't such a wacky idea after all...
Click to expand...

Thanks Charles for posting such an eloquent and well written explanation. My experience goes back to the original Steadicam Jr. which I used to use with a Sony TRV-900 back in the day. Same issue, you cannot hold something in front of and away from your body for any extended amount of time without compromising the shot, your shoulder and back muscles. It's kind of impractical to think such a a setup is viable with larger heavier cameras like the C200, FS7 and EVA 1. Even regular two-handed gimbals are difficult to hold up for any period of time. Great technology, but not very good human engineering IMHO.
 
I 3D-printed an inerface piece so I could use the arm from my flycam together with my Nebula 4000, and then my Zhiyun Crane. But it's far from ideal, because it makes the whole thing longer and it's difficult to get the camera much lower than eye-level. Plus I found out that a small gimbal with a 1kg camera is not THAT heavy, and the handle in the ZC is a lot more confortable to use than the one in my old Nebula 4000, so since I switched to the ZC I'm just handholding it. YMMV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWsgPyWpiQg
 
I've been using the Crane v2 and GH5 combo for the last year. Works great!
Pretty tiring at events and won't really want to do this when I get old, but it's not that bad with M43.
Relatively small manageable for short takes.

You don't have to hold it that far away from you if you don't want to. And there are lots of dual handles out there.
I got the cheap $30 one on eBay and it works great during events because you can hold other stuff on the handles and set it down no problem.
If you aren't in shape then yeah it's gonna get bad, I am aching after a long event, BUT lots of fun shots I can't otherwise.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Camera-Dua...hash=item3d510f3430:m:mFfXbtLlqzDIjZbqL6oDyKA

I'm planning on going A7III and I don't know how that's going to work...
They need to make a "mini" vest or vest arm or something that's relatively inconspicuous.
Not necessarily as a steadicam arm but more somewhere convenient to rest it that still lets you be mobile.
Like this but without the silly price and a bit smaller:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Stead...599755?hash=item4d69a05fcb:g:hfIAAOSwGUBaMPbY

Also maybe a belt only solution so it's less conspicuous.

But definitely waiting for reviews for Tilta G2X as it's the only non-letus gimbal that might handle a 70-200mm lens.
(why don't they put the roll axis first, then the tilt... would be able to balance longer lenses!)
I was thinking of getting a Letus Helix but I'd rather get a gimbal that doesn't use basecam. Tilta looks like it's going to do it if it's basically like a Crane but can handle A7III and 70-200mm.
None of the "normal" gimbals can balance any longer loads. Not sure how effective the angled gimbals will be, hopefully someone will make a video!

Just saw this: Ikan Pivot... Looks very similar, but with "crane 2" styling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5mtiWjLHKw
 
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Indeed. If you're going to hold the thing from way below the center of gravity, you better keep the whole thing small and light, and place you handling point (or an average between them, if you use two hands) right below the center of gravity.
 
Like I said you can always get dual handles. Honestly these look perfect but of course I can't find the rosette arms anywhere (don't care about the follow focus grips). They'd be great to mount the C200 grip onto.

20066872_131937750736224_8755549626150420480_n.jpg

Most of the time I'm using a gimbal for b-roll, so I think this'd be perfect (granted I'm still looking for the funds to buy all this crap, but hopefully soon!). A vest would definitely help a lot though. Are there adapters out there to put a 1/4 20 mount on a steadicam sled?
 
Angry Leprechaun said:
Are there adapters out there to put a 1/4 20 mount on a steadicam sled?
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Any Steadicam sled can accept a 1/4-20 mount via the mounting plate. But I'm not sure that's what you would be looking to do. Then you are putting a gimbal assembly on top of a Steadicam rig. That has been done but it has its own set of complications. In that eBay link above there's a picture of a Steadicam style arm and vest with a pistol grip gimbal plunked onto the end of the arm. That doesn't work at all, as one can quickly figure out--that removes the ability to pan and tilt the camera (unless you use the joystick controls, and I feel like very few rely on those versus actually rotating and tilting the gimbal itself). There are various ways to mount a gimbal to a Steadicam vest and arm that still allows articulation of the gimbal; the Tiffen Steadimate is one. I haven't yet seen eBay knockoffs of that concept but surely they are coming.
 
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