Operating the Glidecam

J

jangoh

Member
Just bought the Glidecam 2000 Pro to use with my DVX.
It's really heavy ! Whole setup weighs about 3.5kg.

I know that I'm supposed to use the guilding hand to gently guide the central rod just below the gimbal. Panning is ok, i can easily pan the camera smoothly.
But how do you tilt the camera up or down ? Is it also by using the guiding hand to tilt the central rod ? Let's say if i need the camera to tilt down for 5 seconds, the stability of the camera depends on how stable is my guilding hand, right ?

Can i say that the stabilizer is best only for horizontal shot ? I can walk or run and my camera will always remain horizontal. And when i need it to look up or down, some of the stabilising effect is lost.

would appreciate if anyone can point me to some online resources on the details of operating the Glidecam 2000. Thanks.
 
You are correct that you need to use your "control hand" (the one on the gimble/post) to tilt. And you are also correct that as you tilt, you influence the rig, and some of the stabilizing effect is lost. This is somethign that just needs practice to do well.


If you make the rig less "bottom heavy" (a slower drop time, try 3 or even 4 seconds), it will take less energy to tilt, and you can be more precise abotu it.

Also, if your entire shot is at a paticular angle, there is no reason why you can't adjust the camera fore-aft so that it naturally "hangs" at the desired angle of tilt ... but that can cause other problems if you move quickly or try to pan, etc.

You are makign very good progress though, these observations show you are thinking about the shots and how to achive them.

- Mikko
 
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