AbracadabraFilms
Active member
I just took delivery of a Smooth Shooter and Glidecam 4000 yesterday. I thought I'd post my initial comments. It's an amazing product for the price.
The Glidecam 4000 is shipped disassembled but the assembly procedure is a snap. The Smooth Shooter vest and arm are very easy to configure as well. I'm using the rig with a DVX100a fitted with a Sennheiser ME66 shotgum mic with fuzzy and wireless transmitter. Also, I have a dimable Frezzi light mounted atop the camera as well. The power for the light comes from an NP1 NImh battery in a plastic battery box mounted with 2" velcro to the botom of the Glidecam 4000 weight platform. This also serves as a counterbalance weight. Fitted on the DVX100a is a Sony .8 zoom through wide angle adapter which weighs about 1.5 lbs. That lens is the accessory WA adapter from the Sony Z1U.
That said, it took less than 1 hour to achieve proper balance of the 4000. The directions are straight forward but it is important to follow the procedure. All of the horizontal balance adjustments were made on the sled. It's important to note that even a 1/16 move on the sled adjustment will make a noticeable difference. I used a Bogen quick realease platform to attach the camera
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/...e=categoryNavigation
This is an absolute must as one will loose all adjustments taking the camera on and off. Get 2 and put the other on your tripod so you can easily switch the camera back and forth.
Common sense will help you establish the starting point for mounting the quick release to the sled. In this case I knew that the camera was very nose heavy from the WA adapter and light, so I started with the camera pretty far back on the sled. The fine adjustmenst are done with the thumb screws on the sled.
The only tricking part was achieving the correct top to bottom weight. It's called the drop test and it's in essence how close the top is in balance with the bottom from the center point. This was easlily done by adding one more weight plate to the top sled and lengthening the lower unit adjustment.
Another must is a C stand to hold the rig when not in use. It wouldn't make sense to lay it down.
The entire unit weighs about 15 lbs. The Smooth shooter arm and vest with the two springs intsalled can handle 18 lbs. In fact it is suggested that you weight up the unit to take advantage of the "mass" factor. "An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." The more mass, the more resistant to jiggle.
After mounting the assembly to the vest and arm, I was amazed how stable the camera is. It does remove shakes from walking and it does create a very smooth gliding motion. It's going to take some practice to learn to control framing, but overall I am very pleased with the product and performance.
It's made very well, very professional ad looks to be very durable.
It's a definate winner, I think that I can wear the rig for long periods as I didn't feel much fatigue. The vest can get warm in 80 + heat. BUT...I can't imagine using the 4000 without the Smooth Shooter for anything bigger than a GL2. I work out, and could never hold a 15 lb unit in front of me very long. But with the vest and arm, it's literally weightless. In fact visually, it looks kind of creepy how it just seems to float in space.
The Glidecam 4000 is shipped disassembled but the assembly procedure is a snap. The Smooth Shooter vest and arm are very easy to configure as well. I'm using the rig with a DVX100a fitted with a Sennheiser ME66 shotgum mic with fuzzy and wireless transmitter. Also, I have a dimable Frezzi light mounted atop the camera as well. The power for the light comes from an NP1 NImh battery in a plastic battery box mounted with 2" velcro to the botom of the Glidecam 4000 weight platform. This also serves as a counterbalance weight. Fitted on the DVX100a is a Sony .8 zoom through wide angle adapter which weighs about 1.5 lbs. That lens is the accessory WA adapter from the Sony Z1U.
That said, it took less than 1 hour to achieve proper balance of the 4000. The directions are straight forward but it is important to follow the procedure. All of the horizontal balance adjustments were made on the sled. It's important to note that even a 1/16 move on the sled adjustment will make a noticeable difference. I used a Bogen quick realease platform to attach the camera
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/...e=categoryNavigation
This is an absolute must as one will loose all adjustments taking the camera on and off. Get 2 and put the other on your tripod so you can easily switch the camera back and forth.
Common sense will help you establish the starting point for mounting the quick release to the sled. In this case I knew that the camera was very nose heavy from the WA adapter and light, so I started with the camera pretty far back on the sled. The fine adjustmenst are done with the thumb screws on the sled.
The only tricking part was achieving the correct top to bottom weight. It's called the drop test and it's in essence how close the top is in balance with the bottom from the center point. This was easlily done by adding one more weight plate to the top sled and lengthening the lower unit adjustment.
Another must is a C stand to hold the rig when not in use. It wouldn't make sense to lay it down.
The entire unit weighs about 15 lbs. The Smooth shooter arm and vest with the two springs intsalled can handle 18 lbs. In fact it is suggested that you weight up the unit to take advantage of the "mass" factor. "An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." The more mass, the more resistant to jiggle.
After mounting the assembly to the vest and arm, I was amazed how stable the camera is. It does remove shakes from walking and it does create a very smooth gliding motion. It's going to take some practice to learn to control framing, but overall I am very pleased with the product and performance.
It's made very well, very professional ad looks to be very durable.
It's a definate winner, I think that I can wear the rig for long periods as I didn't feel much fatigue. The vest can get warm in 80 + heat. BUT...I can't imagine using the 4000 without the Smooth Shooter for anything bigger than a GL2. I work out, and could never hold a 15 lb unit in front of me very long. But with the vest and arm, it's literally weightless. In fact visually, it looks kind of creepy how it just seems to float in space.
