C300: Steadicam Pilot for Canon c300

Hey Polay, if you can wait until mid July, I might be selling my Pilot-AA. I've flown it with a C300, zeiss CP2s, nano flash, and upgraded DP6 monitor. That being said, once you start adding a remote follow focus (with brick battery) you will be over the weight limit and the arm will sag. If you can get a follow focus that is powerful enough and can be powered off of the rigs 10 AA batteries (12v-15v), then you will have pretty well built out setup and will be right around 10lbs which is the ideal load to put on a pilot.

I've noticed that most operators that fly a C300 consistently usually fly a zephyr. I mostly shoot DSLR with a weight plate on my pilot and love it.
 
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Things could be different now but last I heard movcam rigs had much to be desired, specifically their arms not being very iso-elastic and the rig feeling like another cheap knockoff. The biggest issue I see with movcam though is that they are based out of China. Enjoy sending it in for yearly servicing, gimbal balancing, or when something goes wrong.
 
Thanks for all the advice! egproductions, I was hoping to get a brand new one but thank you very much for the offer.

Regards
Adem
 
steadicams are general purpose devices. Its not a great idea to base a purchase around one particular camera because you may end up flying some different cameras other than the one you purchased the rig for. Get a the best rig you can afford above the one you need for your target camera that way you have sme options/ headroom to grow.
 
Take a look at the Came products on Ebay from China. I've thought about picking one up to use with my HD4000 that I fly my C300 with handheld. The vest is really just heavy duty springs to support the skill of the operator.
 
If your budget is lower than 25k on steadicam, I would not recommand anything other than STEADICAM brand itself.

other shits, like Flycam, will not work at all.

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM EBAY OR INDIAN, CHINESE WEBSITE.

its not steadicam.
 
Quality certainly matters, but here's whats happen to me in the past few weeks.

2 weeks ago: I rented a Glidecam Smooth Shooter w/4000PRO sled for a wedding shoot (using my C100). The sled alone was surprisingly heavy (Definitely needs the arm/vest) The vest is quite large, straps down good and tight, but I was left feeling a bit restricted movement wise (not as 'mobile' feeling as I would have wanted if that makes sens).
The bride is about to walk down the aisle, looks up at me and asks "am I good to go?", I line up the shot and BANG, the entire bottom half of the sled (w/ weights) hits the floor, my C100 immediately flips upside down (it was still still attached to the top of the sled and arm. I only had 2-3 weights on either side of the sled. The plastic bracket on the Glidecam 4000PRO snapped, so the entire bottom half (the pole that you can adjust) fell out, hit the floor, and was impossible to re-connect as the plastic fittings were snapped. I had to hold the bottom half in place and attempt to get the shot of her walking down the aisle.

This past weekend: I used an e-bay Wieldy Carbon Fiber stabilizer, no vest, just the sled. SURPRISINGLY light. It balanced very quickly, and it was shocking how easy it was to get the shot without needed the vest. I shot with it from 8am until 5pm, never missed a shot, no issues, and am using it again all next weekend.

The Glidecam is certainly larger, heavier, thicker, feels like much better build quality, but can fail just as easily (especially with cheap piece of crap plastic on it) In my experience in the last 2 weeks, the cheap e-bay knock-off DESTROYED the glidecam 4000 w/smooth shooter.

Hope this is a very isolated case though... man what a bad time to have that thing break on me!!
 
Just contacted Movcam, they recommended the Movcam Knight D200. Hard to find good reviews on this product though... any advice? Otherwise I might go with the Steadicam Pilot.
 
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