stedicam purchase help.

[reem12]

I'm in the process of taking the punge into buying a stabalizer that supports up to 10 pounds. can anyone with real life experience with the glidecam smooth shooter and the stedicam pilot render any pros and cons between the both. I'm not caught up on name brand because from the footage I've seen from the glidecam it seems to shoot just as smooth of footage as the big name stedicam. on mainly refering learning curve and time frame of balacing. I have a merlin and love it, but will need something bigger soon.

 

[emretufekci]

There are many threads that disscuss the exact issue but here is the readers digest version.

- The result might look the same but operation of the units are different.
- Steadicam is easier to set up, balance and use.
- Steadicam has innovations built into their system that trickle down from their high-end models.
- Glidecam is cheaper but you get what you pay for.
- Learning curve is the same for either unit, after taking lessons (must) you can expect 8-12 months before you can produce "industry acceptable" images.

I dont opt out for "name brand" products, steadicam is the exception.

Good Luck with you upgrade.

 

[Gary Sconce]

I have done a lot of stabilized camera work mostly shooting athletes. The previous post is correct. The Stedicam is a very nice unit. You do get what you pay for with it. I used the Glidecam V-16 recently, carrying a heavy Red Camera rig with battery and weight to counterbalance it and it worked well. I was able to run straight, curved, over curbs, backwards and slide sideways with the Glidecam working smoothly. A lot of the smooth operation is in the operator's practiced movements.

After recently using the rented Glidecam and pricing other rigs... I had 'sticker shock' and went out and built my own camera stabilizer, which I am VERY happy with: the HYPERCAM. I have a rig built for the Red Camera's weight that can do high rig, medium rig and has a tiltable low rig; can remove the gimbal and be used as a hand held sled, and can change sled length from 30" to 48" for balancing. It cost me around $300 totally to make. HVX's are light and easy to throw around with this unit. If you can weld you can make one too.

Good luck on your future purchase or construction. You will love the capabilities you have by adding a camera stabilizer to your equipment.