Tomas Burian

No it's not "pretty hard" to "Nail" static balance. You don't even need a level to do it. I also thought that but I just wanted to make sure that if the shot is wrong it would be because of my lack of skill and not improperly balanced steadicam. Or can you counter a bad balance by being a good operator?

How do you mean 'too academic'? I thought that precision was important in order to have the camera leveled. Pilot doesn't come with any level bubbles so nailing even a static balance is pretty hard.

Attending a workshop is not an option for me so where else am I supposed to find out things you guys said other than in this forum? If there was a website that could provide all this beginner information it would be great. Does it exist? I haven't found any. I could easily create one but I lack the knowledge of the subject. Still, should such site exist this forum could have a link to it somewhere so that newbies could easily find it. Maybe that would should stop people from posting questions that annoy you guys.

Will do. Thanks for all the useful tips.

How do you normally measure the drop time? Do you use stop watch or just count in the head? Is it crucial to get it exactly right?

Thanks for all the info. I'll get the book. It would be good if Tiffen could update their instruction video based on the feedback from people here, or maybe they already improved everything in newer models, I don't know. Either way, getting classes is very from where I am. The official workshops are quite scarce and usually sold out quickly and the other ones are hard to find due to language differences throughout the EU. I'll try to watch out if any local ones show up, though. There's one more thing I'd like to clarify. How far do I need to balance the thing to be able to operate it well? The static balance and the drop time? I can save the dynamic balance for later? I always prefer to learn from the masters so I'm just curious what your normal procedure is when you need to balance for a new camera.

I think I've read the Dynamic Balance topic dozen times over but it's hard to distill the right procedure and the philosophy behind it from so many opinions. Are you trying to say, though, that Pilot is operable even without the dynamic balance? Static balance is quite easy to achieve, just turn the knobs here and there, add some weights but then when I start to move it the whole thing starts tilting like a drunken master. I guess that's why I'm so worried about getting it all right. Maybe it's harder for me since I'm trying to balance it for DSLRs which are common in low-end productions around here. Them being quite asymmetrical makes it harder to nail their CG and position them right.

Hi, I'm a new owner of the Pilot V-lock version. I've been trying to balance it for days now and I'm starting to get headaches. I've read a lot of material on this forum and elsewhere but still can't get the grasp of how to practically get a good drop time to get closer to dynamic balance. Everyone talks about it as if it's something that's just for granted, usually saying 'set the drop time to X seconds'. How do you guys do that? Many claim it's so easy and takes just few seconds but there's nobody who would explain it for newbies. I've been desperately searching for some video showing the whole procedure of dynamic balancing but there's none. Naturally, if anyone knows how to do this they don't have any notion of making a video about it but I've already done a video for unpacking and I'd like to do a balancing video as well. Any help is appreciated.