Salomon Meij

Thanks for the tips, very useful! This tip in particular was very helpful: I got it to the point where it'll stay almost perfectly still when I stop all motion with my guide hand. However, whenever I move, even slightly, it'll still begin rocking. I think that's what they mean with "dynamic balance", correct? Any chance you guys have some tips for me on how to achieve that? Or a resource I could read for the Merlin?

Hello, I recently bought a Steadicam Merlin, to use with my HV20. However, after trying to get it balanced for a couple of days, I'm ready to pull my hair out. I just can't seem to get it to balance properly. I tried both Cookbook settings, as well as trying to balance it from scratch extensively. However, though I'm now able to keep it from just falling over completely to one side, I can't get any further than to a point where it stays upright, but will rock back and forth in all directions like a boat swaying in the ocean. I read the manual a couple of times and watched the video, but I can't seem to find any advice on how to fix this. From what I understand the rocking is probably what they call the "pendulum" effect and might be caused by bottom-heavyness, but the manual basically just suggests to keep trimming. I have tried trimming for HOURS but even though I can get it closer and closer to being in balance, I can only get to the point where the rocking is very subtle, yet still very noticeable, and any trimming in either direction, however slight, will make the problem worse. I feel like I'm doing something wrong, or maybe I should be trimming even more delicately, like half nudges, but it seems to me like it shouldn't be "that" delicate of an instrument, though I know it is quite delicate. It shouldn't require hours of saint-like mini-trimming to get it to balance properly without rocking should it? The one other thing I was wondering is, is it normal for it to rock back and forth? Because I realize I can put my other hand on the guide to stabilize it, but I can't imagine you're supposed to stabilize the stabilizer with your hand to stop it from rocking back and forth? Maybe I'm missing something really obvious, either way, I was hoping someone could give me some advice, it would be much appreciated. I also uploaded a video to youtube which demonstrates the effect I'm seeing, as I thought it might help clarify my problem. I've gotten the rocking to be "more" subtle than it is in the youtube video before, but it got worse again since then, and I figured having the effect slightly exxegerated might be more helpful anyway. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9EW92lLvYY