ryan t jenkins

im not denying that if possible a good condition used zephyr is the better option, i am just saying that if for whatever reason you are unable to get one, the aero 30 is no slouch. If i could have gone zephyr i would have, but im not dissapointed in my aero 30.

the aero 30 is definitely a capable rig, but the zephyr does have its benefits for sure. All of the things listed above are true, but do not count out the 30. I have a 30 ( i needed to buy "new" as part of the contract and the zephyr new was out of the price range) and i have loved it so far. It packs very small, I have flown up to alexa on it, and I really enjoy having Ptap on the top of the sled. I also have not seen a zephyr for sale used int he 4500$ price range in a long time. There are also a LOT of mounting points and options for DIY add ons on the aero. It would be very easy in my opinion ot hang another battery plate or anything else you might need in order to get bottom weight. I have both a Flyer LE, a used Zephyr, and an A-30 and i fly the A-30 the most. It just "feels" better, crisper, and cleaner. If i need to fly the heaviest of weight stuff that i do in my line of work, I use the Zephyr... but 90% of the time that is not necessary and i fly the aero for almost everything ( incl. reds/panasonic eva1/blackmagics/f5,f55/miniArri)

I Have been planning to use the Ptap on my second battery to make a cable that will put the two batteries in line so i can just mount a dummy V plate at the very bottom of the sled (there is a 1/4 20 down there). It could even be a makeshift V mount holder that can slide fore / aft like the stock battery mount, would just require making a DIY ptap cable.

the sharkfin ( i think thats what you are referencing ) is great but it would be great to have the batteries in two separate locations for dynamic balance. the default monitor is so light that it can feel pretty wonky trying to balance the heavier loads without offsetting that weight with the added weights/other stuff.

there is currently no way to attach another battery to the sled. there are multiple mounting spots to make this feasible but it would require someone with a bit more knowledge than me to chime in with how to bridge the two battery mounts together. The main benefit of it having a second battery mount at the moment (to me ) would be to add more weight to the bottom of the sled. this could be done by mounting any kind of plate on the bottom 1/4 20 post or fabricating something to use the bottom cross post. max payload i believe is 30 pounds (28 maybe) including sled. havent had the need to push it farther than that. my only real critique of it so far is that the thumb screw to extend/lock the post is a bit annoying to deal with, and the monitor it comes with is really quite bad.

it took me two storm cases ( the same size as the 1650 pelicans ) to fit my entire aero 30 package with batteries/charger/vest/c stand.

i might not be as qualified as others, but i think it can very easily fly all of those things. the weight range is stated at 28 pounds i believe which gives you a ton of room. the only thing that really limits it in my opinion is that its 12v and you only have 1 ptap on the top, and you only have 1 battery mount. The clever thing to do would be to figure out how to mount another battery on the bottom 1/4 20 thread on the bottom bar, and run it in parallel with the other battery. that would solve the issue of not having a lot of options for adding weight to the bottom of the sled as well as providing better battery options. I have flown it with the bmpc 4k camera with a full mattbox/top battery,wireless video and had plenty of room on the springs. that rig i have posted above is with a 7 pound weight plate, batteries, and the teradek and I still had the springs almost as light as possible.

I wanted my camera as close as possible to the gimbal. With the limited weight addition i had with me i needed to make the bottom post as short as possible. I already was adding all of the included weights and an additional 6 pound weight plate, the camera was just feather light. If i inverted the battery it made the weight much "longer" and then forced me to raise the camera even further away from the gimbal. we really needed rock solid horizon ( or as best as it could be ), so i ended up flipping it like this because i felt more comfortable with the camera lower.

here is my aero30 with home made weight plate and additional weights that i just did a live dance / multimedia touring show with in Minneapolis and chicago. There is a quarter20 on the bottom of the sled as well, so there is really a good possibility you could make a slick secondary battery hangar down there.

gold mount seems to be the standard, but plenty of people roll V mount as well. I am sure people will correct me if I am wrong, but i thought it was kinda an east coast/west coast thing? A lot of people have substantial investment into V mount with sony/other cameras and so while gold mount seems to vibrate less and be a more ideal connection, they stick with what they got. I know I went V mount on my sled for that reason alone, otherwise I would have gone AB.

Joe and Elizabeth bailed me out of a broken part on set last week. within 24 hours I had a replacement in my hands. They were incredibly patient and helpful and turned a scary situation into something manageable.

as for the sway, what is your drop time?

I know there is a NYC meetup happening this weekend, might be a good place to get started since you are in brooklyn.

i ended up investing in a rig which was V-Mount since that was the battery investment I already had. I have heard good things about them though, and would buy them without concern if it was me. Maybe wait for some more responses here, but I think as far as what you are looking for they are a pretty safe bet.

When I was looking a lot of people suggested these: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&kw=IDAAB2E&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=230276