Francisco Orozco Jr

Pro Cine Live owner here, same issue, won't hold level with 90 degree pan test. I've triple and quadruple checked that all things are lined up from the camera to the bottom of the sled etc. It won't even hold level at an almost 1.5-2 second drop time. 4 Second drop time it's wildly out of level if I pan at all from where I static balance! Hope someone knows if there is a provision to center the gimbal or if I just need to send it back to Pro.

Looking to fill that weight gap between 2 black Cans & 2 black 2 blue on my arm!

Sam, On the big rig I have a docking collar on both the top and bottom of the sled. For the Zephyr if I’m doing low mode I tend to extend the center post just enough to get the docking bracket into the collar right above the bottom electronics. Don’t make the same mistake I have of thinking the post clamp assembly is thick enough for docking! Hope this helps! Best, Francisco

Find a nice drop time by using primarily the gimbal placement and some post extension. I found that with most heavier builds (requiring 2 batteries) the paddle ended up almost straight down. Hope this helps!

I had great luck with dynamic balance on the Flyer and Flyer LE. I had great luck by first finding and marking the center of gravity of the camera build. Place that directly over the center post. Then you use the battery paddle to find your static balance. Thats it!

Smaller rigs such as the pilot, scout, flyer and even the zephyr state the camera payload capacity. That means the pilot is rated for up to a 10lb camera. (The arm max is about 15) the big rigs tell you the arm max. They changed this on the new Aero small rigs by naming them after their arm max weight (A-15, A-30) hope this helps!

Biggest Difference is the bottom having dual rods to fine tune monitor and battery placement for pan inertia, as well as the option for 2nd battery plate for 24v power. This is a good reason to consider getting a zephyr since used they are around the same price as a new A-30. Also the A-30 is all made overseas and the gimbal does not have the nice flush clamp style locking.

There's a few threads on this discussion. Basically the LE has a carbon fiber extendable center post, a beefier gimbal with larger diameter grip, weight capacity raised to 19 lbs from original 15 lbs. Hope this helps.

If the gimbal fork isn't bent then you could try centering the gimbal again by following the instructions for the ultra 2 gimbal. http://www.tiffen.com/images/content/U2_GimbalCentering.pdf

I Inquired about that back in February of this year, here's what Joe W. at Tiffen said "Also, the new style Aero dovetail holder has a different design and won't attach to the Zephyr. The Aero is replacing the Zephyr. However, it has less power options, less video options and is made overseas. These are some of the reasons that the Aero is more affordable than the original Zephyr." I know that they share the same center post but I believe that the top stage & gimbal are different.

If you don't mind me asking, where could I find the PDF file of the Zephyr assembly with part numbers? I've always wanted to open and clean my gimbal as well as service my top stage.

It looks to be the 12V XLR cable that comes with the Zephyr. He seems to be using it with a battery plate adapter (http://www.antonbauer.com/en-US/Shop/products/batteries-and-power-accessories-so-xlr-gold-mount)

http://www.steadicamforum.com/index.php?showtopic=15550&page=1

There's a whole topic already on the forum related to those two question. It boils down to whether or not your camera power cable is wired for 12v or 24v, a menu setting in Alexa for voltage warning, and the zephyr having too thin wiring for the load required by the camera!

Interesting to hear that arms have been getting damaged for being used at 30 lbs of combined sled & camera weight on the arm? I've found that my zephyr arm floats fine and horizontal up to 43 lbs! I'll keep that in mind as well. I try to keep the camera payload below 25 lbs to be safe on the gimbal & top stage.