Madhava Krishna Meduri

You guys have actually found me out and my skills well! I liked it. I am new to the Pilot. Yes! I am decently experienced (3 years) with both my XF300 and 7D. But when I was trying to balance the XF300, I thought I cannot handle it for the entire 3-4 hours with the weight it has. Here is my shoot scenario. I am all by myself on the shoot. I have 2 cameras (Canon 7D and Canon XF300) , 2 tripods, a Steadicam pilot (AA model) and other stands for audio capture on location. The event is a Indian classical dance with only one person on the dais throughout to focus. First I though I can fix a tripod with XF300 with entire dais covered and move with the 7D flying with me. Anyway since 7D is not good for a continuous shoot (I have a 256 GB card and a 128 GB and 3-4 of 32GB), I thought it needs manual intervention. On lenses, I have Canon prime 50mm/f1.8, Canon Kit 18-135mm f3.5-f5.6, Canon 100mm-400mm (L series telephoto). I am planning to use the Canon prime since the performance would be with limited fixed light. Example is here: (check around 34th minute in the video). Since this is the way the student of Indian classical dance is graduated with her Guru's blessings. Of course, I may not be allowed to step on the dais, but I can go close from the first row (space thereof). My client (In fact a friendly family) has no knowledge on the technical reasons or techniques I follow. Just they are resting on my own capacity. I had recorded several times in the past without a steadicam. Now I am either blessed with or cursed for this confusion. Though this is not a paid event, but since the performance is once in a life time for the performer, I do not want to take any chance. Please take your valuable time and some trouble, to visualize and guide. Thanks a ton in advance.

Thanks a lot for all your time and effective guidance. I can't appreciate enough!

I am very new to the Steadicam Pilot AA. I have a Canon 7D and Canon XF300. If I were to cover an event for 3-4 hours, I know XF300 will be a heavy-weight. If I were to go with the 7D, will I be looking professional with my client? I found many people using a merlin or similar for a DSLR. Please suggest.

I am trying to follow this discussion as my problem is similar and I am totally new to the Steadicam Pilot AA. I found some senior suggesting to use the Quick release plate. But I am confused, do you have an exact model number to search and buy from Amazon? With the current small screw (Not sure what it is called otherwise) that I use with a tripod setup, the camera (7D) still is not tightly fixed as the screw is still leaving space between the plate and the body. Appreciate if someone can clarify further.