I purchased a Merlin a few weeks ago, and am having some problems keeping it balanced.
The camera I have mounted is an HV20 with WD-H43 wide angle, and Sennheiser MKE-400 mic. Just a little over 2lbs total. It's balanced quite well statically and dynamically, and the drop time is just about 1 sec.
I've gotten the hang of balancing it. However, I find the balance is drifting quite a bit.
When I tilt the camera to the side about 45 degrees, that's enough to throws the L/R balance off (the bubble is almost to the left or right). Tilting it 90 degrees to check the drop time completely throws it off (the bubble is all the way to the left or right, and can take up to 1/2 turn of the trim roller to level again).
At first, it was my camera wobbling around, but putting some rubber strips on the dovetail plate minimized that. If I grab onto the stage, and tilt it on the side, there is virtually no drift of the balance from the camera mount, so it must be something else jiggly.
I've found that the balance drifts when I grab on to the gimbal handle and tilt it (like in normal use or a drop test). It's almost like there is play in the trimming mechanism. I thought it might be the gimbal, but I tried to let go of the handle and do the same holding the guide ring, and same thing happens.
Is this normal? It really is a pain to have the trim thrown off after a gentle tilt of the camera. I'm not expecting the balance to stick forever, but I did hope it would retain trim well enough through gentle use and handling.
The caliper is locked, and the locking knobs are really tight. I had them loose before, and the balance shifted like crazy. I haven't tried tightening the allen bolts on the upper and lower spar, but they do feel reasonably rigid.
Any ideas? Trick or techniques?
