Search the Community

Hello Everyone! A quick heads up. Watch this space! Rig Engineering will host an "Out with the old, In with the new" Garage Sale. Gimbals, Centre Posts, Arms, Junction Boxes, etc - Steadyrig, GPI Pro, Cinema Products and others. This will be found on Ebay starting on the 27th October 2013. If you are interested in any items please email myself or Christiaan, otherwise Personal Message us here on the forum. Happy Shooting. Kind regards, Hugo admin@steadyrig.com Steadyrig.com http://www.ebay.com/usr/Steadyrig

Selling a 3a Gimbal I purchased on the forum a few months back, it did its job and I have upgraded. The pan bearing is a little rough and I received it in that condition, once under load on a sled you don't notice it however. joe.lawry@gmail.com

the folks over at PRO have been busy for the last 18 months and this is one of the results. If you are considering buying a rig or upgrading you have to give this package SERIOUS consideration Pro Suit Atlas Arm with 2 grey and 2 black cartridges Complete Sled with the Gen 4 battery base, DB2 and preston mount, Gimbal with quick release clamp. $34,200 for the package! (monitor and batteries not included) This is a FULLY modular system, it grows with you, you don't need to go out and buy a new sled when you upgrade like other "Systems" When you need more arm capacity you buy the Titan chassis and two blues and you are good to go. If you would like to see this package come to Cinegear (5/31-6/1) Booth 114 on Brooklyn street It's a nice big booth with plenty of room for you to fly the new package. Pro will also be at the stabilizergear expo (6/2)

Good Afternoon Everyone, I sold my trusty Pilot VLB (my first entrance into this great world of Steadicam) to a buyer in France. Everything went well but one problem. He docked the small rig via the gimbal. He said the third time he pulled it out of the dock the metal "housing" (if that is what we should call it) that hides the ball bearings from the underneath of the gimbal fell out of place. Now the rig is still operational from what he says but he is afraid that the bearings will take on dirt and what not. Is there a permanent solution to putting this piece of metal back into place so the bearings are not "out in the open." As of now that ring is just hanging above the post clamp. I had not known this piece could fall out so easily, but then again I knew not to dock the sled via the gimbal. -Adam

Hi Peeps I recently did a daily on a feature in a very arid part of the Northern Cape in South Africa that was incredibly Hot and quite dusty. I was given all of 10min with the camera (Millenium XL) and I had to hike my gear up the side of a mountain where we were gonna shoot. I got to the top poped the camera onto my rig did a quick balance... but something just didnt feel great and in the rush of trying to do all of this under a minute because they were behind schedule It felt as if there was a gyro attached to my rig and the Gimbal was as stiff as a donkey. My conclusion is that there must have been some dust that crept into the gymbal and jammed the bearing, but now im stuck everyone is ready to shoot and I have to man handle the rig, instead of letting the gimbal do the work. After 3 or 4 takes I had to tell the DP and he seemed uninterested. How do I stop this from happening in future? I could make sure I cover the gimbal somehow or take it apart and clean it every-time but what a mission? What do you guys do in such a situation? Has it ever happened to you? As soon as I swung over to Low Mode she behaved and there was a massive sigh of relief but since then I have cleaned her up and im just waiting for the day it happens again. Help?

I have recentely purchased a steadicam Merlin. Balanced it after 30 min, put on an accesory and haven't manged to balance it again for days and days. Watched all tutorials and videos, read through many forum opinions and links, read all instructions, cookbooks, magic formulas and the like Camera: 5D MII, 17-40mm Canon Lens. Merlin on hole "N" with nose weight 1 mid+1 finish, lower weights 3 mid+ 1 finish. drop time under control After I discovered a strange thing about my Merlin, by mistake. I wonder if it's normal or if it's damaged in some way and thus my impossibility to balance it properly. I have the Merlin set up on the original bracket so it's easier to handle. Please watch the video, it's a much better explanation than the textual one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYwyaxJgGpQ&feature=youtu.be This is the strange issue: I can only balance it if I turn the grip at a certain angle (25-30 degrees) on the Y(vertical) axis, relative to the position of the grip with the place where you put your fingers aligned parallel with the Merlin spars. If the grip si facing forward (as the Merlin nose weights are, for example) I can not get it to balance whatever I do, even when bottom heavy. If I turn the grip at that certain angle something seems to turn with (inside?) the gimbal and I have a steady point to balance the Merlin on. Is it normal to be able to balance the Merlin only under those conditions and not to be able to rotate and turn the grip independently with the camera holding steady? I don't think it should be... As seen in the video, the Merlin displays some friction between one edge of the ball holding the gimbal and the inner wall of the cylinder ring, if rotated (camera un-mounted and stage turned on a side). I would like your opinions on this. Will send the video to Tiffen as well. Is this behavior normal as I'm a beginner at this or is there something wrong with this particular Merlin unit?

I've been trying to maximize and upgrade this little rig as much as possible. has anyone had any success with making their gimbal tool-less? perhaps swapping out the allen bolt with a wing bolt or kip of some sort...