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In efforts to try and post more on the forum rather than Facebook. I am new to steadicam but I do believe to have a basic understanding of balance and have worked with 3axis gimbals for years. I have two sleds currently in my possession that are exhibiting similar but slightly different issues for what I believe to be a misalignment in the gimbal or yoke. Let’s forget dynamic balance for the moment. If I am setting up for a static balance with a 2.5 second drop time and I should be able to set the Fore-Aft and Side to Side to sit level with the lens facing forward and the gimbal 90* to the right and I rotate the rig by 90* and let the rig come to a rest the horizon shouldn’t fall left or right when static balanced correct? My only concern with my setup is on the Zephyr I have a gold to V mount adapter That is offsetting the batter left a bit. my goldmount batteries get here Monday. Attached are links to my links to videos I made to show Tyson at Tiffen about the Aero 30. The first one I believe my dynamic balance was pretty off and in the second video I corrected it as much as I could. Would love to get everyone’s thoughts on this because I feel like I’m doing everything right but the equipment seems off. My lacking of experience makes me question myself to and my camera build. I had even more of an issue getting dynamic balance on the zephyr with the same camera package as in the video so I switched to a weight cage to eliminate any variables with the camera build. Thanks!

Hi, I have an older 8-bit chip analogue Bartech unit with M-One motor. Occasionally I will be on a rest in-between shot and even during some shots, the motor will freak out and begin to sound like it's trying to move. It will not move but it will go on the fritz and sometimes twitch. All this happens also when my 1st AC isn't even touching the hand unit. That's what's so odd.

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?