Inertia

[Elliot Gabor]

Just got my new Pilot sled and am excited to get it balanced. Coming from the Merlin, I'm especially interested in getting the most inertia possible out of the rig. Since the Merlin has a fixed gimbal I was pretty limited in how I accomplished this (essentially adding more weight was my only option.) I would also like to outfit the pilot to right under its maximum weight capacity for this reason. Here are a few related questions I have:

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• From what I understand extending the post (tilt and roll) and spacing out the battery and monitor (pan) are two ways of achieving more inertia. Is this true?
  

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• Aside from lens height and having a smaller rig, is there any benefit to not extending the post and keeping the rig smaller?
  

 

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• Is there an ideal location for gimbal placement. I've heard people saying that having it close to the camera is better. What would be preferred, adding more counterbalance weight and having it closer to the camera or having the gimbal closer to the middle of the sled and have less counterbalance weight?
  

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• Am I inertia obsessed because of how sensitive the Merlin was? Does it ever get to a point that operators don't want so much inertia or that inertia isn't even something operators need to worry about since their rigs are so heavy and the difference is barely noticeable?
  

[Tommy Stork]

I think you'll find that most operators prefer the gimbal as close to the camera as possible. I've heard operators refer to the mast of a sailing boat as analogous with this post/gimbal relationship. The further up the mast you get, away from the boat, the more travel the mast will have. Likewise, if your gimbal is at the bottom of your sled, (just for the sake of argument), and there is slight movement at the gimbal, this movement will be compounded by the time you reach the camera stage. This movement is easier to control the further up the post you move toward the camera.