Sony PMW-F5 + Steadicam Pilot

[Amedeo Fabroni]

Action!

Tiffen Steadicam Pilot

Sony PMW F5 CineAlta

Zeiss Compact Prime CP2 Distagon 28/T2.1

 

 

 

[Alan Rencher]

I'm surprised that setup is within 10 lbs.

[Sam Morgan Moore]

The F5 is 2.2 KG (4.85lb) - the black magic is 1.7KG (3.7)

 

I find this interesting.

 

I guess that by moving the battery to the bottom, choosing a stills lens (although those CPs seemed light and plastic to me) there is some hope of using these cameras in a near naked form on the Pilot

 

Of course focus remains an issue unless one added a super light remote system or (with the F5) was able to talk to a lens such as the SonyE 16mm pancake, which is comically light and small and whose AF kind of works for simple shots

 

S

[Nick Tsamandanis]

I found one of my Pilot arms was more gifted in strength than the other, so some may get away with a slightly heavier load than the quoted 10 lbs.

[Mark Baluk]

The pilot arm should hold about 18lbs in total,

[Alan Rencher]

But you figure that the sled weighs at least 5 lbs, plus monitor, plus battery; the real danger would be damaging your gimbal, not the arm.

[Mark Schlicher]

If the arm lifts 18lbs and the sled, battery, and monitor add up to about 8 (I bet it's slightly less, actually), that tracks pretty well with the 10 pound advertised "camera payload."

 

The gimbal and arm are (in theory) both designed with these things in mind.

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

The gimbal and arm are (in theory) both designed with these things in mind.

 

 

Yet there are known gimbal issues with that rig

[Mark Schlicher]

What are these "known" gimbal issues specifically? I haven't read or heard of any unusual problems with Pilot gimbals.

 

I stated that the Pilot gimbal (as well as the arm) is theoretically engineered to carry the rated 10 lb camera plus the weight of the sled, monitor and battery. Your statement appears to imply that "known issues" make the gimbal unreliable at its advertised payload.

 

Can you elaborate, please?

[Joe Lawry]

My pilot gimbal gave me hell when i got it as my first rig in 2008. tiffen taught me how to tweak it like a big gimbal.. got there eventually.

 

then again.. my flyer le gimbal has been a pain too.. but tiffen did help me out there a lot too, so credit to them!

 

My pro gimbal just works, period

[Dave Gish]

Last year I flew a Sony F3 with my Pilot. Sony primes. Pretty much naked, except for my little wireless video transmitter.

 

I also flew a Sony EX3 a couple of years back, with a Sennheiser lav receiver on the shoe. Had to power it with 12v from the sled and remove the eyepiece/cover to get the arm level.

 

But the heaviest thing I flew was actually a Cannon 5D. CP.2 primes, rails, matte box, and 2 filters. That stuff adds up. The arm was actually sagging a little.