Footsteps shake / judder - a complete noob

[Emilian Dechev]

Well it looks smooth.

If I rotate my hand slowly, the gimbal cannot register and the camera follows the rotation. If I rotate faster, the gimbal activates and the camera does not follow.
Is this normal?
I think this is heavily dependent on the camera weight.

I am waiting to get a TF2 teflon oil and will make another video after I oil it.

[Emilian Dechev]

Actually I've never played with a real pro gimbal, so I dont know what a "smooth gimbal" means. After watching some reference videos, now I am pretty sure, that my gimbal is stiff. It is a cheap gimball afterall. I will make a video to show how much it rotates by itself, without any camera and weights.

[Emilian Dechev]

This shows the stiffness of the gimbal.
I did not put the camera, because it is natural to get better with added weight. I want to test only the gimbal, how it moves on itself.

With a camera on top, I can still bypass the gimbal and rotate the sled, but with a really slow movement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_oWWh4MzJo

[Sanjay Sami]

That is a TERRIBLE gimbal ! It defeats the purpose if you can pan your sled with the gimbal handle.

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Wow that's crap

[Jens Piotrowski SOC]

You get what you pay for...try lubricating it

[Fabrizio Sciarra SOC ACO]

Holy Shute dude, throw that thing out of the window and go get some fresh air! What the heck! That's not a gimbal man

[Emilian Dechev]

Aaaah alright then it seems I was a victim of my own gimbal ignorance... I should have started with that. Now I have an option to go with a Glidecam HD2000, does anyone knows, how its gimbal compares?

[Victor Lazaro]

You will have issues with anything cheaper than a Pilot or Flyer and, like you experienced, will be forced to buy two bad instead of one good. Steadicam requires your gear to perform smoothly at all time, you can't rely on poorly machined gear.

[Emilian Dechev]

Thanks Lazaro. I will keep the Pilot on my "wish list" until I have enough money :) I am a poor student after all...

This whole topic was a good lesson for me and now we know, what a stiff gimbal looks on video...
For comparing purposes I will make another video after I oil that cheap junk. And eventually will get the glidecam 2000 and make another comparison.

[Tom Wills]

Emilian,

 

I've got a bit of experience with cheap gimbals, having started out building my own when I was a teenager. That is one of the worst I've seen, stickiness-wise! I'm guessing it's got quite heavy grease in the pan bearing, and it might also have some mechanical issues preventing the bearing from rotating properly.

 

While some of this certainly is expected with a gimbal of that cost, there actually is something to learn from here! Which is how to properly clean out a gimbal.

 

First of all, you need to figure out how to get into the bearing. Without taking a good look at the gimbal of this rig, I can't help much here, but you should eventually get into it to the point where you have a steel ball bearing visible. Then, you need to get it clean of all of its grease. The best solution would be something like aerosol spray contact cleaner, but soaking the bearing in a container of rubbing alcohol also works well. Either way, clean out the gimbal until there is no grease or oil left in it. This may take quite a few tries, especially if there is thick grease filling it. Then, re-lubricate it with as little of the lightest oil as you can find. For some of my gimbals, I've used sewing machine oil, which is very close to the oil the top brands recommend. Teflon is unnecessary, and could potentially cause problems. The lighter the oil, the better!

 

By the way, there's a tutorial online about how to clean out gimbals that uses water and soap. DO NOT FOLLOW THIS. Very easy to end up with a seized up bearing if you do that. Alcohol and contact cleaner are much safer options.

 

Check out this video, for the difference between a properly lubricated gimbal and what Flycam usually sends out:

 

 

Also, check out this video from GPI PRO about gimbal cleaning. Very useful tutorial!

 

 

Finally, in terms of gimbals, the Glidecam is better than the range of Glidecam knockoffs that are out there. At least with the Glidecam, they do know how to engineer a proper stabilizer, even if it is low cost and cutting some corners. I have played with a few of the Chinese handheld stabilizers, and some of them have decently smooth gimbals, but they can be hit-or-miss in terms of alignment and build quality, so Glidecam might be your best bet.

 

It's all a matter of perspective though, and everyone has to start somewhere. Eventually you'll end up with a gimbal that costs many times what your entire setup cost! (just the bearings in my PRO gimbal ran me $1200!)

[Emilian Dechev]

Thanks, Tom! Very useful info! Well, "no pain no gain", I guess I will learn the hard way, but no one at my course knew anything about it. We do not have a steadicam class or something.

So you are saying, no need for teflon oil. Maybe WD-40 spray?

[Jens Piotrowski SOC]

try Tri-flow or a very light bicycle chain oil like Dumonde tech

[Nils Valkenborgh]

Never ever EVER use WD-40 on any part of your rig. It'll serve as a cutting oil, every single dust and dirt particle will start sanding down your bearings and housing, creating a lot of play and making you gimbal unusable.

[Alan Rencher]

Yeah, WD-40 isn't a lubricant. It's meant to clean and drive out moisture.