Am i too untalented...

[Alex Haspel]

on monday i'll have a imagevideo-shoot (canon xl2) i'm going to dp and operate,

and was just informed that there'l be this thing too:

 

 

i've spent half the day today trying to gain control over this thing using a sony

pd170 on it....

now, i would definately not dare to call myself anything near a steadycam operator,

but the extremely unpleasing result do lead me to the conclusion that the basic

construction of this thing might not be perfect...

 

i spent an hour balancing it out, but whenever i try to pan the camera it starts

oscillating...

 

sorry for this question, which might seem extremely dumb for most or even all of

you, but as i said before, my experience with operating camera stabilizer systems

is zero...

 

plus the results are even shakier and worse when i use this thing:

(but i assume this might be a bit better with the heavier xl2 .. ?)

 

 

i hope not to insult any of you pro's when i dare to ask: has anybody experience with this

system?

 

and? what am i doing wrong?

 

thanks in advance,

alex

[Alec Jarnagin SOC]

Alex,

 

Try posting your question on www.steadiforum.com. I think you may have a better chance of finding someone with actual experience using that unit there. Also, search the archives here for tips on drop time and balancing.

 

Good luck.

[Thomas English]

Those look like funny beasts, is the arm attached to the bottom of the handle?!

 

Yup www.steadiforum.com is your place to ask about these, they know a lot about the plethera of cheaper lightweight stabilizers out there.

 

Although I would say, balance up with hardly any drop time. Maybe 4 seconds for the right to correct itself to standing after you tip it as far as the bearing (gimble) will let you. I think you have it too bottom heavy like a pendulum.