Does anybody knows this Steadicam

[STEFANPH]

Hello!

 

I found this type of stabilizer named "Flycam 6000". It looks like a glidecam but it is very very cheap!

 

Here are the links (I think that they are the some ones)

 

http://cgi.ebay.de/GLIDERS-Arm-Vest-Flycam...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...A:IT&ih=003

 

What do you think about it? I don´t have any experience with Glidecams and I´m filming on weddings and bigger parties and I´m using the Canon XL2. I also heard that they are very heavy and that its easyier to use the XL2 without steadycam ... so do you think that it would be easy to use this kind of product a whole day for a occasion (with little breaks certainly) or would i have some problems after the first minutes (and Im only 15 and not soooo strong :rolleyes: )

 

Thanks !

[Luke Willson]

Hey,

 

Im completly new to this whole steadicam business.. I've just bought the steadicam your talking about so I guess it will take a week or more to get here. I emailed the guy and got him to knock 100GBP of the list price :)

 

I've only bought it to do a few amature pieces of work mainly for web streaming. I know people are going to tell me what a fool i've been for buying a cheap one... but we all have to start somewhere and im on a budget. If i'm any good at it then ill get a better one but at the moment its not worth the risk of spending 1000's on something that I might be crap at using.

 

Any tips you guys have for someone starting out would be appreciated. Im currently working as a freelance editor for the BBC and i'm only 18.

 

Thanks Guys!

Luke

 

PS: These forums are great... Keep up the good work!

[Rob Vuona SOC]

Hey,

 

Im completly new to this whole steadicam business.. I've just bought the steadicam your talking about so I guess it will take a week or more to get here. I emailed the guy and got him to knock 100GBP of the list price :)

 

I've only bought it to do a few amature pieces of work mainly for web streaming. I know people are going to tell me what a fool i've been for buying a cheap one... but we all have to start somewhere and im on a budget. If i'm any good at it then ill get a better one but at the moment its not worth the risk of spending 1000's on something that I might be crap at using.

 

Any tips you guys have for someone starting out would be appreciated. Im currently working as a freelance editor for the BBC and i'm only 18.

 

Thanks Guys!

Luke

 

PS: These forums are great... Keep up the good work!

----------------------------

Stephan and Luke,

I have no idea about this rig, but with everything there's always going to be knockoffs, I believe I remember reading about others on the forum as well.

 

First impressions regarding this rig, from what I can see in the pictures is it looks "rickety" for lack of a better word. I guess if you treat it really well and keep it away from the elements it won't rust away on you.

 

The biggest thing I see among a others is that there is no lower monitor which means your not watching where you are walking, peripherally that is.

 

The biggest plus is . . . . .If you can fly this and get good results, then once you get a real steadicam operating will be a dream.

 

Oh and Luke, every good shooter should be an editor and every good editor should be a shooter. But not all are!

 

Keep us posted on the adventures of the Glidecam 6000

[Luke Willson]

Hey Rob,

 

Thanks for your post! I know its not the best piece of kit on the market (understatement of the year?).. but it'll let me get a feel for what the Steadicam is all about.

 

The camera has battery and screen mounts so i've bought battery packs and a monitor and all the cables needed. I know i'm a "noob" (for lack of a better word) to this whole thing but I dont think I would attempt to fly it without a monitor so I picked one up on ebay, along with some smallish batteries that will power the monitor and camera.

 

Ill let you know how things go and i'll get some pictures up as soon as I can.. this things coming from india though so I wouldn't expect anything till Christmas day :)

 

Oh and as for the editing your so right. I think im pretty nippy in Adobe Premier Pro and the BBC seem to like what i'm doing. They've just signed me on for another project :)

 

Stay safe!

 

Luke Willson

[Anthony Violanto]

That arm intrigues me. The pictures show one section of the arm sort of parallel with the ground (how I like them), and the other arm section is sticking waaayy up. I wonder if the operator in the pics had it set up wrong, or if that is the intention.

 

When you get that rig in the mail, post some pics and/or video.

[Luke Willson]

That arm intrigues me. The pictures show one section of the arm sort of parallel with the ground (how I like them), and the other arm section is sticking waaayy up. I wonder if the operator in the pics had it set up wrong, or if that is the intention.

 

When you get that rig in the mail, post some pics and/or video.

 

Yeah, I noticed that on some pictures but i've seen others where they are both parallel to the groud like they are ment to be. I'm pretty sure they just set it up wrong in the pictures. Oh well.

 

Ill get some pics along with some videos up when it arrives.

 

Luke W

[Luke Willson]

Sorry for the extra post but while scanning the interweb I found a rather interesting review on the Flycam. A link to the page I found it is here: " http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?p=781341 "

 

This is the review. Courtsey of Brian Findlay, thanks very much!

 

------------------------------------------------------------------

 

A friend of mine bought one off of ebay, complete with vest and arm for about $1000.00 .. I was pretty skeptical.... its not a panacia but... here's the good and a bad about it.. I've worked as an engineer for about 30 years, so I feel I've probably got a better handle than most on evaluating stuff, though I am not a mechanical engineer, I've done a bunch of machining so I kind of get it.

 

I *AM NOT* a steadicam operator.. but I've borrowed this a few times to see if I can start developing some skills as I know it is a long term process to really get (just marginally) okay at.

 

(1) All the complex mechanical parts are reasonably well made.. the paint is terrible.. it's just a decoration that falls off when it comes out of the box (if its not off already).

 

(2) The arm was actually impressive.. it looked like something that may have been manufactured in the us (not shown.. go to ebay again)..

 

(3) The vest material .. padding was terrible.. expect that it won't last, I would think a local taylor could fix it up pretty well if you wanted to go through the effort.

 

(4) The vest had plastic clasps, they all had to be replaced with airline seatbelt buckles unless you want to watch your camera crash to the ground.. once done.. it all calibrated reasonably well, though their documentation was really pretty bad.. my buddy cruised other arm makers websites and pulled down some documentation which seemed to jib pretty well with this unit.

 

(5) Almost all the screws and bolts were loose.. all had to be tightened and then loctite used.

 

(6) I used my camera.. an Canon XL-H1.. bottom was weighted with a lead acid battery (a little smaller than a Motor Cycle one), and a 7" LCD monitor. You have to be in good shape to do this very long..its very physical.. is that the design? or just me? 15- 20 minutes and I needed a break.

 

(7) The sled head works okay.. though it looks like they could have put more work into it.. its only the plastic tightening knob (which was broken on arrival and replaced by the seller) that really looked like a weak link.. it still should be said that this was cast and not machined using common long screws, but they did do what they were suppose too even though it didn't look all that well made.

 

All in all.. I could see by using it that it will work fine.. my problems were those of an inexperienced operator.. I had alot of problems holding a frame, but walking across a yard and up some stairs seemed reasonable except for my own inability to keep the side to side motion minimal. I wish there was an experienced operator who could give a review, I'm sure they would notice alot of stuff I didn't.. but my experience tells me that you could probably do some pretty decent work with it if you put in the time to learn how to use it correctly.. I think if it was for pro work (meaning you would wear this for extended periods of time).. you may want to consider something else.. but for short shoots and practice, I think its probably a really great value.

 

on ebay.. search for "Magic Kit + Flycam stabilizer" to see the whole rig.

 

My 2 cents...

 

Brian

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Interesting stuff... Eagerly awaiting the arrival of mine now :)

 

Luke

[Luke Willson]

Hey Guys!

 

The contraption came! And I have to say from the perspective of a complete newbie im actually impressed. All the bits appear to be very well made. It took about a day to get it all setup, camera ontop, screen on the bottom along with a 12v battery (they didn?t come with the camera, ebay done the job).

 

I?ve got a few little points to make if anyone?s interested:

 

- Someone asked whether the arm "sticks up" like in the ebay pictures... the answer is no. They both sit horizontally if you set it up properly.

 

- Allot of people said that the plastic clasps need replacing on them... from what I can see however there doesn?t seem to be a problem with them (maybe they've changed them).

 

- The vest isn?t too bad on the whole, could do with some more padding... but hey... for the price its FAB!

 

- The sleds very good, im no expert but the gimble is silky smooth.

 

- There are only 2 things that were wrong with mine...

 

- The arm had a small bend in the edge of the metal, cant explain exactly where but it was purely superficial.

- One of the "adapter side-plates" that attaches to the bottom of the sled had some broken threads, which means you can?t tighten it properly.

- The "camera mount" had a small piece of bent metal aswell... once again only superficial.

 

I sent pictures of all these problems to the manufacturer in India and there are sending new parts with out me sending the old bits back... A1 for customer service!

 

But what everyone wants is some demo videos! - I?m going to do some filming tomorrow and ill get it up on you tube asap. Finally everyone will know what this thing is actually capable of... and I have to say so far im more than impressed with the footage ive been able to get. It seems that I can already get far far smoother footage.

 

Ill keep you updated and get some footage uploaded asap!

 

Thanks Guys!

Luke

[Luke Willson]

Hi Guys!

 

As promised here is my first ever attempt to fly a "steadicam".

 

Ill start of by saying I am aware of how awfully I suck, but since this was recorded i've been out a few more times and sorted out the headroom in shots (theres way too much in this video) and im generaly getting a bit better at holding a frame. As you'll see from the video it was proberly a bad idea to zoom in and the try and circle a moving subject. Also i've sorted out some blanacing issues since that video was taken.

 

Any tips tricks and general pointers you think would help me would be more than appreciated. Anyone know how I can get information on workshops in the UK?

 

Thanks!

 

Video Link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKkRzM0x3Eo

Note - This video was shot whilst my Mum took our new puppy out for a walk.

[Lukas Franz]

Hi Luke,

 

I wont give you any comments about your video. It wouldn't really help you ;-)

 

Watch other steadicam shots and analyze them. The rest is practice, practice and even more practice.

 

A workshop would be the best way to go. Contact Robin Thwaites at Tiffen about upcoming workshops in the UK.

 

Good luck.

 

Lukas

[Luke Willson]

Hi Luke,

 

I wont give you any comments about your video. It wouldn't really help you ;-)

 

Watch other steadicam shots and analyze them. The rest is practice, practice and even more practice.

 

A workshop would be the best way to go. Contact Robin Thwaites at Tiffen about upcoming workshops in the UK.

 

Good luck.

 

Lukas

 

Hi

 

God, tell me about it, that was filmed on the 23rd of Dec and since then i've mad some improvments. It didn't help that my setup was about as dynamically balanced as a 1 legged chicken.

 

Robert has been in touch and i'm waiting to hear news on when the next wokshop is. All the money i'm making from this work i'm doing for the BBC seems to be pouring back into stadicam stuff.

 

Thanks for the comment anyway :P

[David Hughes]

Hi Luke,

 

I wont give you any comments about your video. It wouldn't really help you ;-)

 

Watch other steadicam shots and analyze them. The rest is practice, practice and even more practice.

 

A workshop would be the best way to go. Contact Robin Thwaites at Tiffen about upcoming workshops in the UK.

 

Good luck.

 

Lukas

 

Hi

 

God, tell me about it, that was filmed on the 23rd of Dec and since then i've mad some improvments. It didn't help that my setup was about as dynamically balanced as a 1 legged chicken.

 

Robert has been in touch and i'm waiting to hear news on when the next wokshop is. All the money i'm making from this work i'm doing for the BBC seems to be pouring back into stadicam stuff.

 

Thanks for the comment anyway :P

Ok so this was a first attempt, framing is definitely an issue but the most obvious thing is the horizons, work on them as much as possible also you seem to have a bit of a heavy post hand at the moment which is normal for most newbies, try flying around without using your hands on the post at all and observe how the sled behaves this will help with setting up your sled as well as give you an idea of how much pressure to use on your post try this with different drop times. Try goofy maybe you will have better results using your other hand.

Ahh dynamic balance.. well what to say,,, i used to think it was virtually essential when I was in your shoes and was dubious when a few instructors told me not to worry about it too much but they were spot on. For the most part of normal operating it is of no use at all to you. However you never know when you will be asked to do some whip pans so it is useful to know what it is all about and be able to achieve it but in 99% of movements I have found it really has no effect. Read (again) the dynamic balance primer (from the SOA website under manuals, Thanks Jerry) these types of adjustments only have an effect on the sled when panning speed is enough to generate significant centrifugal forces. Therefore straight up shots from any angle with a slow-ish pan should not affect your post too much. Well at least thats how I have found it.

Good luck

Dave.

[jef medici]

Hey Rob,

 

Thanks for your post! I know its not the best piece of kit on the market (understatement of the year?).. but it'll let me get a feel for what the Steadicam is all about.

 

The camera has battery and screen mounts so i've bought battery packs and a monitor and all the cables needed. I know i'm a "noob" (for lack of a better word) to this whole thing but I dont think I would attempt to fly it without a monitor so I picked one up on ebay, along with some smallish batteries that will power the monitor and camera.

 

Ill let you know how things go and i'll get some pictures up as soon as I can.. this things coming from india though so I wouldn't expect anything till Christmas day :)

 

Oh and as for the editing your so right. I think im pretty nippy in Adobe Premier Pro and the BBC seem to like what i'm doing. They've just signed me on for another project :)

 

Stay safe!

 

Luke Willson

 

 

Hey Luke

 

Hope things are good with your rig, Im intrigued as to what monitor and battery pack you have used as I too am flying the 6000 rig and want to discover where to purchase and how to do this perhaps you can let me know.

 

Regards

 

Jef :)