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All about GYRO's


Brad Hruboska

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I am thinking about making a DVD. I visited the Ken-Lab factory and shot interviews and close-ups of stabilizers at work without the covers on which does help to understand their limitations. Now I am working through the testing of all possible configurations to demonstrate the options you have in mounting and what the results of each are on your ability to operate with them. I don't know when I will get it finished as I will be starting a movie on location soon, but I am trying to finish the testing and shooting so I could conceivably edit during breaks on set.

 

Larry

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My overall approach to using gyros has been to make the sled behave as much as possible as I am used to it behaving without them - I don't want to have to relearn how to operate a new and different machine just because I added the gyros, I just want it to have more inertia in all axes. Therefore, I use the same drop times I would without the gyros. I set it (along with checking for dynamic balance) before cabling up to the external power pack I use so they are not spinning when I do these adjustments.

 

If I am having difficulty with the horizon staying level in a vehicle mount situation (where I adjust for very long drop time - just barely bottom heavy) I will sometimes try a little faster drop time (more bottom heavy) just to feel some pressure in my hand as the sled tries to pendulum back and forth. This is definitely a personal preference issue.

 

With the gyros running, any deviation from level and your own correction back to level tends to happen more slowly than without gyros, so this does take some getting used to.

 

Larry

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I have never worked with Gyros before. What are the major benefits and drawbacks (steady vs. noisy?). How often do operators use them. What shots are good/bad? How long do you have to experiment and practice with them until you can find the correct set-up and become skilled?

I have tried Antlers about four years ago and while they seemed to help, I couldn't really tell because I was a newbie. Who uses the Antlers, and how usefull are they?

 

Thank you,

Ari Gertler

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Guest sebastian matthias

hey ari !

gyros are great !

they are mainly used when you either have hard wind or very fast movement (for example when shooting off a car,atw or so and are going

fast speeds.) they are a bit noisy when first started (when the copper or thungsten plates start turning),but that gets better once they reached their operating speed(can take a couple of minutes).each gyro serves two axis, so you have to know which forces will move your rig in wich direction.so if you are on an atw and know the shooting direction/driving direction you also know in wich directions you have to place the gyros.

the setup is easy once you have managed to fix them to you rig.

(might be a bit of work in advance finding the right clamp/screws.)

once you have them fixed to your rig the work with them is quite easy but you have to get to used to the forces of the gyros.the rig will be so stable that you hardly can tilt it. it´s really unbelievable.

i experienced that if you do fast speed shots it´s best to have your drop time close to zero . don´t know if that´s allways the case with gyros.

would be interesting to find out

i´ve never worked with antlers ,but i would like to try them out,especially because the priciple of how they work is so simple that it must be good.

 

hope i could help you al little!

 

 

all the best

 

sebastian

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Has anyone here used Gyros while flying a HD Camera? - any problems with the gyros generating noise on the tape? Il be working on a tv drama next month and i may need to use gyros for one particular shot. Ill be flying a sony 750, recording to HDCam, and powering it seperately to the sled/gyros so presumably the HD tape should be fine, but just wanted to check here first.

 

cheers,

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I heard of some problems with a f900 on a gyro helicopter mount. However There s an awfull lot more electrical noise in a helicopter and there s a chance it could have simply been wind messing with the tape.

 

Mike Brennan uses his f900 on gyro helicopter mounts all the time with no problems at all.

 

I think its absolutely fine.

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I operate on a show called Rescue Me and we use Steadicam at least twice an episode. On the show, I have used the Gyros on my rig with a Sony 900 at least 4 times, and I have never had a problem with them interferring with the signal in any way. I usually use just one K6 on the post and connect it to my battery base with a Kenynon inverter.

I have generally used them in high wind situations, or when I am asked to do something where the horizon needs to be as steady as possible, such as a crane walk on or off.

They are a good tool used in the right situation and with HD, I have never had a problem with them.

Jamie.

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Thanks guys.

 

So after a quick phone call to MK-V hire i had a set of Kenyons shipped over to me for a few days on the HD drama im currently on. The shot required me to do a 360 of an actress on a stage and then step off the stage onto a platform on top of a Chapman Hybrid dolly, pulling back over a crowd of people to a nice solid wide.

Its the first time ive really appreciated how modular my sled design is, allowing me to mount two gyros and power my monitor and aks at the same time, so no need to carry an invertor on the sled or run an umbillical. I kept the invertor and gyro power at the docking stand and simply unplugged the kenyons for a take.

 

 

 

 

post-30-1127577591_thumb.jpg

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No, They are less effective the closer you get to the gimbal

 

 

Eric,

 

thanks for your reply; do they have to be placed close to the post ?

 

mark

 

 

You use gyros to increase the rigs apparent mass without adding a ton of weight. Therefore they are more effective the farther from the reaction point (Gimbal) you can mount them

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