What should be the weight of the counterweight

[Jan Bilkosar]

Hello folks,

I am making one of those home made stabilizers, so I am wondering. What should the counterweight be. Should the weight at the bottom of the bar be equal to the camera weight, or should it be less, so I could hold the stabilizer closer to the camera (not in the middle).

Thank you so much for any tips.

[Rob Vuona SOC]

Hello folks,

I am making one of those home made stabilizers, so I am wondering. What should the counterweight be. Should the weight at the bottom of the bar be equal to the camera weight, or should it be less, so I could hold the stabilizer closer to the camera (not in the middle).

Thank you so much for any tips.

 

 

I believe that would be were the gimbal would be or fulcrum in your world and yes, less weight on the bottom

[Jan Bilkosar]

Hello folks,

I am making one of those home made stabilizers, so I am wondering. What should the counterweight be. Should the weight at the bottom of the bar be equal to the camera weight, or should it be less, so I could hold the stabilizer closer to the camera (not in the middle).

Thank you so much for any tips.

 

Thank you Rob for your response.

So as a rule of thumb. If my camera has 3 lb, I would use, let's say 1.5 lb counterweight. Then I would check where the equilibrium is between

camera and the counterweight. (in that case that would be closer to the camera) And that would be the spot where I would hold the stabilizer?

Thanks again for your help.

[Dave Gish]

Grab a pencil. Hold the pencil between the thumb and finger of one hand, and move the pencil with the other hand. Hold it in the middle. When you move the pencil, the eraser moves a lot. Now hold the pencil much closer to the eraser. When you move the pencil with your other hand, the eraser moves much less.

 

So in order to decrease the effect of sled movement on the lens, you want to get the gimbal closer to the lens. In order to keep a reasonable drop time (2-3 seconds), you will need more weight at the stage (top) in order to move the gimbal closer to the stage.

 

The monitor and batteries on the bottom are often enough weight by themselves.

 

If you don't have a monitor at the bottom, get one. If you want it cheap, buy a cheap 7" portable lcd tv, like this.

You'll also need a 12v rechargable battery pack. You can make one of these from 10 NiMH AA rechargable batteries and a battery holder, part #BH107 shown here plus part number BH9V6 to connect to the holder.

 

This is not the best solution, but it's way better than having no monitor on the bottom.

 

Also, to help increase pan inertia, the monitor and batteries should be spread out around 18" at the bottom.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited November 28, 2008 by Dave Gish

[Rob Vuona SOC]

Hello folks,

I am making one of those home made stabilizers, so I am wondering. What should the counterweight be. Should the weight at the bottom of the bar be equal to the camera weight, or should it be less, so I could hold the stabilizer closer to the camera (not in the middle).

Thank you so much for any tips.

 

Thank you Rob for your response.

So as a rule of thumb. If my camera has 3 lb, I would use, let's say 1.5 lb counterweight. Then I would check where the equilibrium is between

camera and the counterweight. (in that case that would be closer to the camera) And that would be the spot where I would hold the stabilizer?

Thanks again for your help.

 

As Dave said, battery and monitor will help immensely, but being that most of us on this forum aren't into building a home built rig, but are so much into the physics and mechanics of how and why our rigs function. You may be better off getting more info from :

 

http://homebuiltstabilizers.com/greyfullrigs.htm

 

best of luck

[Dave Gish]

So as a rule of thumb. If my camera has 3 lb, I would use, let's say 1.5 lb counterweight. Then I would check where the equilibrium is between

camera and the counterweight. (in that case that would be closer to the camera) And that would be the spot where I would hold the stabilizer?

I would go heavier than 2:1 on the camera end. The point is that you want the CG to move closer to the lens. If you haven't already seen it, watch the Pilot instructional video here.

Many concepts are explained nicely in only 8 minutes, so this is good even if you don't plan on buying a Pilot.

Edited November 29, 2008 by Dave Gish

[Jan Bilkosar]

Thank you Dave, thank you Rob. Thank you so much for your help. And for your patience with me.

The links you have sent perfectly explain how it works.

Thanks again.

Cheers

Jan