OT: Steadicam?

[starcentral]

If you're flying bmcc then you can get away with pilot model quite easily.

[galenb]

[quote name='starcentral' timestamp='1352324697' post='21258']
If you're flying bmcc then you can get away with pilot model quite easily.
[/quote]

Yeah, that's totally true too. However, I would most likely be flying Red Ones and Scarlets so there's a pretty great deal of variance in the weight that this thing needs to hold. Red is about 10-15 pounds, sometimes more. I don't know how much a Scarlet weighs but I'm pretty sure it's less than that. The M-01 has a max load of 15 kg/33 lbs. What's the Maximum load for a Pilot? Also, I've heard that you should also avoid "Under-loading" a stabilizer. Have you known this to be true as well?

[nigelbb]

The upper limit for the Pilot is 10lbs. You are always better off in the upper range of capacity so that there is more inertia & the Steadicam flies more smoothly. For DSLRs operators will often use a weight plate (basically a hunk of metal) to bring the load up. Steadicam rigs will also have a minimum capacity which needs to be exceeded before the springs in the arm will take up the the strain & the rig actually work.

[hbqckzj]

[quote name='galenb' timestamp='1352323492' post='21255']
Thanks so much again!

That's good to hear that you are the original producer of the equipment. Do you know of any productions in china or elsewhere that have used your steady cams?

Do you have any people in the US currently using your systems? Some place I could go to try one out?

One last question, I noticed that on your amazon page, there is no shipping information. How much would it cost to ship to the west-cost USA?
[/quote]


We have been in China market for many years and our distribution channel has been expanded to every province and area in China.

Sorry we could not release American customer data because it is business secret and it may violate others' privacy. Hope you understand.

Yes, we offer Free Shipping service. So you need not pay any shipping cost, which has been included in our selling price. The shipping fee is at least 200 USD from China to USA.

[Mark1138]

For anyone still looking for a review of the Laing M-02 model, Eric Teotico over on the Homeuilt Stabilizer forum just got one and talks about it in a thread over there.  It's not at the top of the thread, you have to scroll down a bit.    http://homebuiltstabilizers.com/hbsboard/index.php?topic=5040.0      Based partially on that thread, I'm thinking about getting an M-02.

[galenb]

FInally! Someone actually has one. I was wondering when someone would get one and fill us in one what it's strengths and weaknesses are.

[hbqckzj]

You can get our product from amazon : ( Free shipping )

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009YTPMX8      (Double arm  , load capacity 2-15kg)

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009YYRNI0    (Single arm  , load capacity 0.5-5kg)

 

We focus on Best Quality & service with the Best Warranty, at the Reasonable Price!

 

We offer 1 years warranty service.

 

My E-mail Address: hbqckzj@gmail.com

[galenb]

For what it's worth, here is a simple review of the M-02:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbsQwaj3wMw

 

And here is an actual move:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pytmCpM6SG4

 

To me honest, after seeing these videos I'm sure it doesn't live up to an actual Steadicam. It might have just been due the incorrect balancing or using the wrong spring tension or something but it looks like there was way to much movement being transferred down the arm and to the sled. 

 

Even still, what are you expecting for $1400? I think it's still a good deal of you are making low budget movies. But, if you are looking for a professional rig to use on commercial jobs, I'm not sure I could convince people to hire me using one of these.

 

I really, really wish Laing would just take the time to make more videos showing how to set it up and explaining the ins and outs of the rigs and how to get the best results from them.  I mean, it would really go a long way if there was just a simple review showing it's strengths and weaknesses in english. As it is right now, it seems so strange that there is simply nothing out there written about it. Like it's not a real product or something. 

[Mark1138]

Yeah, I agree.  I figure this is probably not as good as a Steadicam but smoother than handheld.  I would be getting it for my own use shooting low/no budget film but I too would have more concerns if I was trying to contract myself out as a Steadicam operator.

 

In the homebuilt stabilizer thread they talk about the arm possibly being less "iso-elastic," so it requires more force applied to the sled to move it vertically than a real Steadicam would.  Although I'm not sure that even all of the Steadicam models are iso-elastic, especially the smaller ones.  But I could be wrong.  To me I think that it being less iso-elastic would also mean more transferred motion through the arm like you mention.  As far as I can tell it just has a single spring in each arm connected directly to the arm at each end.  I'm wondering how difficult it would be to modify it by adding some pulleys and cable so that it is more iso-elastic.  As far as I can understand it, it looks like the secret to the iso-elastic arm is the fact that with a pulley and cable reduces the amount of distance the spring must expand with the movement of the arm.  The farther the spring expands, the greater the change in force that is needed to move the spring further.  So by reducing that spring travel distance you're able to reduce the amount of force you have to apply to the sled to change the position.  Likewise, as movement is traveling the other direction down the arm from the operator, it results in less movement of the spring, so less change of unwanted lifting force the spring will apply to the sled.  I wonder if it could be modified to look something more like one of these:

 

http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/EP0660946B1/imgf0003.png

 

http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/EP0660946B1/imgf0007.png

 

http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/EP0660946B1/imgf0004.png

 

I've got a small milling machine and lathe but I'm not a great machinist.  And it looks like I would have to put in a shorter spring which would have the side effect of having a force that would change more over a shorter distance, so that might negate the benefit of the cable and pulley unless I double or triple it up like a block and tackle arrangement.  I'm seriously thinking about getting one and experimenting since I just don't have the budget for a Steadicam.

[galenb]

Yeah, I don't know anything about the iso elastic arms with the pulley systems. I've only ever seen the single spring per joint stedicams as far as I know. I thought the first steadicams were made like that anyway. So if that's the case, then I'm pretty sure you don't necessarily 'need' the newer iso-elasic arms in order to achieve smooth movies. 

 

The more I think about it, the more it seems like his spring tension is probably to high for such a small amount of weight up top. Does that make sense? I mean, if you don't have enough weight on the camera end, and the springs are to stiff/tight, wouldn't' that just transfer all your movement to the camera? I get that sense from looking at what happens when he jogs in place and the camera is bobbling all around.