Steadicam or electronics?

[Snowfun]

I'd appreciate your thoughts... Steadicam Solo or Ronin M? (to be used primarily with BMPCC). Or, of course, alternatives to either of those.

Standard walking around type of shots. The sort of thing which almost look ok handheld but which always (in my experience) suffer from annoying jitter & shudder.

I'm liking the fact that the Solo is battery free as I want this for travel and often in cold climates. But am I likely to get totally frustrated at my inability to use it properly? I wouldn't want to go down the vest/arm route. I also think the monopod option for the Solo makes a lot of sense.

Obviously there is a significant cost saving in the Solo but there is no point in saving money if the end result looks significantly "cheaper".

Ideas & advice? 

Thanks.

[Hans Punk]

Having owned a Steadicam back in the 'good ol days', I've been pretty unimpressed with gimbal solutions in general.

The vertical bumps of each stride are always distracting to my eye. It is very predictable result from taking a aerial stabilising platform off of a smooth motion capable vehicle (in ascend/descend such as a multirotor) - then a human holding it and expecting it to be flawless throughout walks and runs. Best results I've seen have been with Movi and easyrig combo - but that is virtually as bulky as a pro Steadicam setup. You can always run footage through stabilising software, but why should you need to?

Saying that, if your budget can stretch to it - the Letus Helix Jnr. looks like it ticks all your boxes...and much more. If I was to buy a gimbal type, that would be what I'd go for right now as it supports virtually any camera, is nice and compact, allows monitor to camera mount etc. And from footage I've seen, seems to have the least noticeable minimal vertical bumps. It just looks like a great solution.

Steadicam Solo is a nice try, but no cigar. With BMPCC you'd be running it at its lightest and if you are outdoors - a gust of wind will swing you all over the place. It's a gimbal joint on a monopod essentially - that would only come into it's own when used with arm and vest (which you stated you would not be).Using a speedbooster on your camera will be a wise investment if you have not done so already.

Shooting style and size requirements will dictate which to go for, there are many pistol-grip gimbal stabilisers now for small cameras such as BMPCC which can be great for a few applications, but won't give you the refined stabilised look of a bigger gimbal rig in my humble opinion.

[Policar]

It's sort of a matter of skill and preference. Both have strengths... Ronin can hold the horizon and handle stairs better. Steadicam has less vertical bumping and is WAY easier to operate precisely and looks more organic, which could be good or bad. Dual operator mode with the Ronin is really the only options for complex blocked work, but off-the-cuff is really cool without. With a tiny rig like that even your wireless follow focus moving the front element will upset your balance too much on most lenses so I would only use a Ronin for a lightweight rig. 

There are ways to mitigate the vertical bumps, a good operator will handle them okay. But you won't get the same level of control for complex shots. That said, those shots will require a wireless FF, which will throw off a tiny steadicam's balance as you focus, so I don't know about that been great.

Also you have to be pretty darned good to be a decent steadicam op, whereas you can hack it as a Ronin op quite easily. 

I would budget in a wireless FF and wireless HDMI system, too. It gets really limiting without one.

[bzpop]

mount your Ronin M on steadicam and that's where the fun begins!

[Snowfun]

Why didn't I think of that!