Is this normal steadicam behaviour?

[Inazuma]

Hi,

Yesterday I received my Monocam CF Pro (thanks Matt for the recommendation!).

 

I spent over an hour trying to get the balancing correct. It seems to be there for the most part, except for one thing which I'm not sure is normal or not.

 

Basically, if I do a drop test, it will keep swinging indefinitely. I have seen videos of other peoples' steadicams where they stop pretty quickly. Another thing is that when I hold it up normally, it never just stays "steady". It moves about slowly and continuously.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3RS2lsaZvE&feature=youtu.be

[JohnBarlow]

Drop test from horizontal to vertical should be about 2 sec, adjust your mass distribution accordingly

[Daniel Acuña]

Yep, JohnBarlow is right I doesn't seem to be well balanced, that's most certainly the problem. 

[Inazuma]

I have tried various positions and the result always seems to be similar (indefinite movement)

[Guest d5f8611fa423d0e628c016f9d5c93b47]

First off, I'd either remove the feet or tie them up.

 

I'd say what you show in the video is pretty normal. The reason it keeps swinging is because you have it well balanced (like a gyroscope). If you want it to stop naturally faster you can speed-up the drop time, but there isn't any need to do that really. You just need to do what you do in the video - stop it with your hand. But grab it gently, just below the gimbal between your thumb and forefinger. And keep them there, barely touching it - that's how you keep it steady and "aim" it. Just very delicately encourage the position and movement you want with your fingers.

 

Don't worry, I had the same reaction when I first got it. It takes quite a bit of time to learn how to balance and fly, but I can balance it easily in 5 min now. Flying it just takes a lot of practice.

 

Check out Nitsan Simantov's YouTube channel (also an EOSHD member btw). He has a few MonoCam videos (below), but he does good tutorials on flying other Glidecam type stabilisers and they all work the same. He knows his stuff.

 

 

 

The most useful thing I can tell you is don't expect to use it all the time. It's only appropriate for certain shots (mainly because you can't control the camera or lens while flying it). I'm very pleased with mine though ...