drop time

[Greg Corke]

Hi Guys,

Anyone tell me if adjusting drop time whilst wearing rig is consisdered bad practice?

Cheers Greg C.

[Tom Wills]

I don't think it's very safe, because if the rig slips from being horizontal into being vertical, you could very easily break things on your rig or camera. If you don't have a docking stand, I guess the safest way to do it would be to sit the rig on the ground, lean it against a wall, and do it that way. You'd then have to pick it up and try it to know what your adjustment did.

[Charles King]

Tom has got the point. It's much saver to dock the sled before making any drop time adjustments. If it has been done before, well I'm not sure.

[Wing Gee]

I would consider it bad practice, even though i'm guilty of doing it myself for small cameras. for light weight cameras and sled it's not as bad. I would never do it with a heavier camera. the arm will unload and shoot the  gimbal straight up and the sled will drop very quickly. could hurt you if your hand get's sandwiched between the gimbal and sled. When I had the XTR film camera strapped onto my rig it was pretty damn heavy and i wouldn't even dare to adjust the gimbal with it strapped on. the entire sled with that camera was pretty heavy. at least 45-50lbs.

[Leigh Wanstead]

I think for inexperienced or first time adjustment better not to adjust on the fly. Also might be very helpful to have a friend to help you.

Regards
Leigh

[MikkoWilson]

Friend help?  Slide the gimble?  umm.. ok. "go team"

I adjust the gimble all the time in flight on the Flyer. (all the way up to a 15lb camera) In fact I prefer to balance the rig wearing it. Just turn the sled horizontal, open, slide and LOCK the gimble, then feel for drop. I don't realy need to even let it drop, I can feel how hard it's pulling. when I'm happy, a double check of the gimbel and off I go.

I'd be wary of dooing it with a heavier camera on a big rig though. Just becuase of the risk involved. As said, a slight mistmatch in the lifting angle of the arm and it could shoot the gimble up (or down) along the post and possibly catch your fingers when it slams the stops (and possibly breaks something). I've seen a operator pinch a finger with an approx 50lb sled when it dropped onto the gimble...he wasn't too happy for the few secconds it took us to grab the sled and hoist it up to get his finger out, luckily without major injury.
Though I know opps who do it on bigger rigs too. Once you are comfterble with the rig (can fly it without your hands without trouble) then it's prety easy to also trim the rig on the fly.
I've infact met ops who can go from high to low mode, while flying the rig. (without the AR)

- Mikko

[Trevor Crump]

I also adjust on the fly, I find it quite easy... BUT this is only when the rig is in a known state...

If you fly with the usual combination of gear attached and just wish to make small adjustments due to changing conditions, fine, but at the start of the shoot. I add whatever gear is needed as in follow focus, vid trans, wireless audio inputs, extra batteries to make the shoot, then drop test on the stand to get best results, I can make small adjustment (on the fly) during the shoot if conditions change, such as going outdoors or wind machines.

No two shoots are the same, so I start the day off by testing on the stand.

[Wade Francom]

It can be done both ways, as you see here.

Personally, I don't trust adjusting on the fly. I only do that if the circumstances are extreme. Plus, if I do it on the fly, I just balance test it like mikko. If I have to go beyond that, I put it on the stand and drop test it. I just fear that any horizontal shift, while balancing on the fly, will affect the drop time.

[Wing Gee]

yeah, it all comes down to preference and what your comfortable with. sometimes it can be hard to judge how much to adjust the gimbal with it rigged on, cause the arm can shift a bit even if you have the sled horizontal. I trim my sled all the time while it's attached to me. I just try not to adjust the gimbal at all.

[Charles King]

well guys, it would depend on how heavy of a weight you are carrying. I'm certainly not going to adjust on the fly carrying a 35mm fully loaded.

[Greg Corke]

Thanks everyone,

I must confess I have been tempeted to adjust drop time fast to slow and vice versa whilst wearing the rig. Opinion seems fairly divided. I only have the hd100 on Flyer which is reletively light. However, I can certainly see why you would not want to do it with a 35mm.

Regards Greg C

[Joe Sanders]

Why not substitute one of the counter weights with a cylindrical slide weight attached to the post?

That way you could move it up and down without effecting dynamic balance.

[MikkoWilson]

Joe,
Your Idea is a good one, and something that I have considered, and even slightly used before.

However this wouldn't apply to the Flyer (and most rigs) in normal configuration, as the counterweights are (correctly) the monitor and battery.

For a Flyer with a HD100, you'd probabaly be prety close if you balanced it with one battery and then used a Manfrotto super-clamp on the bottom of the post that you can then loosen and slide.

- Mikko

[Trevor Crump]

I see what Joe is on about, an additional weight, that could be moved up and down the post but remain in the same position in relation to the post.  'a monkey climbing the pole' type of movement

Yes it would work.

[Alan Dague-Greene]

For some configurations, however, using such a sliding weight could affect dynamic balance. Depending on how drastically you're changing the drop time, it might not be that big of a deal, but it would have some effect. This is according to the Dynamic Primer document by Jerry Holway.