This is going to be a very short review of the various rigs I tested while at the IBC 2007 Exhibition. Nothing so out of this world. But all the same it was a short event for me regardless I was happy to attend. I had tested out the following systems:
The Glidecam X-10 & X-22 arms
The Sachtler Carbon Arm
The Steadicam Merlin, Co-Pilot & Pilot systemsThe Glidecam X-10This is simply the smooth shooter arm but with an additional second arm. I thought they should have done this when they first developed the shooter. The concept of the single arm should be something of the past already. The advantage of the dual arm surpasses the cons of not having one. To me it behave much better than the simple single arm section. The feeling of both arms felt comfortable and made operating more comfortable. For those who have bought the smooth shooter will appreciate this upgrade much better over the single section. That is for sure. For smaller cameras this is a nice budget arm for all those hobbyist out there.
X-10 info and price:
http://www.glidecam.com/product-x-10.phpThe Glidecam X-22 ArmThis is Glidecam's next arm. A three spring dual section arm. As this is just the prototype, all I can say is, it is definitely better than the Gold arm by far. They might have to take the weight down a little but from what I felt it seems Glidecam might have just gotten this arm almost perfect ( I use this very lightly until the final stage of development) If I can quote Job, he things it feels like the Pro arm. Although I did not test it long enough, I would tend to agree with him just a little. Has he says, it has potential and that I can definitely agree with him. Unforunately I did not take any pics.
I also saw a new 2" sled they are working on and it felt much better when I held it. As I understand there will be HD connectors as well but basically something similar to the base of the V-25. That I was not too happy about. Of course, it's all about the cost but seriously speaking using the two rod system on the base for the monitor would have esthetically more better looking. The stage would be the same, drop in, method. Much easier. On the whole Glidecam has looks very promising and waiting to see these new improvements would be well worth waiting for.
The Sachtler Carbon Arm
Sachtler decided to spice up their high end s spring dual section arm by giving it a new look. Yep, the carbon look. It looks nice but there are certain issues.
1. The arm at one point would seem to torque under load. Not much but with extra load this would be a problem over a extended period of time. I like to thank Job for pointing this out to me. He also noticed the clicking in the gimbal while testing it out. My understanding he has made many mention about this issue but it seems they are insisted it it is not a huge issue. Makes you wonder right
Anyhow, it was nice to fly but I felt the X-22 felt much better. Kinda gives you a hint about the potential of the Glidecam X-22 doesn't it?
The Steadicam Merlin, Co-Pilot & Pilot systemsThe arm can be fully adjusted at the socket block. Another smart feature Tiffen Added, even though it is for smaller cameras:
Yep, it's time for the big boy, The Steadicam systems. Actually I was only interested in testing out the pilot but decided to give all three a shot. The Merlin was the first one I tried on. Not bad. It's really a very sweet rig on it's own. Although I would never buy it simply because I lik'em big
The one thing I was surprised about was the arm. It's so very small but what a smooth baby it is. It's so freak'in light, I forgot I was wearing the rig when I was walking around in it.
I'm not going to go into any deeper detail as it has already been review by CP( Charles Papert). I just wanted reiterate what Mikko and the rest of the buyers have been saying. It's a fine piece of machinery.
Next I tried the co-pilot. Yep, the co pilot is one model down from the Pilot rig. In both the Co-Pilot and the Pilot systems are the same. The only difference is at the base of the sleds. On the co-pilot, the sled base has small cheap monitor that runs on 11 pen-light batteries. That's right. Pen-light batteries. Never thought Tiffen would stoop that low uh?
So if you ever run out of power just pop in 11 new ones.
The sled base of both Pilot is really cool. In fact, the concept is similar to that of Rig Engineering.
Here is a link to the Steadrig version:
http://www.steadyrig.com/Steadyrig%20Battery%20Hanger.htmThe Pilot sled uses the brick battery type module like the pic below:
and here is a pic of the Co-pilot:
Both systems also have weights that are interchangeable with the Merlin handheld rig. The good thing about all three system is that the arm is all the same. I want to personally thank Frank Rush at Tiffen for taking time to explain the reason for making all three system compatible with each other( more or less)
Adjustments of the fore/aft at the base of the Pilots are done by manually either loosening a screw and adjusting the cylindrical rod forward or backwards. Adjustments can also be made to the battery bracket for fine tuning.
Flying Pilot series was like flying the Merlin. Both were light systems, obviously slightly heavier than the Merlin combo but definitely lighter than any other full rig system. Again, I must say this in awe. The arm is so small!
That was the most amazing thing above all other things that impressed me.
I must say Garrett has done a fine job and one should really try the system out to be able to understand my awe. Would I recommend it. Hell Yesssss!! If you're not thinking of flying anything heavier than DV/HD camera than by all means, it's a definite buy.
The rest of the pics can be seen here:
http://www.homebuiltstabilizers.com/Expogalleries/IBC2007/index.htmlSteadicam Pilot info:
http://www.steadicam.com/pilot.htmlSteadicam Merlin/ Arm & Vest info:
http://www.steadicam.com/handheldmerlin.html http://www.tiffen.com/userimages/SteadicamMerlinArmVest_0407.pdf
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Ah, the good old days. If I were a serious student now, I'd buy a Flyer and work it to death. 
