Dynamic & Balance procedures

[Charles King]

I think we all have had problem achieving this effect at one time or another. Some, more than others. Here is a demo  clip of the balancing and dynamic  balancing procedures:

http://www.steadicam.com/images/content/pilotVideoCode.htm

I included a good Professional Tip or thought from CP:

"Is it too obvious to point out that the easiest way to measure the CG of the camera by itself is to place it on a fulcrum (pencil, armpost, dowel etc) and roll it around until you find the balance point, then mark that and mount it on the sled?

I wouldn't go too nuts with the "how much do I put the CG of the camera behind the post" thing. I never knew about that until the last couple of years. And I still don't do it...! I mount the camera on what "feels" roughly like the CG, static balance and then start to tweak. My personal method is to move the camera first and then bring it back to static balance by moving the battery (ies), it achieves the same thing but it's a habit I picked up years ago. What is fun about it is that the camera has to adjust exactly the opposite direction when dynamic balancing than one would think. In other words, if when static balancing, the nose tips forward, you obviously rack the camera back. But when giving it a spin, if the nose points down you actually want to drive the camera FORWARD (and then compensate with the batt's).

It's probably also worth mentioning that dynamic balance is plagued with voodoo and playful sprites; one day you can nail it quickly, the next it just seems elusive. My advice generally is to try to get it close and then don't fret it, unless your shot is all about whip pans (when it does make a big difference). But one other important thing to know: Once the rig is in dynamic balance, adjusting the height of the gimbal (to tweak the bottom-heaviness) will not affect it. Lengthening the post will, however." by Charles Papert