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Topic: My damn sled! (Read 1522 times)
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Michele Coser
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I'm frustrated a lot. I feel i have trown all my money into the trash... now i want to trhow my rig into the trash. Or, maybe i'm just a dumb... who knows!
As i said into the screening room post, i have the chance to get a big job on a tv series, with the help of a friend i did a walk/run shot into a park. It came out not very good, i always got some pendulum effect (there was some wind also, but i don't know if it was the cause of this swinging effect)
So today i take apart my sled, trying to re-align every pieces that i think was unaligned. I also moved a bit the batteries in search of the right position for the best performance and the better space clearance.
Now i attached the batteries with gaffer tape; if i got static balance on the X axis, when panning on the Y axis the sled is out of static balance....
Is so hard to find what is causing that... it may the gimbal, not properly centered? it may be the battery placement?
Man, if i only got 10K Euro.... i will buy a Glidecam V-25 or new Flyer LE and leave every problem back...
(pic. soon)
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Charles King
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Is this the clip in the Screening room you're referring to?
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Charles King
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Patrick Moore
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Michele, show us the video and maybe someone here can give you some help with your sled. Wind can really effect a light sled so maybe try shooting indoors. A gymnasium would be a good place to practice. If the pendulum effect is a foward type motion you may be holding a little too loose on the post, or maybe too high on the post, try different positions on the post and see if you gain better control.
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Michele Coser
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No, is another video, i'm editing it. I see if i can upload in a few hours, but it can be seen also on the clip in the sceening room.
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Alan Dague-Greene
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If you have the sled balanced while facing one direction, then you turn the sled and stop it in another direction, and it is not balanced while still, then your gimbal isn't centered. With home-built rigs, I would imagine this is almost the norm. Mine certainly was not perfectly centered. And although it would be nice to have it perfectly lined up, if you're shooting in mostly one direction, you can balance the sled for that shooting mode (missionary or DJ) and get by. If you're doing a lot of switches, it will probably be more difficult, depending on the length of your drop time.
It's hard to tell from the video if you're fighting the hardware or if it's something in your operating technique (or in the wind). I'm not seeing much of a pendulum effect, more of a wobble in the pan axis. Either you're fighting the wind, or your gimbal has too much friction in it, or you're just hanging onto the post too tightly in general.
I would recommend doing some tests indoors, go back to the cross on the wall. No wind, and try it with minimal influence on the post. I don't think it's worthwhile dissecting your sled, the problem may be much easier to discover if you do some controlled (ie, very boring) tests.
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Patrick Moore
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I don't see a wobble either, it almost looks like your twisting a little too hard on the post, (over correcting back and forth to hold the frame) maybe loosen up a little on the post. Other than that the rest of it looked really great.
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andreas kielb
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Now i attached the batteries with gaffer tape; if i got static balance on the X axis, when panning on the Y axis the sled is out of static balance.... If this happens your sled is probably not in dynamic balance. As your sled is very similar to mine with batteries and monitor are at the same height you might check dynamic balance quite easily before mounting the camera to the sled. Put your sled on the balancing pin as you do for normal balancing but without the camera. When you put the sled into horizontal position, with batteries and monitor attached, it will turn either to the battery or monitor side. Change the position of batteries or monitor until they are in perfect balance with the post as center of gravity. Now, if you don't change these settings anymore and just balance with top stage and gimbal height your system will always be in perfect dynamic balance regardless which camera you use. Only a system in dynamic balance will stay in balance when you pan around the Y axis of your sled  . I'm not sure if I described that good enough but you will find a better explanation in Jerry Holways 'Dynamic Balance Primer'. http://www.steadicam-ops.com/docs/dynamicPrimer.pdf. The method I described is from Baer-Bels Mickey but, as I mentioned before, it is only valid if monitor and batteries are at the same height. cheers, Andreas |
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Michele Coser
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I have read the Dynamic Balance Prime, but i admit i used a quicker method described on the steadicamforum.com  thanx for the imput guys... i'll do the indoor shots as soon as possible! |
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Job Scholtze
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Eh, i dont know if my opinion counts here, but who knows  That pendulum effect you are talking about isnt caused by dynamic balance. Hence, if i just do walk and talk ore strait forward,backward stuff, i dont even bother to get db. When i do liveshows or concerts i need db becose i do a lot of panning en runnung around stuff. So db comes in handy. That pendulum effect is caused by your hand/gimbal control en perhaps your walkingstyle too. It can be fixed by practise, practise and again practise. Lose your control hand on the post a bit more. Just gently fingertips.Dont try to tilt, but compensate headroom with booming your arm up and down. Its smoother than fighting your sled. Also,play a bit with your droptime. 2.5 sec perhaps more or less, its mostly personal taste. Good luck |
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Patrick Moore
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I recently read about a 3 or 4 second drop time, and thought I'd give it a try. I suprisingly was impressed at how well I could control my sled. Before I had about 2 seconds and everytime I stopped I had trouble holding the shot I was doing. With 3.5 seconds I seem to have better control. I guess it's a matter of what you like and how well it helps you with control. All around, for myself all of my shots seemed more stable with a longer drop time.
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Michele Coser
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Eh, i dont know if my opinion counts here, but who knows Man, you're one of the most experienced operator on this forum.... One of my problems is that i don't have too much time to pratice. |
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Job Scholtze
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Where do you live, your welcome to come over and practise with me, or you could book a workshop. Remember, its a hughe investment in yourself.
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Charles King
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Where do you live, your welcome to come over and practise with me, or you could book a workshop. Remember, its a hughe investment in yourself.
That's a nice offer by Job. Michele, He was my coach when I took the workshop a couple of years ago. |
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« Last Edit: July 20, 2008, 06:38:09 AM by Charles King »
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Charles King
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Michele Coser
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Yes, this is a very generous offer. Thanks Job!
Right now i'm shooting a lot of project and i don't know when they are done. Plus i have more to come. Anyway, today i have some free time and i'm going to praticize a bit, maybe triyng a longer drop time.
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