Glidecam X-22 Preliminary review

[Pascal Jolink]

What was it again... exo-skeletal equipoising support apparatus I believe

I told you this was going to be fun to explain! I told customs it was part of a camera support system and they were OK with that. Next time try going through security at the airport. Heaps of fun there as well!

The Glidecam vest parts don't mix and match. Holes don't line up, different sized threads... Glidecam does have a V series (X nowadays) socket for the Gold vest, as Tom can attest. Hope you like the Gold vest BTW!

Glidecam has a bunch of options available, like the hinged X series male socket block. You just need to call or email them to find out what's possible, because even I don't know them all...

X-45 is still being worked on. Hopefully it will make its appearance at NAB.

[Tom Daigon]

Howdy Pascal! Yes, I am LOVING the vest. It took a few hours to understand and configure it, but now its the best. It really compliments the X-45 post and V-25 arm when used with my EX3. Very sweet! Thanks for all the moral support prior to my purchase. Its my turn to see Dave (and Tom) at NAB in a few weeks. I love the fact that its a 15 minute drive from my house. :-)  Speaking of NAB... Ive been frequenting the Steadicam forum to learn from the wealth of experience of the nice folks there. Several operators solicited input on their demo reels. Since that's right up my alley (30 years of editing) I thought it would be a nice thing to do to help out. Peter Abraham (Steadicam Head of Training)  complimented me on my helpful effort and invited me to visit the Steadicam booth and try out the rigs. I said I would be glad to...as long as he didn't hold it against me the fact that I just purchased the V-25 / X-45 system.  ;-)

[Pascal Jolink]

Great to hear you like the vest! It's true it takes a while to properly adjust the vest, and it's a lot easier with the Gold vest.

Cool that the operators on steadicamforum embraced your presence, being a Glidecam owner and all Enjoy your flight with the Steadicam rigs at NAB!

Please say hi for me to both Dave and Tom. Wish I could be there!

[Charles King]

Tom, could you please start a thread with your rig? It will be nice to show others what combination is possible with the GC series.

[Simon M Wyndham]

I told customs it was part of a camera support system and they were OK with that.

That's what I told them after stumbling a few times "It's urrr, a bit like, you know, a tripod, except that its nothing like a tripod. It kind of holds the camera. Umm, it's like a third arm..."

In the end I just said "It's a some metal with springs inside"!

Cool that the operators on steadicamforum embraced your presence, being a Glidecam owner and all

It can be a bit elitist over there. That's why I'm glad Charles has this forum going. There is some great advice over there, but I daren't put my head above the parapit for the most part.

like the hinged X series male socket block.

Aha! So there is one as an option? What are the advantages of it? Is it easier to angle the arm to operational advantage? Been a while since I used a Tiffen.

[Tom Daigon]

Tom, could you please start a thread with your rig? It will be nice to show others what combination is possible with the GC series.

Charles, do you mean you want me to take pictures of the rig on the stand in a new thread? I would love to be shown wearing it, but I haven't taught my cats how to use the 5D yet ;-)  And the market is so dead here in Vegas (and me being a noob) that I haven't had any opportunities to use it in a professional setting yet .(Since I have been practicing the exercises from The Manual for about an hour a day for the last month or so, I hope to have some opportunities for real use in the near future :-)  )

Simon, yes I did get a kind of slap from Eric the other day but I have learned to take certain comments "with a grain of salt".  ;-)

[Charles King]

That is right Tom. Just start a new thread with your glidecam mods. I do not what to hog over this thread with what the subject matter was intended. You can just post some clean shoots of the rig itself and explain what mods you have done.

As for Eric on that forum.. Well that is a whole different story. I have some things to say about him but this is not the place for such ramlings. So i will just leave it as it is. 

[Simon M Wyndham]

It is quite amusing to me how similar those forums are to martial arts forums! Looks like the X-22 arm should be delivered back today, so will report back when I've had a play.

[Charles King]

It is quite amusing to me how similar those forums are to martial arts forums! Looks like the X-22 arm should be delivered back today, so will report back when I've had a play.

You can say that again...Ha Ha. I guess when you are an Elite, you can say or do whatever you want and still think you ared the best above all others. My Favorite operator is Charles Papert. He is such a gentleman and man you can respect.

BTW, will be looking forward to hearing about the arm.

[Simon M Wyndham]

Well, the arm didn't arrive today. UPS appear to be living up to their usual useless reputation. It has been sat in a warehouse since 2am this morning, yet it is still showing that it is scheduled to be delivered on time!! Unless UPS drivers work until midnight I'd like to see how!

[update]Just checked with UPS and the arm is stuck in Customs limbo, despite me having sent confirmation of the contents and the reason for import many times, and despite the fact that they have the Glidecam invoice itself that clearly states that it was a warranty repair. Surely the fact that the Glidecam invoice is official they would accept that along with my confirmation. But clearly not! So I have been told that it could take up to 24 hours for a Customs officer to lift their lazy finger to read an email and to send a go ahead through. Or, if the reports I have seen on the internet are correct, it could be stuck in Customs for weeks, even months!!

[Charles King]

NOOOOOO!!!! I hope not.

[Tom Daigon]

Well, the arm didn't arrive today. UPS appear to be living up to their usual useless reputation. It has been sat in a warehouse since 2am this morning, yet it is still showing that it is scheduled to be delivered on time!! Unless UPS drivers work until midnight I'd like to see how!

[update]Just checked with UPS and the arm is stuck in Customs limbo, despite me having sent confirmation of the contents and the reason for import many times, and despite the fact that they have the Glidecam invoice itself that clearly states that it was a warranty repair. Surely the fact that the Glidecam invoice is official they would accept that along with my confirmation. But clearly not! So I have been told that it could take up to 24 hours for a Customs officer to lift their lazy finger to read an email and to send a go ahead through. Or, if the reports I have seen on the internet are correct, it could be stuck in Customs for weeks, even months!!

Bastards!

[Pascal Jolink]

Bunch of asses...

Sorry to hear about your problems with customs...

[Simon M Wyndham]

Woohoo!! The arm finally arrived!

Okay, some good, some bad. Mostly good though but with a very minor caveat. I have only had a brief play for a few minutes, but the arm is definitely less spring. I did a couple of sharp runs forward and the arm no longer appears to flap around like it used to (I will test this more a bit later). It also doesn't continue springing after coming to a standstill anymore. So a big thumbs up for this. One thing I did notice was that the springs appear to have gained strength!

When I wrote my review for my website I could swear that the weight capacity had increased for the arm on the Glidecam website. It says 36lbs now, when I could wear that originally it was 30lbs when I first bought it. Will need to look into this, but perhaps they now have stronger springs? Either that or my memory is very bad.

The official repair document says that the bushings were replaced. There is definitely more friction in the arm, which is why there is less springiness. It is still very smooth, though I can feel it ever so very subtley as very, very, very (and I really do mean *very*) minor stiction. Not the sort that would interfere with operating. It is only if you boom the arm very slowly while looking for it. The other side effect of this added friction is that the arm s no longer silent. The original arm was totally quiet. Not so much as a mouse squeak. The new arm mod changes this a bit. On fast booming you can hear the 'shhhhh' of the added friction. This isn't loud, but you can definitely hear it.

I am not going to hold this against it just yet though as it may be that I need to break it in a bit, and thus perhaps it will become quieter with use. We shall see.

[Charles King]

My guess is that they probably changed the springs or one or all of them. The bushings? Well. I would call David and ask him about it. He might say to use acf 50 teflon spray but ask him first. Btw, congrats for getting the arm.