Glidecam 2000 + HV20 Performace

[amazoncd]

Thinking of getting this tonight. Anyone used the Glidecam 2000 with the HV20 personally? How is it? What's your opinion of it?

Thanks,

Dial

[sean90291]

I've used them together. Incredibly frustrating. The Glidecam is incredibly frustrating and finicky to set up, and possibly impossible to balance to perfection. Prepare yourself for some aggravation. Once you get some real balance happening, your hand held shots will improve. But you lose some control. And again, balancing the thing for the camera's precise weight is ridiculously hard (if it's not precisely balanced, you never get the smooth shots they promise). I've never got it exactly right, and I've had it for a year.

[amazoncd]

hmm, perhaps you get what you pay for? Now I wonder if the more expensive Steadicam is the way to go. Either way the shipping to Japan is killing me. Works out to be double.

[Goose]

I agree entirely with sean, its the most frustrating device in the world! I have just about managed to balance it but the gimbal seems too loose and I cannot prevent it from pitching slightly as I turn, or prevent it from turning with me. I have to use my left hand to steady it which is very tough.


When it works its cool but I'm sure there are better stabilisers out there for the HV20.

[joachim]

maybe these can help

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuIluBJD4L0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owlx13xCjCg

i think the balancing problem is caused by the compact size of the HV20.
if anyone has the glidecam 2000, it may be an idea to put a bigger baseplate under the camera wich is a bit longer than the camera and has a substantial weight (simular to the counterweight at the bottom). just an idea

[amazoncd]

I wonder if attaching a 35mm adapter with rails to it would help the weight problem?

[sean90291]

Nah, it's not really the issue. I also tried for weeks to balance a DVX100A (much heavier). Never really got it just right.

You will need to add a few "pennies" to the top plate because the HV20 is so light (and no weights on the bottom).

[amazoncd]

Seems like the Glidecam 2000 isn't the best choice. After the Glidecam, which camera stabilizer would be the next best choice as far are quality and price go?

[iotatau]

Hi,


Thinking of getting this tonight. Anyone used the Glidecam 2000 with the HV20 personally? How is it? What's your opinion of it?

I own the HV20 and the Glidecam 2000. There's a learning curve, yes, but the combination is very promising. The initial problem is that the HV20 is far too light to balance well. But with the WD-H43, a Manfrotto base plate and a bigger battery the setup is able to pass the "drop test": if the operator lifts the bottom of the Glidecam 2000 to horizontal orientation and releases it the Glidecam bottom must drop slowly back to vertical orientation within 2-3 seconds. At the beginning, when I did not have the WD-H43 yet, the setup was bottom-heavy and the drop was too fast. The result was that during acceleration the HV20 went down and during deceleration up. But now the setup stays stable if I quickly push forward or retract my arm. A second problem is the left-right balancing. The right half of the HV20 is heavier than the left one and the leeway of the Glidecam balancing rings is not sufficient to counter-balance it. To solve this I attached an additional balancing ring with scotch tape to the Glidecam bottom plate left of the center pole.

Sorry, too little time to put up sample footage but it's well worth a try if you find a dealer who lets you return the Glidecam if you aren't satisfied.

[sean90291]

You inspired me to dust of the frustrating Glidecam and try it with the HV20. Several hours of fiddling got a nearly perfect balance...NEARLY. And the results were very pretty steady hand-held footage. I'd never want to try and use this thing on a professional shoot, because you just won't have enough control. And fiddling with balance will be too time consuming. But once it's set up, the shots are very pretty. But try following a specific subject (as opposed to just getting smooth shots of the environment) and I still find it's extremely difficult to control the framing. It's smooth, but the Glidecam drifts around. So if you're following a person and need to keep them in frame, it's a pain. If you're just getting wide shots of your subject or simple movements, then I could see using this. Note: I had to remove ALL weights except for a single screw and tape a few washers to the top--that's how light the HV20 is.

[iotatau]

I have finally been able to prepare a Glidecam clip for the HV20 forum:

Glidecam 2000 Pro car driving sample
http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?p=14036

So far I have recorded about two hours with the Glidecam. While I agree that on its own it is not well suited for professional usage it's certainly a welcome tool for my private recording interests. I successfully used it to follow a person who showed me his hometown, a bit like in the music clip "Unfinished Sympathy" by "Massive Attack".