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Author Topic: Steadicam Merlin 2 vs Glidecam HD - and steadicams vs shoulder racks  (Read 35719 times)

The View

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I'm in the market for a steadicam.

I'm considering one of the two above - but if you have better suggestions, please let me know.

1.

Steadicam Merlin 2 or Glidecam HD?

I saw a comparison online, and the Merlin seems to be great walking stairs up and down.

What about pans in the horizontal dimension, which is much more likely to occur?


2. Steadicam vs Shoulder rack

I think shoulder racks are good for newsgathering, but for short films a steadicam seems to give the much better look.

What do you think?


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bcooter

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Re: Steadicam Merlin 2 vs Glidecam HD - and steadicams vs shoulder racks
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2014, 06:03:45 am »

You didn't mention what you shoot, or the weight of your camera.

Steadicam is hard, even for the easiest of moves and the guys we hire have years to get it down and use 75 grand of equipment (minimum).

That doesn't mean you can't use what you listed and get a good result, but be aware that a scene like following a subject down a stair case can go from a beautiful scene to Freddy Kruger with too much shake.

I've tested the Merlin, bought the glidcam and the glidecam sets in a case.

The problem we had with the glidecam is keeping the camera level and not listing to each side.  It takes huge practice.

If your camera is small a 5 axis stablizer might do some of what you want and be affordable.

For tracking over smooth areas a quick cheap way is renting a wheelchair and putting an apple crate onto the seat to lift you up.  It works, looks goofy, but does work.  Recently we've tricked out a skate board (yea a dog town type of skateboard) with a mafer clamp and an a arm.  An assistant pulls me and steadys my shoulder.  You can do a 60 degree move and and fairly smooth surfaces it works very well, though when you fall, it hurts.

The beauty of a skareboard or a wheelchair is if you practice, you arms make very effecient gimbles.

Good luck.

BC


I'm in the market for a steadicam.

I'm considering one of the two above - but if you have better suggestions, please let me know.

1.

Steadicam Merlin 2 or Glidecam HD?

I saw a comparison online, and the Merlin seems to be great walking stairs up and down.

What about pans in the horizontal dimension, which is much more likely to occur?


2. Steadicam vs Shoulder rack

I think shoulder racks are good for newsgathering, but for short films a steadicam seems to give the much better look.

What do you think?



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sanjaynarayan

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Re: Steadicam Merlin 2 vs Glidecam HD - and steadicams vs shoulder racks
« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2014, 10:42:03 pm »

interesting but untested-

would love something like this for my a7s with a pancake lens,
currently best bet would be a Ronin or equivalent gimbal.
If your delivery is HD then you can get by with shooting
in 4k (GH4?) hand held and use the warp stabilizer in Premiere/After effects,
its not the same as flying on a  gimbal but...

www.sanjaynarayan.com
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The View

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Re: Steadicam Merlin 2 vs Glidecam HD - and steadicams vs shoulder racks
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2015, 12:58:08 pm »

Thank you, bcooter, and sorry for the late reply.

I decided to let go of any flying shots for now and will replace risky moving the camera with a style that uses tripod shots.

I will use more camera positions and cuts to keep it simple.

I really appreciate your warning that it's not that easy. I got this idea only between the lines of other people telling about their experience. If reviewers at B&H said their footage looked "great" and that they loved the glidecam hd2000 I wonder if their great and my great have any ressemblance.

What finally decided it to not buy any kind of steadicam is that a good friend of mine actually bought a glidecam - and then donated it. He's a long-time pro and hadn't it been horribly difficult he'd have kept the glidecam.


I'm not going to try to fake a higher production budget on my first motion projects, but will stay within my means and do that right. A good pan isn't that easy, I can only imagine how difficult a steadicam shot must be.
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Rob Reiter

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Re: Steadicam Merlin 2 vs Glidecam HD - and steadicams vs shoulder racks
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2015, 01:51:24 pm »

I just purchased a CAME-H4 carbon fiber stabilizer for about half the price of the Glidecam HD. It is extremely well made with excellent adjustments. But like others have mentioned, any stabilizer requires practice to perfect. Their webpage for this item contains a superb video via CheesyCam on balancing this or any similar stabilizer. Well worth viewing whatever you end up with.

I'm using mine with a GH4, but I don't think it's big enough for a full frame camera like my D800e, although I haven't tried it yet. The results are encouraging even with my low, low skill set. For short runs I can easily produce usable footage. Longer shots with more turning will take more practice, but for the price, this has already proved useful.

http://www.came-tv.com/cameh4-quick-release-plate-carbon-fiber-steadicam-stabilizer-p-548.html
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Try2ki55me

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Re: Steadicam Merlin 2 vs Glidecam HD - and steadicams vs shoulder racks
« Reply #5 on: October 06, 2019, 05:34:41 pm »

Hey everyone I think that the difference is not present but here you need to choose according to necessity. For example I use Glidecam XR Pro for hiking in mounts  because :
1 Fits my Sony A 6300 camera perfectly
2 Small size and convenient to use
3 Relatively inexpensive
I also watched a lot of reviews and  comparisons but I was able to make my choice after reading this article about glidecams. In general, it allowed me to look at stabilization systems with different eyes I realized that this is a necessary addition to the kit of any photographer.
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