Brushless steadicams for real heli use.......any experience?

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
I'm close to pulling the trigger on a lower cost "movi" style steadicam rig. My purpose would be to try and shoot from the R44. So far I have been able to use my cx760 on a fig rig with tons of post and it works well at wide angle but I need to step it up a tad. Anyone on here tried using these handheld systems with success?
 

Str8 Up

Member
Its in my plans to film with our Movi from an R44 but i have been too busy getting it fitted to our super heavy lift heli. The feedback from others who have done so say it works really well as long as you keep it out of the slipstream.
 

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
I'm guessing it's no different than a brushless gimbal but wondered how the constant 400rpm jiggle affects it while holding the handles. Thanks for the reply.
 


tstrike

pendejo grande
I know guys who are using it along with their easy-rig, really takes the weight and allows you to guide the camera more.
 

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
There is no wind in the cockpit. If I were stick anything out the cockpit at 100knts plus it would be bad news. I stuck my hand out one time and it slapped against the back of the heli! Wont do that again. When shooting large monuments, like a bridge you need to go pretty quick to get a smooth shot that isnt too long. One thing I found that is kinda weird is when making left banked turns there is substantially less vibrations. I try to plan my shots around left banks for that reason but that doesnt always work. I'm going up in 5 days and wont have the gimbal by then but would like to hear from others like Denny who have used zenmuses and such to shoot from full scale helis.
 



jhardway

Member
IrisAerial

For what I have been seeing on my side of things and what I know, I have a feeling it will be fine and it will work like a charm, where I may see some issues, if its not well balanced especially on the yaw axis, when you shot pointing down I can see the IMU getting a little confused and also the rig losing its lock on the swivel.

Like the video that is what I would expect. If I get a chance over the next week, I may have an opportunity to test it out. If so I will let you know how it goes for me and I will post something
 

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
After watching the PS1 video I am not impressed. first the horizon is off the entire time. Second, I can see the jitters on the edges of the frame and they are using an IS lens to boot. I got about the same handholding my cx760. And you bring up a good point with not being able to shoot facing down. Hmmm... The cineflex just looks more and more impressive when you think about what is is able to do while zooming a mile out! I think to pull this off there has to be multiple levels of dampening. The pulse of 400rpm is just perfectly wrong as it is fast enough to induce a very noticeable vibration yet slow enough your body tends to fight it. I've noticed that just the way you hold something has a lot to do with it. i.e. a DSLR is the worst design possible to hand hold as the weight is out front and you hold it in a way that allows it to articulate naturally-in the wrong way. A normal video camera is much better. But thats hand holding the camera, once you mount it none of this matters. So I think to make it work you need an enclosure that has the appropriate vibration absorbers at every single mechanical connection other than the gimbal itself. clearly there is a reason you need a Tyler mount or Cineflex to make this work on a pro level.
 

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