Hanging cables off a camera.
 

Got a question...

I have a LANC control for my camera, and I would like to use it on my stabilizer sled. With proper draping and securing, would it be OK to have a cable attached to the camera and travel down the outside of the main post to the gimbal? I wont be able to pass the cable through the post and have it come out the center, it will be hanging down in mid air with a small loop so I can pan the camera.

Thanks for any input.

You'll find it will affect you a lot more than you might think. The tug from the cable as you pan will make the sled lean a lot. It will take constant effort keep your shot composed and that will take away from the smoothness.

It won't hurt anything to try it but I suspect you won't like the effect on the balance.

I've done this quite a few times with my big rig shooting 16mm, 35mm and Digibeta and the worst case triax cable for HD OBs. However, it does impose quite a few limitations and the rig never feels as nice.

I usually let the cable hang loosely from the camera/sled and tie it off where the arm joins the vest. You can trim it out to some extent, but there's always the chance of the cable swaying or catching.

You really need to use the lightest cable possible, especially with the light Steadicams where a standard BNC cable would have quite a large effect.

I have a gimbal-mounted zoom for my rig with a pretty flexible cable that I just allow to hang, but the key is flexibility. This will effect the rig particularly in pan. One thing you might want to try is to feed the cable down to your hand on the post, threading it between your fingers (ring and middle fingers work for me) and giving it a wrap around your wrist, where it can then attach to the gimbal. The idea is that as far as the stabilizer is "concerned", the cable will now start right at the point of human contact to the sled (your operating hand) and have a short and close-to-the-post run up to the camera itself, which should minimize its effect on stability. The downside of this approach is that it feels a little awkward having the cable wrapped around your hand.

Worth trying both ways and seeing what works for you.

Thanks everyone, including you Charles :)

Luckily the LANC control has a removable cord that I can modify, so getting something either longer or more flexible will not be a problem. Technically speaking, would it be better to run the cable down to the lower part of my sled where my batteries are, or just doing the around the wrist thing and have it go straight to the camera?

Sorry, more questions... Thanks again for taking your time to educate me.