Question For Flycam 3000,5000 Owners

[D.J. Ammons]

I received a Flycam 5000 stabilizer and comfort arm / vest for Christmas. The gimbal handle on the Flycam 5000 (a Glidecam 4000 clone) should slip down over a rod on the vest arm.

However the gimbal handle has a solid end cap on it. I am guessing that it is hollow and the endcap needs to just come off to reveal the hole that the vest arm slips into.

I have tried unscrewing the endcap, pulling it off, etc and it does not budge.

Can somebody who owns a Flycam help?

[D.J. Ammons]

In case anyone stumbles across this thread I finally found the answer to my question. The endcap was screwed on. I had not been able to get it to unscrew with pliars and had actually roughed up the outside so had stopped trying that.

Today I had a friend visiting from Los Angeles who is a professional photographer. On a whim I had her look at it and she asked for pliars. Lo and behold she discovered it does screw off. It was just on really tight and I must have been too tenative in my efforts as I was afraid of destroying the gimbal handle.

I put the vest and arm together tonight and later this week will finish balancing out the camera so we can start testing the Flycam 5000 with the arm and vest.

[John Estcourt]

Glad you solved the problem, let us know what your thoughts are on the Glidecam and vest.
cheers john

[Charles King]

Some pics of your setup would be nice.

[Robert Bec]

Can you tell use how well it works

[D.J. Ammons]

This weekend I plan on balancing the camera and my operator will start testing the rig. I will try to take some pics of the rig in action and if the footage is good will put it on youtube or somewhere and post a link to it.

We have a wedding next month we want to use it in so we have to get moving!

[D.J. Ammons]

Here is an update on our progress with setting up the Flycam 5000 with support arm and vest.

Things got crazy since my last post and while I did work on balancing the rig by myself that next weekend I only got so far and got frustrated.

It is clear that if you are going to work on balancing a stabilizer by yourself you need a stand for it to rest on and I don't have that at this time.

Finally today I was able to get three of us to work on the Flycam 5000 including the woman who is going to be the operator.

After about and hour of two we were able to get the rig almost balanced perfectly. I have a Sony V1 mounted on it with a Rode NT2 shotgun mic and a Litepanels Micro. The hardest part was getting the left to right balance correct. Once we locked in the front to back it was stable as a rock. Left to right took much longer and is still not perfect although close.

The operator only spent a few minutes today after we finished working with it outdoors while our temp was a wonderful 74 degrees (tomorrows high is 45). For her first two or three shots with a rig / arm/ vest we were very impressed with how smooth it was. She is going to just have to practice a lot as others have mentioned and learn how to keep the subject framed like she wants it as she moves.

As far as smoothness goes it was amazing. Over the next two weeks when the weather turns good again she will work with it some more and I will post clips then. We have a weeding to do on 4/25 that we plan on using this for some shooting with the bride and groom the day before and then at the reception.

[Robert Bec]

Originally Posted by D.J. Ammons

Over the next two weeks when the weather turns good again she will work with it some more and I will post clips then.

Why not practice indoors?

[Tim Gilbertson]

I recently got one of these as well. In retrospect, it was overkill. It's quite hard to balance because of the weight of my present camera being too light (JVC DV300u). I don't have any counterweights on, but it's balanced okay. Drop time is about 1.5 - 2 seconds or so.

The first few times I used it I was less than impressed. It's hard to wear, and the arm doesn't absorb as much as I'd hoped.

However, I've started to work around its shortcomings and make up for a lot of my own. I think it'd be a lot easier to work with a heavier camera, but until then it'll do fine.

Flycam 5000 Test on Vimeo

T

[D.J. Ammons]

Tim,

I thought your footage looked good. As you said these rigs are not as good as the ones costing many times more but they definitely can achieve some impressive footage with practice.

We are a startup Wedding Videography business and our goal is to use the Flycam 5000 rig to distinguish ourselves with better than average production values. We are going to put aside a portion of money from each job in our equipment fund with the idea that in a year or two we can upgrade to a Gliecam 4000HD Smooth Shooter or X10 system or even a Steadicam Pilot.

In the meantime I am amazed at the potential or just a little over $600 investment. In the interim I might invest in a Glidecam 4000HD sled and fly it with the Flycam 5000 arm and vest. It sounds like the 4000HD might be easier to balance.

I am swamped right now but eventually I promise to post our first test footage. We have our first wedding using it next weekend in a tiny church in a period "village" and a reception in an outdoor round pavillion that presents some challenges as it has dim lighting underneath the actual pavaillion but will still be daylight outside.

[Charles Papert]

Tim:

If I may, as you continue to use your rig I would experiment with moving slower--no rush! Slow, elegant moves are more in the style of a wedding video and it's the kind of thing that a stabilizer excels at compared to handheld.

It is a natural tendency when one is starting out with a stabilizer to "get a little crazy", but practicing slow moves is key to getting the body mechanics worked out, figuring out how to split the center of gravity between you and the rig. If you can master moving slowly, the rest is easy.

[Charles King]

Originally Posted by Charles Papert

Tim:
...but practicing slow moves is key to getting the body mechanics worked out, figuring out how to split the center of gravity between you and the rig. If you can master moving slowly, the rest is easy.

This is soooo true CP. I am going to add this to the rest of all the famous quote I have gathered on HBS.. You know how I am about quotes. :)