SONY FX1 Merlin settings

[Marcus Martell]

Hola guys,
i was wondering if somebody out there uses the Merlin with fx1, i went on the cookbook but i wanted to know if somebody usese wideangle, small battery (the default one) and could kindly help me out.

thx

[Dale Guthormsen]

Marcus,

Good to see you are still shooting and visiting the list!!

the fx1000 is like 5.2 pounds if I recall, isn't that on the top side for a merlin!! Going to use it with an arm and vest , or just free floating?

[Marcus Martell]

hi dale! good 2 c u 2!
i mgoing to use it without vest......

[Marcus Martell]

Dale where r u mate?
Still waiting and hunting help on it;)

[Andrew Prince]

Hi,

I've just bought a Steadicam Merlin and I've got it pretty well balanced using a Sony FX1 with a large battery. The arc needs to be (from the flat top of the stage to the middle of the end of the arc before the screw thread and before weights are added) 33.6cm. I used a finishing weight on the front and the rest of the weights on the bottom.

The trick then is the mount the camera in hole H (the middle one - I'm just not sure about the letter), put the camera screen out and mount the plate on the stage at +0.75. Screw the gimbal all the way in. After that, balance the camera using the forward / backward and left / right thumbwheels.

If you get the camera so it's not moving and then move your arm left and right quite quickly, you will probably find that the bottom weight swings out slightly. Simply unscrew the gimbal one turn at a time until this doesn't happen. I made six turns (unscrewing) on mine, then backed off to five turns. It's fairly well balanced but it tends to pan left and right slightly sometimes, but that's not a problem if you're using the Merlin as instructed - with thumb and forefinger controlling the gimbal gripper. You will have to rebalance the stage using the thumbwheel screws each time you do a single turn on the gimbal.

I'm thinking of trying to balance it again using a finishing weight AND a single mid weight on the front to potentially stop the panning motion. It's only slight but it's a worthwhile experiment.


Kind regards,

Andrew
Professional Wedding Videographer and Wedding Video Production Services in Bolton, Manchester and all over the UK

PS for what it's worth, I also had the hot shoe thingy mounted to the front of the camera with nothing attached. I know not why. I also had the tape loaded. My second camera guy swears blind the camera is more stable when the tape is turning. I told him he's overly sensitive.

[Steve Game]

Originally Posted by Andrew Prince

PS for what it's worth, I also had the hot shoe thingy mounted to the front of the camera with nothing attached. I know not why. I also had the tape loaded. My second camera guy swears blind the camera is more stable when the tape is turning. I told him he's overly sensitive.

He's probably right, the rotating head drum will have a gyroscopic effect on a finely balanced camera.

Steve