Merlin Steadicam Recipe-Formula Excel Sheet help.
 

Greetings all!

I purchased a Merlin Steadicam 2 awhile back and, as I was warned, it is EXTREMELY difficult to balance. I found an online excel formula that will tell you the precise calibration of every adjustment, to achieve perfect balance, so long as you know the exact Weight of your camera with all items attached (which I do, since I bought a digital scale) and the Center of Gravity measurements of the camera. This is where things get confusing for me. Here is how the people at Merlin Steadicam (Tiffen) instruct you to determine this Center of Gravity measurement:

"Measure vert. c.g. distance from plane of camera base to point on side of camera where camera could balance lying sideways on the tip of your finger. If there are no flat surfaces on either side of your camera, this plane may also be discovered by pointing the camera straight up and balancing the rear surface of the battery (if flat) on your fingertip at the point where the camera can almost be balanced. Likewise if your lens shade is hard, this plane can be discovered with the camera standing vertically on its lens, and balanced on a round pen lying between the lens and your table. Then measure the perpendicular distance to the plane of the camera’s base. This is the camera vertical c.g. distance."

Source: http://www.merlincookbook.com/Merlin...lInstr1-27.pdf

Can anyone help me translate that into something my feeble brain can understand? If anyone owns a Merlin Steadicam or can help me figure out how to measure the center of gravity I would be very appreciative. As would many new Merlin users!

My camera is a Canon T3i. The lens is an EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Autofocus. I have attached a Vello-BG-C5 Battery Grip with two LP-E8 batteries, and a Hoya - 58mm UV filter. The weight is 2.36 lbs.