anyone near Atlanta that can help?
 

I just got a glidecam 4000 pro and need help balancing it with my camera (canon xl2). I've attempted to balance spending several hours, getting close, but not close enough. Anyone near Atlanta, GA familiar enough to offer some assistance?

Tim,

Maybe I can be of help from afar.

1- Mount the camera in one of the camera mounting holes towards the back of the plate providing you have the section of holes in the back. If not, switch the top camera plate so that the holes are in the back. The XL2 is heavy and most of that weight is in the front so you need to mount it further back.

2- Does your camera stay on top? While holding the handle or hooked to a support arm (hopefully) hold the sled horizontal and let go (carefully). Does the camera return to the top for the most part? Can you get a proper drop time of a couple of seconds or so? If you are having trouble getting the camera to stay upright put more weights on the bottom plate and/or move the bottom extension further down. You might have to do both.

3- Balance for front-to-back so the sled post is vertical when you look at it from the side of the camera. When that gets adjusted then...

4- Balance for side-to-side so the sled post is vertical from all sides. You will probably have to do steps 3 and 4 a few times to get it into a real good balance. Remember that the final adjustments are very small. I repeat...very small.

5- Do a final test by moving the sled through some side to side moves to see if it flies correctly. Adjust if necessary.

I hope this helps. We have had to balance the XL2 on our sled and it was a bit harder than cameras like the Z1U or HVX200. We had to use our furthest back mounting hole in order to get the thing to balance.

Terry
Indicam

i started with few weights but couldn't get very close... i have a firestore fs-4 mounted to the rear of my camera which evens out the front to rear weight (somewhat). here is a picture of how i have it now (it's the closest i've gotten, but not close enough)

http://cobbtalks.com/images/S6000385.JPG

Tim,

We have found that for best balance (static and dynamic) the bottom weights should be equal in number and equal distance from the post. I notice that some of your weights are closer to the post than the ones on the other side.

When the weight plate is balanced as above, the rest of the balancing is done by moving the camera stage. As a matter of fact, when we have the camera and camera stage off our system and spin the post and weight plate, it spins straight (no wobble).

Does your camera swing back to the top when you hold the sled horizontal and let go (again-carefully)?

FYI, your picture is huge for the web.

Terry
Indicam

Terry:
Thank you for your assistance and patience. I spent another few hours tonight tweaking my glidecam. I took a few more pics (smaller :) ) of where I'm at with it.

Question: How do I know if I have not enough or too many weights on the sled? I have 10 on the front and 10 on the back (that's how many came with the glidecam).

Photos:

http://cobbtalks.com/images/S6000386.JPG
http://cobbtalks.com/images/S6000387.JPG
http://cobbtalks.com/images/S6000388.JPG

Tim,

I notice you are using a quick release. Good idea.

In order to answer your question I need you to please answer this question...While holding the handle pick up the sled and hold it horizontal. When you let go, what does it do?

I've attached a video that shows what I'm talking about. It's low quality but it gets the idea over. If the video doesn't play correctly, right click on it and "Save Target as..."

Terry
Indicam