Hi guys,

I hope someone around these parts would be kind enough to let me know if they have had any experience with the Sony HDR-CX550V with the Steadicam Merlin. I consider myself fairly smart but I can't for the life of me get settings right. I even gave it to a few engineering friends and with our collective brains, still having trouble.

Would anyone be able to help. Thanks very much in advance.

Cheers
Ben

Don't have a Merlin, but i'm going to guess the oddball tripod screw placement is part of your problem?

Don't know who put it where it's at on the CX550, but it's horribly placed, and I'm trying to figure out how to keep the camera from tilting when mounted on virtually ANY plate... it's WAY forward of the CG, and because it's also way off center, when you tighten the screw, it will tilt (LCD side goes down) because there is so little surface on that side of the screw location.

You probably need to find the cameras CG (I seem to recall a trick in the Steadicam JR manual using a pencil under the cam to find the balance point), then reposition the camera as needed.

Great camera otherwise, and you should try handheld with active stabilization on - I use mine with a 2 handle/shoulder rig, and it's quite steady, haven't even felt the need to try mounting to a full on flying rig (I've got an old but well made one that's like a mini full size steadicam). The in camera active stabilization is pretty hard to beat, especially if you already have some experience with a steadicam gait so you don't jar things around too much - the camera can take quite a lot of the "usual" jiggles out.