Does anyone here have any experience with this steadycam? L'Aigle (The Eagle) (http://www.laigleparis.fr/english-ttn.htm)
It's a bit more then half the price of a Merlin but I can't find any user video's or experiences back on the internet.

Well, first of all, it's probably very telling that you can't find any footage shot with this thing.

My impression is that it is just another manufacturer trying to jump on the stabilizer bandwagon without having to invest the blood, sweat and tears that went (and goes) into the original. All of their "innovation" seems to have gone into trying to make a stabilizer to undercut the Merlin.

Very interesting too is that it is made of carbon fiber which is what the Steadicam™ JR was made out of and was abandoned because it simply was not rigid enough. Did it work? Absolutely. I owned two of them. But I wouldn't go back to them what with the recent improvements to design and materials.

It's been said before, and it'll be said again, "you get what you pay for".

My 2¢

Thx Frank for your answer, I am looking for a rig like this for my 550D and was not sure if I'd go for a Blackbird or a Merlin but I liked the formfactor of the merlin more since it's smaller in size. When I saw the "eagle" I was a bit skeptic, like you said, if you can't find anything back on the net about it you could ask why. But it's the same with speededit from newtek, they all say its real good but also there you hardly find anything back on the net from other users but this doesn't necessarily means its bad.
We"ll see if there exist some real life users :) otherwise I won't take the risk buying it.

It's a bit more then half the price of a Merlin but I can't find any user video's or experiences back on the internet.

It's in Euro, might be pretty much same price as Merlin, isn't it?

the merlin is 800 euro here but now I see the prizes for the eagle is exl taxes, makes the difference smaller indeed.

Merlin is US$799 on B&H, perhaps you can buy it from overseas?!

Thanks for the tip but it still adds up to the same, we pay custom taxes and regular taxes on overseas deliveries increasing the price about 20%

I've tried some of the higher-end L'aigle products and they are taking some interesting zigs and zags around the Steadicam concept (the elastic band arms are interesting--they actually work quite well, although I can't wrap my head around the nuisance of having to load and unload individual bands).

I contacted the supplier to see if he could provide me some user videos and he send some examples, one of them was a more expensive model with a vest and arm and to be honest it didn't look that good, there was still some wobble that I would not expect from such a device. I have worked together with a steadicam operator before with just a simple pilot and his "moves" were much smoother in motion.

Can't say it looked promising, certainly not enough to justify a purchase.

Well, the Pilot is a great piece of gear. Wobble in a shot is almost always the "fault" of the operator however, except where the stabilizer in question is so poorly made that even a good operator can't get it to behave. Manufacturer's videos are rarely the yardstick by which a stabilizer should be judged, unfortunately.

Well, I got a mail from the supplier in France because he apparently was tipped of by a user here regarding my comment, he wanted to clarify that some of the video's he referred to were user videos who didn't have much experience and that "he would have appreciate some circumspection in my quick judgement on a public forum".

I do know that a forum like this and some negative comments can have an impact on the sales of a supplier but when I ask if they provide more uservideo's which show real-life usage and if he sends me a link like this:
Test Steady Cam Titan 5D and 7D on Vimeo then he shouldn't be surprised that it creates some doubts.

Like Charles said, it's most often the users fault if it doesn't look good but the supplier should have said something about it when he send the link to me.

double posting..

Yes, that video is not a good choice to illustrate the gear. That is clearly a novice operator.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: when choosing a stabilizer, one of the last things to look for is demo footage. A great operator can make decent shots with a poor rig; a poor operator can make the best rig look terrible. It's a completely different animal than judging the picture quality of a given camera, for instance. If you've never used a handheld stabilizer, your first day with ANY of them will probably look like this video; what counts is the subsequent days!

I don't use the handheld ones although I do own a Merlin, but I will put my two cents in and say that if you were able to go with either the Merlin or the Blackbird, you won't be disappointed. The L'aigle products are pretty well made, certainly in comparison to some of the eBay stabilizers I've seen, so chances are their version is going to be OK.

Hi everybody,

I'm a spanish filmmaker working mainly between Mexico and Madrid and travelling quite a lot.
I saw The Eagle Titan at NAB in Las Vegas a couple of months ago and loved the feel of it. This brand is quite well-known in Europe, they've been around for a long time. I ordered from the office in Paris and got my order a day after. At NAB I checked Glidecam, the Merlin, Blackbird, but I loved the lightness of the Titan, the compactedness (the titan folds down and gets very very small) great for travelling, the quality and design, made in France, and ease of getting great shots quite fast. I'm very happy with it!!

I sent the link to this post to the manufacturer in France, some weeks ago. He answered:

"Unfortunately, stabilizing systems are not electronically assisted, it's all pure mechanics. They are exactly like music instruments, and you need quite some practice to achieve beautiful shots. First-time users are in the situation of someone sitting for the first time in front of a piano, and some might wonder why it doesn't play alone and beautifully. We had a client who once called us, saying he was looking for the on/off button to make the Titan work!"

Here's an "unofficial" video shot with L'Aigle by a trained and/or skilled operator:

YouTube - lipdub groupe beaumanoir (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0XjHhhamDQ)

This film won an award for best Lipdub Video in 2009.


Here are the "official" videos on Youtube :

YouTube - L'AIGLE TITAN Stabilizer, "steadycam", with CANON EOS 5D Mark II (or 7D or 550D) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARcNPpPhL1c)

YouTube - How to balance the Titan in 6 easy steps (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21IpuxcczzI)

YouTube - L'AIGLE TITAN in New York (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=544dGnGk6p4)

YouTube - L'AIGLE Stabilizers Worldtour (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sge4QbC7KM)


Frank, actually, the Titan is made of aluminium mainly, only the handle is made of carbon fiber.
"You get what you pay for". Who said, you can't have a great gear for less than 800 dollar?

Ariel

I am about to purchase a stabilizer, and I'm torn between the Merlin, the Blackbird, and now the L'Aigle, which seems from all the video I have seen (technical setup and stuff like that not the user stuff) to be the most flexible and compact of the systems.
All of the above are within my price range, so I'm looking to see if anyone can lean me in any one direction, and why.
I like the simplicity of the Black bird but the T bar is kind of a turn off and it appears there is no way to move lower weights forwards or back to fix active balance. (am I wrong?)
the Merlin is the standard and the mid priced of the group.
This L'Aigle looks to be well made and from watching the set up and balance video, seems the most compact or at least the size of a Merlin when in operational set-up.
If you have any input on comparing these please feel free to talk me into either direction.
I gotta admit if B&H or Adorama sold the L'Aigle I would probably have one waiting at my mailbox (from impulse buying and being impressed by their technical videos of the unit) Buying from over seas always makes me nervous especially when you're dropping a grand or more with shipping.
oh.. BTW. I will be flying either my JVC GZHD7 or my Canon T2i .

Please . lets hear your opinion.

Thanks in advance.

Gerry G

I have no experience what so ever with these light-weight rigs, but when it comes to light-weight stabilizers you want the smoothest gimbal there is because every micro move you make will get through with a bad gimbal. Ball and socket gimbals, forget about it. Too much friction. Universal joint gimbal, depends on the precision of the construction. The Merlin gimbal seems to be the best option as it's tailor made.

Have you considered Glidecam? It is a different design than the three you mentioned, but its build quality is top notch and it seems the most comfortable to operate.

Well. I was about to order the L'aigle, untill i happened to win a Merlin on auction site at a very reasonable price comparable to the titan's intro price, so fate has made my decision for me.

wish me luck.

GG