Here is my review of the opteka steadyvid pro.
Let me know what you think.

Opteka Steadyvid Steadicam Review - YouTube

Very impressive, Alan.....................

Succinct, detailed and very well presented. Congratulations.

A bit of the "green eyed monsters" over that workshop, heck, how to fit a factory into your basement - here's how, start with a basement the size of Madison Square Garden, build.................


CS

Thanks... that's what I like to hear! I'm glad I accomplished what I intended (for at least one viewer anyway). :)

I wouldn't take the deafening silence too hard, they're a pretty conservative bunch in this Forum.

BTW, how, exactly, do you get about the house if that factory is under it? Motorcycle, go cart or Sedgeway?

Regards,

CS

Ha Ha... actually the wide angle lens has a tendency to make a space look larger than it is.
I used a 10-22mm lens at 10mm on my 1.7x crop factor 7D camera.
But I did buy the house because I fell in love with the awesome large basement!

Alan:

I have the Black Bird, and can tell you the features seem fairly simple. One thing the Black Bird adds us a cross bar at bottom that may help reduce side to side tilt or skew. It does create a potential of a few extra contact points to get hung up on, too, and your rig seems to do well as designed. With that shop, though, certainly would seem you could experiement with adding something like that to this rig if you felt it was necessary.

Hi Alan,

And here I thought I was alone. I had a Blackbird and now the Steadyvid Pro as well. They are worlds different. Until I watched your video I didn't realize the middle weight was two parts. The documentation said 1x 335g & 2x 90g weights. When I weighed these on a scale they read a bit different from documented so I counted that as a typo. What can you expect from a stabilizer that comes with one double-sides sheet as documentation. :-)

I'm working up some tips on balancing and flying it.
Primitive But Effective: Tips for the Opteka Steavyvid Pro - Part 2 (http://www.primitivebuteffective.com/2012/05/tips-for-opteka-steavyvid-pro-part-2.html)

Do you also find that it goes out of balance easily when you do the drop test set it down?

Yes, it does go out of balance very easily (drop test, setting it down, ... etc).
It is also susceptible to wind, but I guess many steadicams would be.
It only takes me a second to rebalance and I can still get pretty good shots with it, but I'm sure I would be most happy with the merlin2 in every way except price.... but the steadyvid wins on price.

All stabilizers are susceptible to wind.

What's the heaviest setup you've used on the opteka? I tried a 7D+Tokina+giottos mh621 and it was too top heavy with the standard weights. It wasn't quite to the 5 lb stated rating.

I use my 7d with canon 10-22mm lens with no problem. I only need the large weight and the rounded smallest weight.

Thanks Alan! We use a Glidecam 4000HD with a Flycam arm and vest to fly our Sony V1's but we are looking at getting a Canon XA10 or Canon T4i which are too light for the 4000HD.

While we would love to have the Merlin the price will probably mean we start out with this Opteka. I am very impressed with it for the price.

For the price, I am happy with the results.... but just realize that you will have to readjust the balance between shots. It's not difficult and takes only a few seconds. I wonder if the merlin needs this constant tweaking?

@Alan
When I do the side to side test, sometimes I feel something shift on the handle. When you're doing adjustments, how tight do you set your silver thumbscrews? I'm wondering if that's the internal screws or stage slipping. Happens more often after I have the rig horizontal (parallel to ground). Could be the same thing whenever we set it down.

I have the silver screws just tight enough so I can still adjust the balancing black screws.
I don't get any noticeable shifting when I move quickly side to side.
But, I can't do the "drop" test without causing the center of balance to shift.. but that's ok.. I don't need to do a drop test.

Since I have to adjust my camera settings (focus, iso, aperture, shutter) for each shot... I also check and adjust the center of balance. It only takes a few seconds, so it's not a big deal, but it would be nice if I didn't have to adjust balance or camera settings. But, I will have to wait for successor to the 7d and a merlin to have hopes of eliminating that.

Here another result with my opteka steadyvid while I was in Japan...

A Walk in Japan 2 - YouTube

Alan,

I think you did an excellent job on your review. Unless you are a gifted orator you had to do the voice-over a few times to get it correct. On a further note...what a shop!

Tery
Indicam - Indicam (http://www.indicam.com)

Nope, not a gifted orator.... I had to retry recording every few seconds or so. The beauty of digital audio. You can mash many smalll clips into one apparently contiguous audio clip.
I love tools... the shop isn;'t as cool as it appear... anyone can have the same or better with a little patience and ebay or craigslist.

Does the handle on the Opetka have a hold in it so you could fly it with a steadicam or flycam arm and vest?

Yes... the handle does have a hole in it.

Hi Alan,

Great review. Thanks for shaing.

I've got a 7D and the 10-22mm Canon lens, but how would the Opteka work with the smaller Sony NEX-5N and 16mm lens? Would it handle something this light?

Never tried it with a small camera, but it should work.
Of course there must be a minimum weight limit, but I don't know what that would be.
Maybe I will eventually try my wife tiny canon elph.

Cool. Thanks again!

Does it come with a quick release plate?. My understanding, you'll have to set it re balance it every time you put it down? Or once you got it dialed in your set if you use the same camera and lens. Ready to pick one up. Thanks!

It is not a quick release plate.
Some folks have attached a quick release plate, but in my opinion that won't prevent the need to tweak the balance between shots. The balance remains consistent during a long continuous shot, but you will see minor shifts in balance after setting it down. Fortunately, you'll get enough practice readjusting the balance between shots, that it is very quick and easy (few seconds). I love to compare it with a Merlin2 but I can't afford one yet. I've heard that the Merlin is better, but you'll still have to tweak balance between shots.

Just got my Opteka steadyvid pro. After 2 hours of trying to balance this and still strangling, I am nearly there but I am getting a headache now....I know time is the magic word. I a a bit disappointing though that they haven't included a DVD to explain you (in details) how to go about it. You have to do this yourself ang Google.

stelios

I wouldn't recommend this stabiliser to my worst enemy.

I received my Opteka Steadyvid last week and spent about 8 hours on Sunday trying to balance it! What a nightmare.

I have quite a light camera, the Nex 5n, so I think this doesn't help. Finally, I got it balanced, however it continually needs minor adjustments and is always twisting to the right, even though I'm making sure that I'm always holding the handle straight.

I purchased this for wedding cinematography, but I don't think its going to be usable as its too inconsistent.

I wouldn't be recommending this unit to anyone, but maybe its better with a heavier camera, even though I have added weight to the top plate.

I'm thinking about splashing out on the HD4000 which I'm hoping will be more reliable and easier to balance.

Any comments on the twisting would be great.

Rich

Based on my experience and feedback from others... I believe the decision is a balance between cost and patience.
I get great results with a heavier 7d and 10-22mm lens, but I would agree that you need patience and the balance must be tweaked often.

If I had more money, I'd spend it on one of the many other nicer and more expensive alternatives.
I stand by my opinion that there is nothing better in this price range.

Well after spending many many frustrated hours in trying to shoot "steady" shots with this unit I gave up. Money spent for nothing. The Active Steadyshot function of my NX5 is much, much better that this Opteka nightmare.Well can't always win.Are all the steady cams like this difficult?


stelios

Sorry to hear you are having such a frustrating experience Stelios.

Out of interest, what particular features make the more expensive alternatives work better? Alan spoke about a problem with the gimbal in his initial video review, saying how the rig rotates one way or the other depending on which way you tilt the handle — you could almost call that a feature!

Does the quality of the gimbal make or break a good design? Or what is it that makes the difference between a ‘joy to use’ and ‘hair pulling frustration’?

I'm thinking about splashing out on the HD4000 which I'm hoping will be more reliable and easier to balance.

Have you also considered the Blackbird? I got it to work with a NEX-5N and the pancake lens with ultra wide converter and it performed beautifully. And within no time I could configure it to work with my FS100. It has a great payload range. I can recommend it over the HD4000 and I believe the price is very similar.

Sorry to hear you are having such a frustrating experience Stelios.

Out of interest, what particular features make the more expensive alternatives work better? Alan spoke about a problem with the gimbal in his initial video review, saying how the rig rotates one way or the other depending on which way you tilt the handle — you could almost call that a feature!

Does the quality of the gimbal make or break a good design? Or what is it that makes the difference between a ‘joy to use’ and ‘hair pulling frustration’?

Trevor I also believe that the gimbal is to blame because when you balance the thing, a slight movement of your hand from the vertical position makes it to lean on one or the other side. Anyway as i said I gave up. Having my NX5 on the Manfrotto monopod 562B-1 acts like a very good steadyshot and combined this with with Active Steadyshot function of the NX5 works like magic...

stelios

Hey Derran, which ultra wide converter are you using?

Cheers,
Richard

Here's a more recent result with my opteka...
Canon 7D with 10-22m lens with no image stabilization and no post deshaking.
Just straight from the camera and a little bit of text added.

People Watching in Japan - YouTube

Hey Derran, which ultra wide converter are you using?

Cheers,
Richard

Hi Richard, I'm using the Sony VCL-ECU1 wide angle conversion lens on the 16mm pancake. They work great together. But I'm very interested in the new Sony SEL1018 lens (DerranNL: Sony's new NEX E-mount 10-18mm, 16-50mm power zoom and 35mm F1.8 lenses (http://derrannl.blogspot.com/2012/09/sonys-new-nex-e-mount-10-18mm-16-50mm.html)). I wish Sony could send me one to review!