I agree Noa. The shadow is pretty clear. The camera was removed and attached to the bottom with the feet. My guess is you can do it both ways. The picture way looks faster (just flip it over and flip the footage in post), but the shadow way is probably more stable and maybe more mobile (no feet hitting your arm or chest).

I think the smoothness of that steddiepod is much affected on how much the camera weighs, in the demo's you see they are using a bigger camera which gives bigger inertia in movements but I doubt that paired with a very light dslr it will be that smooth. I have tried the nex-ea50 on my blackbird and was able to get more control and smoothness in movements due to the extra wheight but I only could fly it for a short while and I"m sure that will be the same with a steddiepod, it looks easy when you see those guys running around with it but the weight of the camera gets too heavy soon. A steadicam like the blackbird is build to take lighter dslr's and medium weight camera's and allows for more smoother moves, even with light camera's

To produce high quality wedding DVD Matt, you need the best glide equipment... I use the merlin and its smooth but im not doing so much these days. Its all about the story editing and good good footage shots...Couple times you only need the slider and glide shots otherwise its to cheesy and to OTT.. The steadipod is not smooth but jerky and to bulky in tight spots/venues.. But hey you go with what you think, opinions are cool...Steve

Pete from Engage Cinematic uses the steddipod system. In fact it was his him who put me onto it.

He produces work of a very high standard. It would seem its each to their own. There being many ways to skin a cat.

So to those who fancy a multi use tool, that can help you get some solid shots, you could do a lot worse than the steddipod.

I think the bottom line here is use what makes your job easier...if a steddiepod becomes a pain in the butt to use then don't use it ..it will certainly give you better than hand held footage.

Personally I have given up using monopods at weddings and go just shoulder mount or tripod so a steddiepod would be more inconvenient for me to use than for someone else who tends to always have their second camera on a monopod. There you have the option to leave it standing without it crashing to the floor plus add a few neat moves and you have a useful tool!

For the price it's probably justified just for the fact you can use it as a standalone tripod rather than a monopod that you would have to put down/get someone to hold etc etc.

Regardless of what it is, if you can find something to make your shots easier or more effective it's not a waste of money at all!

Chris

I checked out the guys that Matt mentioned there, and in fairness, the footage is very usable. And if you look specifically at 1:08 in this video you can see the benefits.

In one section of walkway/steps he has been able to capture both glide shots and static shots.

So yea, for this reason, I can definitely see the appeal, but I'd really like to put my hands on one to make super sure before parting with the cash. For all we know, Engage Cinema may ALSO add stabilisation in post.

Sadly there's nowhere to rent it from!

https://vimeo.com/53480899

Just received a steddiepod. In fact, ordered the tripod as well. Took steddiepod to wedding yesterday, but chickened out on using it. Maybe next week.

One thing I wanted to say off the bat is that the tripod arrived broken. The lock for the tripod plate is flimsy and plastic and had snapped off en route to me despite B&H's packaging. The pod has the same lock as the tripod. So that's a worry, because my gear does take a lot of punishment.

Other design features kind of irritated me. When the legs are folded out, you can't subtly rotate the monopod to level your frame on uneven ground. But when the legs are folded up, they block access to the locks for height control. For the same reason, you can't do a lean in shot with legs folded out. Also, the type of lock isn't as speedy to operate as on a Manfrotto 561BHDV-1..

The minimum height is slightly higher than for the BHDV-1. But of course the maximum height is also higher. The head has a lot more resistance, so pans and tilts will be a lot smoother, albeit possibly a lot slower, which is probably a good thing.

Still, I guess it's a compromise. What you can get that monopods don't ordinarily give you is perfectly steady footage, and the glidecamish option, and more flexibility in other ways.

Anyone know why I might have started getting vibrations in my shots on each footstep since upgrading to a 6D on my Flycam? Its perfectly balanced, never had this problem with the 550D. Really annoying me!

Clive,
Nice footage. I too, have a flycam. Are you still using the 50mm lens? I know the canon 50mm is very light. Your flycam may need more weight. Try a different lens. I use a 17-50 mm lens and keep it at 17 when I fly. Also check the bolts on the flycam. I know I have to tighten them once in a while.

Hi Jeff and Clive

I have had many flycams but my 5500 has always been awesome!! I had to rework it a LOT before I got it right as the engineering is not exactly good. If yours has a gimal .. wash it out with a solvent to get ALL the white grease from the bearing until it's really clean and then just a drop of thin machine oil in it and you will see the difference. Also replace all thumb screws with allen head bolts and washers.

Camera OIS or similar MUST be off!!

Chris

Clive,
Nice footage. I too, have a flycam. Are you still using the 50mm lens? I know the canon 50mm is very light. Your flycam may need more weight. Try a different lens. I use a 17-50 mm lens and keep it at 17 when I fly. Also check the bolts on the flycam. I know I have to tighten them once in a while.

Yup, one thing I wish I had at the wedding I shot this past summer was an allen wrench for those bolts!!

That sounds a lot like that old joke how you'd get spareparts from a skoda which was to just follow the car while driving, could apply to the flycam as well. :D Just kidding.

No doubt about it, I've been wanting an upgrade for ages. Its actually very smooth for the price. But the build quality annoys me.

My top part has now come a little loose from the shaft (and that part doesn't screw like the bottom. The allen screws near the top make no difference to the slight gap which now wobbles. I see no way to minimise the gap that has developed. Maybe a whack with a mallet?

Either way, I want something that, when all moving parts are cranked tight feels like one solid single item.

I'd actually love to be able to hand one round me with a strap and a carabiner for easy access.

Hi Clive

I got a news letter from my local guys today and they stock the CAME rigs as well now and they look very nice!! Photographic and camera video equipment wholesale & retail largest supplier from China (http://www.came-tv.com)

The top stages look a lot better construction and the gimbal is a lot better too!!! Yeah my flycam also has a head wobble ... I'm thinking maybe just a thru bolt right thru the pipe and aluminium boss will do the trick.

Our CAME rigs are stocked by CineCity based in India and I'm pretty sure the CAME units are made either there or in China but the engineering looks a LOT better!! I like the fact the top stage now has thumbscrews so you can adjust the fore-aft and side-side on the fly!

Chris

Hi Jeff and Clive

I have had many flycams but my 5500 has always been awesome!! I had to rework it a LOT before I got it right as the engineering is not exactly good. If yours has a gimal .. wash it out with a solvent to get ALL the white grease from the bearing until it's really clean and then just a drop of thin machine oil in it and you will see the difference. Also replace all thumb screws with allen head bolts and washers.

Camera OIS or similar MUST be off!!

Chris

Thanks for the info. I will be doing my first wedding this weekend, and I hope to use the Flycam during the day, especially before the wedding.

By the way, if anyone is interested, B&H currently have a hefty discount ($440 off) on the Steadicam Merlin version 2.

Till October 27.

Adrian, how did you get on with your steddiepod?

Hi Andrew, it's quietly rusting away in my garage at the moment. Been meaning to eBay it for ages.

Main issue I have is that it's just not stable enough in glidecam mode, for my taste anyway. No gimbal. So that feature doesn't seem like a huge improvement over just running around with a Manfrotto monopod and occasionally trying to use it as a glidecam. Plus, my steadicam skills are better than they were last year, so that kind of sealed its fate.

Hi Adrian

It that a genuine "steddipod" from the USA? or just a DIY version? Even the real one has the huge disadvantage of just having a rotating handle under the camera so seriously it's just a monopod with some weight at the bottom to sort of counterbalance the upper weight of the camera so you would get much the same result by weighting the base of a monopod and adding a sleeve that would allow the pod to rotate around the swivel point around 1/3rd down from the top. It's not really much better than a monopod with a weighted base. Shucks my DIY one was a Benro monopod with an old mic stand base (with the 3 legs extended with some fitness weights on the end. My "handle" was just a PVC pipe fitting I found at Bunnings. I really does help a bit with "smoothness" but mainly due to the fact that your camera is sitting on a pole and the centre of gravity has been lowered by weighting the bottom.

E-Bay would be a great place for it as it seems that it doesn't really impress you and my policy is that if I don't use something for 6 months, I sell it and buy something I will use!

You never know, it could pay for your sensor repair or part of it?

Chris

Adrian, thanks for letting know that Steddiepod's fate!
I think it could be an interesting tool for someone like me. I have a Glidecam HD2000 and whilst I agree that it's a great piece of kit, after taking it to a couple of weddings here I realised that I'll never use it at a wedding as it's way too much hassle. I'd like to take one multi purpose piece of kit on a job as trekking about a big city like Madrid (5million in the metropolitan area) with all these different gadgets is not worth it for my aching back/knees/wrists etc! A day is often like this: get in car go to groom's house (one side of the city), jump in car and go to the bride's house (another neighbourhood or satellite town), jump in car and go to church/townhall (wherever, rarely nearby) and then off to restaurant half way to the middle of nowhere. It's impossible to keep setting up and balancing a stabiliser between parking a car and getting the shots I need (I'm a solo shooter).
I saw this review by Wedding Cinema Academy:

Wedding Cinema Academy | Steddiepod Review (http://www.weddingcinemaacademy.com/steddiepod/)

It looks like it could do a job with a bit of extra stabilisation in post.

Do you think it would be a useful piece of kit for those of us who won't or can't take a proper stabiliser to a wedding?

Well, it definitely could be useful, but it depends on your shooting style and the video style and the situation. As a stabiliser, it's "better than nothing", but it's definitely no steadicam/glidecam. It's fine as tripod/monopod.

In terms of other concerns... Well, what I posted earlier in this thread puts my feelings about it better than I could express them now. But, very generally, it feels like a clunky piece of kit. It feels big and unwieldy and ENG-like, rather than discrete and flexible and wedding-like, if that makes sense.

In preference to the Steddiepod, I think you should consider: going fully shoulder mounted for ease/flexibility, or purchasing a Steadicam Solo, which would give you the smoothness of a glidecam, or building a DIY Steddiepod based on Chris Harding's suggestions, to save on the cost of a real one.

One more option -- if you're still really interested in a Steddiepod, having watched the videos and listened to the various reviews, you're welcome to try/buy mine! Just cover the shipping. Try it for a week; if you don't like it, send it back; if you do like it, pay whatever you think is fair. I'd just be delighted that it's going to a good home.

Hi Adrian, i sent you an email

I saw this review by Wedding Cinema Academy:

Wedding Cinema Academy | Steddiepod Review (http://www.weddingcinemaacademy.com/steddiepod/)

It looks like it could do a job with a bit of extra stabilisation in post.

His wedding demo's look great but not sure if all moving shots in there are from the steddiepod, the control in movement makes me think a steadicam was used.

Like with any steadicam practise and experience make all the difference but after seeing his review there are some things that come to mind, he says you can easily turn it into a tripod and leave it running unattended while you go make shots with another camera, it doesn't look to be as stable as a regular tripod, I can only imagine someone bumping into it and knocking it over. You also need a perfectly level floor because if that is not the case there is no way to make adjustments like you can do with a tripod, the tripod head only allows you to make front and back adjustments but not sideways.

Also if you place it on the floor in a church anyone who passes the camera would not see the legs on the bottom sticking out, they just would see the stick with a camera on, there is a high risk of anyone hitting the feet.

At the end of his review there is a shot low over the bed which means he has to hold the thing upside down but the movement is very smooth and makes me doubt if the steddiepod was used.

The few videos I find back on youtube don't look good when you see it in action, quite wobbly but maybe that practise makes a big difference, wedding cinema acadamy's demo show just the opposite so it might be the person behind the camera.

If you would get one Andrew I would be interested in your thoughts as well and how usefull it is.

Yep, I should mention two balancing tips he gives in the video that I've never tried, and presumably they make a difference: one is using a spider plate to change the centre of gravity; the other is just sliding the camera backwards and forwards on its baseplate if you find the thing keep spinning.

Also a great idea to replace the camera head. The flimsy, plastic head the thing sells with is a piece of @&$#!

Then its actually overpriced, not that I would expect a expensive fluid head on it but decent enough to justify the price.