slow moves with steadicam flyer
 

I find slow moves more difficult that fast ones. Some advices to achieve a simple travelling this way ?

Practice practice practice.

Make sure that your rig is really well balanced.

And then practice some more.


And try adding some weight to your camera & sled. More mass = more stability.

A slightly faster drop-time should help with the delicate stuff too.

And then more practice.


:-)


- Mikko

I second everything Mikko's saying. The great benefit of using the Flyer S-L-O-W-L-Y is that you'll build very delicate operating skills which translate to better operating overall. Actually performing a critical shot with an extremely light rig is a lot tougher finesse-wise than an extremely heavy rig.

Steadicam type rigs are inertial stabilizers - inertia is the statement that an object in motion tends to remain in motion with the same direction and speed unless acted upon by outside forces. If you think literally about it, it makes sense for what we want to do with cameras. The equation is

P=mv

p is momentum, m=mass, v=velocity. Like Mikko said - if you up the mass, you up the stability. Also, if you up the speed, you up the stability. So right now, you have two strikes against you - a small light rig and slow movement. But ALSO think about the other side of the equation. Let's say you have a lightweight rig, moving very slowly. It still has inertia, just not as much. This means it IS resisting movement, just not as hard - it takes less force to throw it off course or make it move in a new direction...or in your case less force to make it point where you want.

As an experiment, try moving very slowly, and almost completely let go with your post hand (keep it near so the rig doesn't actually fly away). Even moving slowly, the rig should make an almost perfect move without any input. Now do the exact same move with your hand on the post. The key is when you put your hand back on, to use it so gently that you're able to pan and tilt without "pushing" the rig off course. Like Mikko said, practice!

The more you practice, the better your fingers get at sensing forces on the rig. I guarantee though, if you get this down you will become a much better operator for it!