As Mikko suggested the Flyer; I think you should find a rental house that rents rig and see if they have a flyer to rent. When you do you will then see the marvel of the flyer that I and everyone have been talking about. I tested it last spring and I'm still raving about the arm. You just have to test it to understand the feeling. Trust me on this.

I have to agree this is probably the case. the Flyer must be gold.
As for the Merlin. you will get tired. I would suggest the Smoothshooter, for the price. You can do long shots, but it is not like having a two spring arm like the Flyer.
I just got the smoothshooter and for the price I am quite happy.
(I wich there was a way to upgrade/replace the static arm with another double arm - I think it would work, but Glidecam wont get back to me on that)
Try them all out,
Good luck

Thanks for all the advice guys....

So is this the rig that you'd recommend?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

Or the Flyer: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...goryNavigation (plus batteries)

- Mikko

The flyer looks great & has been recommeded too but it is out of my league for now... but i'm sure this will be my second rig....

Whats the difference between the V8 & Smoothshooter?

The V8 has a bigger and bulkier arm which in my opinion isn't too great, and also it had a more uncomfortable vest if I'm remembering correctly. Supposedly the old vest was restrictive of an op's breathing. Not good.

The Smooth Shooter will do well for you until you can afford a Flyer, but once you use the Flyer, you'll see the light.

Another question, does the smoothshooter vest make the glidecam 4000 more steady or is it more to be able to use the rig for longer periods?

Let me shed some light on this issue. Like any hand held stabilizer out there, that goes for the mighty steadicam too. Without the help of a full body stabilizer you will get tired after a while. Personally that will make your camera operations more prune to shakes due to tiresome hands.

The vest system simply reliefs that tension with the a help of the arm. Simply put, you cannot use the arm without the vest and vice vesa. Personally the vest system out weighs the hand held system any day, unless you are only going to do very short takes, then the hand held is okay. But for long term operation, nothing beats the vest system - Hands down. Now Mikko can contest to that ;)

Charles,
I suspected that was the case but just wanted to make sure, thanks...

It might be worth mentioning that the handheld stabilizers allow a certain amount more flexibility in that you can continously fly the lens from over your head to a foot off the ground, where a body stabilizer will give you three or less feet of vertical travel (half that if the arm only has a single articulated section). In addition, being more compact a handheld stabilizer can be used in a confined space like a car, and it can be flown over and under objects such as a table more easily than a body-mounted system.

Otherwise, the fatigue factor usually points to a bodymount system, as Charles K. and others have said.

Well Charles P. beat me to the punch, but I'll chime in to agree to what both he and Charles K. said.

A vest system is far superior for most operating as it takes the weight for you and lets you concentrate on controlling the rig and not carying it.

However a handheld system will be more flexible for some shots.. There is infact an interesting accessory called "buddycam" that allows two people to operate a big rig 'handheld' - so this does also have it's benefits on rare occasion.

- Mikko

mmm...my Buddycam lies rusting in my storage space, having last been used perhaps 10 years ago...but it was a good shot, flying inches off the deck over objects and following feet.

Just out of curiosity Mikko/ Charles P. , does the budycam sell well or just so-so? Personally it's not something I purchase regardless of it's intention. Ah well, that's me I guess. Rather put the money into upgrade or more accessories. :)

The guy who made my Buddycam has passed on, not sure who makes an official one anymore. A lot of guys made them out of speedrail. It's pretty elemental so I would imagine that for a homebuilder, it's a no-brainer.

For those who haven't heard of it, a Buddycam looks like a set of bicycle handlebars with a mounting spud set into the long horizontal section. You mount the gimbal onto the spud and then two people carry it from either end, with one (or a third person) operating the rig from the post. Like a "shakeycam", it will smooth out most bouncing and the gimbal will correct the angular pitch so it usually looks as good as a regular Steadicam shot. The main advantage is that with the rig in low-mode you can get the lens right down on the deck and conceivably have the two grips lift it up over their heads all in one shot--there's something like this in "Copland", moving up Stallone's body. It's also handy in case your arm or vest explode and you need to keep shooting.

I wasn't going to post these, but as the topic veered towards Buddycam..
Here's a couple of pictures of Buddycam at a Steadicam workshop in 2004:
http://mikko.n3.net/photos/flying/pa...1_SOA2004.html
and
http://mikko.n3.net/photos/flying/pa...2_SOA2004.html
..Pity my hand is obscuring the gimble mount, but you get the idea.

I think that Jerry Holoway is still dooing some development work on buddycam.

- Mikko