dslr stabilizer

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Another available discount for a high quality starter DSLR Rig. Express35 is offering the Shoulder Rig - LITE setup that includes the Tripod Mount (ready to sit on your fluid heads), Camera Mount, Dual Rails, a clamp to offset (position the camera more in front of your face), shoulder pad (with another rail to adjust fore/aft), and a single long HD handle.

There's a number of 1/4x20 accessory ports to adapt your accessories or friction arms. Designed to easily move between tripod shooting and going mobile and when it's time to pack up, the unit breaks down into small parts. The dual rails is ready to accept your 15mm accessories such as a follow focus. Find more information for the Shoulder Rig - LITE following the link (click here).

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find-price-button Express35 DSLR Shoulder Rigs

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This time I took my Canon S100 out on a few different Painter Poles with the Palo Alto adapter. One pole is around 16' fully extended, and then I wanted to test out my 30' (30 feet) Unger Pole. These are video examples, but ideally it would be best suited for still photography.

There's some additional information about the Palo Alto adapters in my previous article: http://cheesycam.com/pc-palo-alto-adapter-available/. In the video below i'm using my Unger 9'-30' Telescoping Pole found here: https://goo.gl/m5Ha8. There is also no image stabilization done in post, so you can imagine the improvement if I had.

The Palo Alto adapter was something I wanted to make for my own hobbies, but ended up making a small quantity available which sold out in a single day. The next small batch wasn't available until 9 months later (just last week) and again sold out in less than three days. It's such a niche market, that we are still only running them off in small quantities, but they should be available again, so check it out to see if it's something you'd be interested in playing with. You can find the Palo Alto adapters available at https://PhotographyandCinema.com (click here).

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find-price-button Palo Alto Paint Pole Adapter from PhotographyandCinema.com

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For those who wanted a better look at the Flycam Armbrace, here's a quick little show and tell. The Flycam Armbrace
is used to help carry some of the weight of a stabilizer off the wrist. Glidecam also sells a Forearm Brace (seen here), but it's bit more expensive and looks like it will only fit on the Glidecam due to the larger OD on the post.

One common question is 'Does the Flycam Armbrace work with the Glidecam?'. The answer is 'YES' the Flycam Armbrace does work with BOTH the Flycam and Glidecam HD1000, HD2000, and HD4000 stabilizers. It uses a smaller OD on top and steps to a larger OD for the bottom of the post (as seen in the video). Coincidence? You be the judge. Using an arm brace will help relieve some weight from the wrist, but keep in mind that it will not solve the weight carried from the Bicep and the stabilizer will still be just as heavy. The Flycam Forearm Arm brace can be found via eBay (click here).

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find-price-button Flycam Forearm Arm Brace for Flycam and Glidecam HD Stabilizer

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Express35-Inline-Shoulder-RigExpress35 shoulder rig

Express35 knocks $100 dollars off the Inline Shoulder Rig today. The inline rig gives you room to work with a monitor or EVF off to the side while keeping the majority of the weight closer to your shoulder instead of way out in front of you (which can wear out your arms). The 8" rods on this rig will give you room to work with a Follow Focus or Matte Box. I believe there may be some discounts available for the optional top handle and tripod mount if you're looking to build up a bit. [Thanks Chris] Find more information about Express35 products at https://express35.com.

Express35 Inline Shoulder Rig
Click image to visit Express35.com

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This video is complete rambling about different feature sets of a few 'Small Camera stabilizers' I use. I have quite a few very large ones as well, but for now i'm just touching on these specifically because they are so close in what audience they are intended for. The three small stabilizers i'm showing are the Flycam Nano, the Glidecam HD1000, and the Skyler MiniCam (new and old). If you're not interested in knowing about the differences of such products, I suggests you skip this video since it's quite lengthy.

I'll start by saying that it's possible to get excellent results from ALL of these stabilizers. Don't be fooled to thinking you'll be achieving excellent results on the first day, even if you wanted to spend thousands of dollars on high end gear. With any stabilizer, it will require practice, practice, and even more practice. This video will probably generate more questions, but hopefully it's an insight of the different things to look for when shopping for a stabilizer.

Flycam:
The Flycam Nano does not have the best fit and finish as the other stabilizers, so obviously it will be much cheaper. It also does not carry the fine tuning knobs of a Glidecam HD series stabilizer. The Flycam Nano does not come with any type of Quick release system to make packing up and re-balancing more convenient.

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find-price-button Flycam Nano Video Camera Stabilizer

Glidecam: The Glidecam HD1000 has a quick release system, fine tuning knobs, and has better overall build quality and aesthetics. The quick release system will help you remove your camera from the stabilizer when you need to pack up, and makes it easy to get the camera back in the right spot for rebalancing. The fine tuning knobs help get very accurate alignment.
Note: Recently Glidecam released an XR version of their stabilizers which is cheaper, but will lack the QR plate and fine tuning knobs. (click here to see Glidecam XR-1000 via eBay)

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find-price-button Glidecam HD1000 Small Video Camera Stabilizer

Skyler MiniCam: The Skyler MiniCam is the most expensive of these three small stabilizers. It's also the smallest and lightest, but yet can still fly just as much weight. You can remove all of the parts from the Skyler for travel and set it back up without having to rebalance. Everything falls perfectly in alignment. It also offers a quick release stage - not only for packing up, but it can be used to move your camera to a tripod, slider, cage, rig, etc with the included 'mounting base plate'. The design of the lower sled makes it easy to adjust up and down for weight compensation, and does not have the same potential to shift (like the Glidecam and Flycam models). Build quality is top notch.

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find-price-button Skyler MiniCam Video Camera Stabilizer Kit

If you're just starting out, doing it as a hobby, or just curious about flying camera movements you could start on the lower end. The actual practice of flying a stabilizer is more important than the stabilizer itself. Sell it off later when you're ready to upgrade or try renting one for a weekend to see if it's something you're interested in, and how often you think you'll be using it. If you're already flying a stabilizer and need more of the convenience of fine tuning knobs, quick release plates, compact for travel, and ease of rebalance, then look for the higher end models that offer some of those features like the Glidecam HD or Skyler Minicam.

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Odd looking camera support sent in by LJ [Thanks LJ]. The Ready Rig Looks functional, maybe even comfortable. A pair of rods attached to a spring loaded back support, offers total hands free operation of the camera. The camera rests on a front platform that has tilt and rotate abilities. Could be tricky getting in and out of something like this if you need to move quick, and the basic package will already run you $800 dollars. There's some additional videos at the Alba Camera Support website. What's your take on the Ready Rig?

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Flycam Carbon CF3 StabilizerFlycam CF5 carbon fiber stabilizer

Just a few months ago Flycam introduced a Carbon Fiber stabilizer called the C5. (here). To confuse the market even more, they've recently released another set of Flycam Carbon Fiber stabilizers called the CF3 and CF5. Although these look much better than the original C5, I still can't get over the ugly counterweights and painted blue accents. I personally would rather just have plain metal washers in place of those plastic tubs.

The CF5 is a larger and longer stabilizer for heavier cameras, and the CF3 is the smaller version at a max height of 25". These new carbon fiber stabilizers use a quick release lock to adjust the telescoping post up or down (better than original Nano), comes with it's own quick release plate, foam padded Carry Bag, and comes in cheaper than the original C5 Carbon.

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find-price-button Flycam Carbon Fiber Stabilizers CF3 CF5

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Today I decided to try and balance the Canon 5D Mark III with a Sigma 20mm F/1.8 lens on the Skyler MiniCam. Sorry I don't have any interesting test footage right now, but i'll be shooting something later on today (which is why i'm balancing it). Still very happy I was able to find one of these units used at an affordable price. The form factor is much smaller (and better looking) than the Glidecam HD1000 or even Flycam Nano. Still it can fly just as much weight as either of them. The fine tuning knobs makes it easy to balance, and the tripod design lets you set it down on a flat surface. Can't do that with a Merlin.

You don't need this particular stabilizer to get good results, and i'm able to achieve just as good results from the Flycam Nano or any Glidecam Stabilizer. The benefits to this Skyler MiniCam is it's sex appeal, small form factor, and fine tuning knobs. I personally think it looks 100 times better than the Nano. If it were priced more competitively, this could really sweep the market. Unfortunately at a retail price of $600 dollars, it's targeted to the audience that might be shopping for something as compact as the $800 dollar Steadicam Merlin.

It's not all about running around fast. We use stabilizers to add slow camera movements and eliminate handheld shakes. It's a fast way to get some dynamic camera footage without having to setup sliders and cranes. Here's a few seconds or raw footage from the Canon 5D Mark III with Sigma 20mm on the Skyler MiniCam.

The guys did a good job using very cheap household flood lights for the back lighting, and in the front we used a very cheap DJ Pinspot LED light and balanced the cameras at 6000K (it was very blue). The 100 watt flood light bulbs run about $5 dollars each and were put on a dimmer switch. The DJ Pinspot LED light is used to create a very tight spotlight and we got it on sale for about $35 dollars.

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find-price-button Skyler Mini Video Camera Stabilizer

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find-price-button 100w Outdoor Flood Light

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find-price-button DJ LED Pinspot Lighting