After posting up my BTS footage of the Glidecam HD4000 with the Steadicam Merlin vest found here: http://cheesycam.com/glidecam-hd4000-bts-with-canon-60d-steadicam-vest/, I've been getting quite a bit of emails on how these two different products 'mate'. I'm sure this blog is quite cluttered with random articles, so here's the DIY video dug up from the archives posted 8 months ago. The reason I have this setup is because I used to fly a Merlin, so I had the vest already. I found the Glidecam design to be more flexible and the HD4000 can also carry a heavier load. The Glidecam was very heavy and I didn't want to invest into another Vest. It turned out to be a great cost saving idea since you have a 'dual arm' (two spring things) vest for about $1499 + Glidecam HD4000 for about $600. If you were shopping for a Glidecam Vest, the Dual arm for Glidecam runs more than the Dual Arm of the Steadicam Merlin. Some also argue that the Steadicam Merlin vest is a better design, much more slim profile, and of course cheaper cost. That's all opinion, and I just want to make it clear that I was just trying to make products I already owned work together. So even though it wasn't pre-meditated, there's a bit of cash savings using this method and as you can tell i've been very very happy with my whole system for a very very long time. You'll catch my reference to 'mating' the Steadicam Merlin arm with the Glidecam HD4000 Handle in this video..... Enjoy.

Tiffen Steadicam Arm and Vest

Glidecam HD-4000 Hand-Held Stabilizer