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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Anyone have any experience with the Chinese knock off Steadicams? Like this one?

I have no idea about those cheaper stabilisers. But do you mind me asking why you sold the Pilot? Was it to offset the cost of the Scarlet? It wasn't because you determined it wouldn't work too well with the Scarlet, was it? I've been considering the Pilot for my Scarlet setup.
 
I have. One that was called "Steadycam" instead of "Steadicam." haha. It's actually surprisingly not bad. However, if you're skinny, the vest will be too big for you (like it was for me).
 
Vladimir Druts said:
I recently sold my Steadicam Pilot that I used for DSLR, now that Im getting a Scarlet I'd ideally like to use one still but can't afford Steadicam brand.

What do you guys think of something like this?

Looks decent. I have Chinese knock off Arri Fresnels which work pretty good for the most part.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-15kg-Load...057?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d7671f49
Click to expand...

Speak of the devil, I bought one from this exact seller. The guy is actually legit, answers emails promptly, and the shipping was incredibly fast from china, good seller. I just got it, and did some minor tests and it is suprisingly well built. The arm will support the Scarlet and you can adjust the tension. The fabric is not the best but seems to work, The mechanics, and the build quality of the arm, sled, and the plates on the vest itself are actually very solid, almost everything seems to be machined. It was also easy to balance and adjust. It even came with a decent case. I have a slightly different model, the Laing, has machined alluminum knobs on the vest. I think for the money you can't beat it, for a little more than a steadicam merlin, I was actually laughing about it.

I was hunting for a while to find a stabilizer that could support the Scarlet, problem is anything over 11 pounds and the price was out of reach. I found this and decided to give it a shot, and I'm actually pretty happy with it. It works.
 
Andrew Gentle said:
I have no idea about those cheaper stabilisers. But do you mind me asking why you sold the Pilot? Was it to offset the cost of the Scarlet? It wasn't because you determined it wouldn't work too well with the Scarlet, was it? I've been considering the Pilot for my Scarlet setup.
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Hi Andrew, not sure why Vladimir sold his but I personally wouldn't recommend the pilot to fly a scarlet. I currently use the Zephyr with Epic and whilst it works well, I still find myself occasionally wanting a larger weight capacity. You may (haven't tried) be able to fly the camera stripped right back with still lenses but once you add extras like wireless follow focus, mattebox, additional modules etc you're in trouble. And to be honest without some of these items you'll be severely limited in what you can do with the steadicam creatively.

Just to add to the knock off conversation. I haven't tried the chinese model listed above but it does look interesting and it's very cheap. I have tried the indian version floating around on ebay and it really was what cemented my decision to purchase the steadicam zephyr. Whilst I could manage to get ok simple shots, my biggest concern was how much it hurt my back at the end of even short sessions. With both the zephyr and pilot my back has been very happy. And flying is much easier as well. The chinese vest looks like it could be ok.
 
I might end up trying the Chinese vest, for that price really doesn't hurt.

I sold my Pilot b/c its weight threshold is too low for the Scarlet/Epic.. It's for DSLR
 
Vlad, did you actually mount a Scarlet on it or were you basing it's non-compatibility off the specs alone? Someone else on REDuser (forget who) said they could get away with using a Pilot on a stripped down Scarlet rig if they used EOS/DSLR glass.
 
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I have been looking at these for about two weeks now. At first the same package was called Laing, as stated above. Now it looks like he has photoshopped that brand name out and re-branded as "came".
 
Brandon Kelly said:
I have been looking at these for about two weeks now. At first the same package was called Laing, as stated above. Now it looks like he has photoshopped that brand name out and re-branded as "came".
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Yeah, the brand is dodgy as.....and so seems the supplier/s. But, I'm getting one....early next year. I'll be posting my findings, I think it looks perfect and is priced perfectly too.
 
The one thing about being in the middle of China is I get to check out a lot of these brands. Bought some 800W redheads and LED's. Even found the RED compatible battery manufacturers.

http://www.wondlan.net/productshow.asp?proid=4032

This stabilizer is made pretty well and has gotten plenty of feedback. It also has an optional arm/vest setup.
 
Abraham Lim said:
The one thing about being in the middle of China is I get to check out a lot of these brands. Bought some 800W redheads and LED's. Even found the RED compatible battery manufacturers.

http://www.wondlan.net/productshow.asp?proid=4032

This stabilizer is made pretty well and has gotten plenty of feedback. It also has an optional arm/vest setup.
Click to expand...

This looks awesome too....any idea of price?
 
Matthew Scott said:
This looks awesome too....any idea of price?
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Well in China from taobao.com it's about 318.00. If you are interested they reply in english to emails, really nice folk. I bought a few things for my GH2 rig from them. They do accept Paypal, but only if you order by email. Here's the taobao.com link just to check it out.

http://s.taobao.com/search?q=wondlan

I'll also see if I can dig up the link to the vimeo review.
 
Does anyone know if any of these Chinese vests & arms would fit a Glidecam 4000 sled?
 
Abraham Lim said:
Well in China from taobao.com it's about 318.00. If you are interested they reply in english to emails, really nice folk. I bought a few things for my GH2 rig from them. They do accept Paypal, but only if you order by email. Here's the taobao.com link just to check it out.

http://s.taobao.com/search?q=wondlan

I'll also see if I can dig up the link to the vimeo review.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks man!
 
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