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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?

That one is Indian.

nickmilo said:
Hey guys, great thread! Been looking at the Chinese rigs for a while, and its good to see some feedback. This one just recently caught my attention:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Proaim-Suavizar-stabilization-system-arm-Vest-Camera-stabilizer-Steadycam-/271129517440?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D4723082831199205403%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D271129517440%26

What do you guys think? Not sure about the gimbal handle, but I actually do have a 3a gimble and partial sled I plan on finishing up with some of the parts of the sled I end up getting... Arm looks pretty darn solid...
Click to expand...
 
nickmilo said:
Hey guys, great thread! Been looking at the Chinese rigs for a while, and its good to see some feedback. This one just recently caught my attention:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Proaim-Suav...403&pid=100015&prg=1006&rk=1&sd=271129517440&



What do you guys think? Not sure about the gimbal handle, but I actually do have a 3a gimble and partial sled I plan on finishing up with some of the parts of the sled I end up getting... Arm looks pretty darn solid...
Click to expand...

Hey Nick,

Indeed the Steadicam you linked is deff Indian. I'm not one to judge, but I can tell you that when I first started with Dslr's I purchased a bunch of stuff from thecinecity or basically the indian market and I can tell you that I have never been more disappointed with the quality of gear.. at some point everything broke on me. The Came Steadicam that I and David Winters Purchased " Congrats by the way" Is very solid well built and i'm very happy with the quality! I'm getting together with a couple of Redusers here in NY next week and we will be testing the rig out with different set-ups. Please follow the thread and don't take my opinion as I'm sure everyone will have their own. Stay tuned...

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?92336-NEED-HELP-Testing-out-some-new-gadgets-in-NYC

I was able to get the rig dynamically balanced at about 22-2?lbs.. I took a quick little clip at the tail end of when it was slowing down..

http://vimeo.com/56830154 Password: came

I also purchased these cheap little bubble levels that I double sided taped to the stage and it helped me balance the rig pretty quick!!

http://www.geier-bluhm.com/index.php?cPath=63_70 model #4-2506
 
I would echo John and Bob - stay amay from ProAim - I bought a DSLR rig from them back in the day, as well. Complete junk...though I heard that their newer mattebox was decent. And that steadicam rig looks like it only has standard def set up through the junction box. The Chinese rig is solid so far.
 
John Galeano said:
Hey Nick,

Indeed the Steadicam you linked is deff Indian. I'm not one to judge, but I can tell you that when I first started with Dslr's I purchased a bunch of stuff from thecinecity or basically the indian market and I can tell you that I have never been more disappointed with the quality of gear.. at some point everything broke on me. The Came Steadicam that I and David Winters Purchased " Congrats by the way" Is very solid well built and i'm very happy with the quality! I'm getting together with a couple of Redusers here in NY next week and we will be testing the rig out with different set-ups. Please follow the thread and don't take my opinion as I'm sure everyone will have their own. Stay tuned...

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?92336-NEED-HELP-Testing-out-some-new-gadgets-in-NYC

I was able to get the rig dynamically balanced at about 22-2?lbs.. I took a quick little clip at the tail end of when it was slowing down..

http://vimeo.com/56830154 Password: came

I also purchased these cheap little bubble levels that I double sided taped to the stage and it helped me balance the rig pretty quick!!

http://www.geier-bluhm.com/index.php?cPath=63_70 model #4-2506
Click to expand...




Unable to watch the vimeo video! Something wrong with pass?
 
Thanks for the feedback! Ya, I was initially hesitant on the proaim, bought something from the seller of this rig (Camtree) and it broke right away (LED ring light) -- had to McGiver it back together again, now it looks like a Frankenstien rig :/

Thanks for the video testing posted already John, really looking forward to seeing the extensive tests you guys end up doing :D
 
John Galeano said:
I was able to get the rig dynamically balanced at about 22-2?lbs.. I took a quick little clip at the tail end of when it was slowing down..
Click to expand...

Sweet, I'm not this far along yet. Today I ordered a 4 pin lemo for $60 USD to run a cable from the Anton Bauer plate to the camera. I'm still working out exactly how to mount the battery plate to the base, possibly a 1/2" block of aluminum, with thumbscrews vs a set of rods.
 
EDIT - Fail... don't buy this Lemo, it has 4 large pins, the Red connector is 4 large and 2 small.


Making cable, cut to length. I was planning to cut the power cable off the Red DSMC power supply, but $150 vs $60 + 15 min solder job. Purchased connector from here.
 
Mine arrived today; instructions entirely in Chinese. The eBay seller — "photolight" — offered me $100 to make an instructional video, but that would be the blind leading the blind.

Wondering how others' experience has been so far, and what your power solutions are. I'm thinking of going the Red Battery Belt route. Has anyone managed to mount one of these to the sled?
 
Lance Kaplan said:
Mine arrived today; instructions entirely in Chinese. The eBay seller — "photolight" — offered me $100 to make an instructional video, but that would be the blind leading the blind.

Wondering how others' experience has been so far, and what your power solutions are. I'm thinking of going the Red Battery Belt route. Has anyone managed to mount one of these to the sled?
Click to expand...

Buy this book, it explains how to build, balance, and operate. You will be hopelessly lost without it. First time (last week) was 2-3 hours to get the rig balanced, now I can build up in 30-40minutes, and should be able to get it down to 20 minutes.
 
Nearly any rig can be flipped over into "poor man's low mode" in a pinch. Usually it's best to invert the monitor (which needs to have an image flip feature in that case) for better visibility, and have an F-bracket that inverts the gimbal handle to lower the camera further and increase clearance, but even without these it's often possible to get by for simple shots just with the fip-over and rebalance of bottom-heaviness.
 
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