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Glidecam for Scarlet - X-10?

Jason Honeycutt

Jason Honeycutt

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I shouldn't have gone to NAB because now there are too many things I want... like a Glidecam for my Scarlet :) The guy told me the X-10 is what I want and I'm about to buy it... however, on the BH Photo site, the X-10 is just the vest but my question is the camera stabilizer... I know it's a "4000" for sure, but I can't remember if they said the "HD" 4000 or the "XR" 4000. Does anyone here use this rig and, if so, which version of the stabilizer do you use... the HD or the XR. I think it's the HD? But I'm wondering what would make it better than the XR. Here's the XR rig;

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/824627-REG/Glidecam_XR_4000_Handheld_Camera_Stabilizer.html

And these are the two HD4000 kits I'm interested in (the Kit 3, with the monitor is only like $100 more);

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/584404-REG/Glidecam_HD4000_Kit_2_Stabilizer.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/610148-REG/Glidecam_HD4000K3_Kit_3_Stabilizer.html

Thanks for any info!
 
Jeremiah Patton said:
The 4-10 pound arm limit basically eliminates the scarlet as a flyable camera, you might want to look at this uber long thread about a Chinese steadicam that's under 2k
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showth...dicam-for-REDusers-lt-1800USD-Post-your-ideas
Click to expand...

Thanks for that link. I've had mixed results with that company (they go by a number of names; Cinecity, Camtree, etc.)... some stuff has been amazing, other stuff fell apart. Their car suction mounts are great for DSLR shots... one suction cup mount failed but they sent two more, no questions asked. Their matteboxes are junk, but it was good enough for DSLR, but it fell apart piece by piece. Their shoulder rigs are pretty good.

Glidecam's only $600 more. I was demoing an HVX with weighs slightly less than my Scarlet (if I strip some weight)... I had more than enough 'play'. I think it could handle 15 lbs. pretty well, I'm assuming 10 lbs is their 'on the safe side' number. With the vest, I was almost having to hold it down, as it was springing up with counter-weight.

Here are some videos of people with Glidecams... this guy is actually using an HD2000;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAWwyI1xnP8

And this is the older 4000;

https://vimeo.com/53410567


And I found this thread on here... if that helps anyone... I know it kinda solidified it for me that the 4000 is good to go with Epic/Scarlet;

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?66948-Epic-on-a-Glidecam-HD-4000
 
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If you're going to go Glidecam, go for the X-22. I have one and it flies the Scarlet great. it's a nice unit, but if I were to do things over, I'd buy a Steadicam Zephyr and save myself the hassle with the annoying idiosyncrasies of the Glidecams and cheaper units.
 
I've been talking to Glidecam and they're a little noncommittal as far the Scarlet being 100% good to go, they said 'any camera up to 10 lbs', which is what we already knew. My Scarlet is nine'ish pounds without the mattebox, around 11 with the battery, probably 12.5 with everything. So, I could get away with 11 pounds... just waiting to hear back from Glidecam.

In the meantime, I've been looking for other options... I've heard about "Chinese" steadicams being actually good (not sure which ones, though, as there are many). Has anyone used the "Laing M-02", which holds up to 33 lbs? Check out this guy demo'ing it... it looks shockingly legit;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbsQwaj3wMw

And here's their unobjective promo video;

https://vimeo.com/61235907#at=0


I'm just curious if anyone in our 'group' has used it, as I'd trust you guys more than amateurs on YouTube, like this guy who managed to make it look like it was handheld;

https://vimeo.com/57654254


This guy's example looks a lot better though;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pytmCpM6SG4
 
Jason, it all depends on how serious you are about flying, do you want to become a steadicam operator and market yourself as one, or you just want to have a tool that will allow you to have some steadicam shots when you need it;
if it's just a random shots you want to have, get a GC4000 and with some practice it'll give you good results, this guy doesn't look like hercules, but was able to pull long enough hand held shot,
but if you had a chance to wear full rig for about 20-30 min and you still want to master that art of flying, i would agree with opinion to get steadicam Zephyr or similar. Just a week ago was a really great steadicam Raptor offer from Brian (ActionCam)
even tough the group buy offer is expired, try to PM Brian, i'm sure he'll find the way help you.
And if it's a budget matter - you can fly any p.o.s. rig if you really enjoy it and spend enough time learning and practicing, but i am telling you now, if you're serious about flying you gona end up buying brand name.
Sorry can't share any info about GC4000, or chinese rigs, never used them, i own two 'Steadicam' rigs and I really like them, but the older i get and the heavier my setup grows, the more often i think about back mounted vest :)
best.
 
Paramon Ivanovich said:
Jason, it all depends on how serious you are about flying, do you want to become a steadicam operator and market yourself as one, or you just want to have a tool that will allow you to have some steadicam shots when you need it;
if it's just a random shots you want to have, get a GC4000 and with some practice it'll give you good results, this guy doesn't look like hercules, but was able to pull long enough hand held shot,
but if you had a chance to wear full rig for about 20-30 min and you still want to master that art of flying, i would agree with opinion to get steadicam Zephyr or similar. Just a week ago was a really great steadicam Raptor offer from Brian (ActionCam)
even tough the group buy offer is expired, try to PM Brian, i'm sure he'll find the way help you.
And if it's a budget matter - you can fly any p.o.s. rig if you really enjoy it and spend enough time learning and practicing, but i am telling you now, if you're serious about flying you gona end up buying brand name.
Sorry can't share any info about GC4000, or chinese rigs, never used them, i own two 'Steadicam' rigs and I really like them, but the older i get and the heavier my setup grows, the more often i think about back mounted vest :)
best.
Click to expand...

I'm definitely going to practice to get good at it but it's more just for extra shots for me, not the basis for what I do. Yeah, the $10K rigs are way out of my range, I'd like to keep it around $2K'ish. I'm totally down to pay for Glidecam if it can handle the weight, which I've seen one video do... but it looks like you have to really strip down the camera to do it. This Chinese company seems to be getting great reviews, which shocks me. The Indian company (which I believe the group buy is, but I saw the Chinese group buy as well) scares me. I mentioned it before but they've been really hit and miss with me, as far as quality. This one guy reviewed a different Laing model (vs. the Glidecam 2000) and he swears it's actually built better;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKZdX5BeWdU

I'm always leery about companies putting their own guys on YouTube saying how great their gear is but this guy doesn't seem to be working for them.

I actually found a great discussion thread about the Chinese vs. the Indian knock-off ones on here;

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showth...he-Chinese-knock-off-Steadicams-Like-this-one

But yeah, I'm actually now leaning to this Chinese company, which is now calling their stuff "Came" (which is an odd name), because it can fly up to 33 lbs whereas, the Glidecam X-10 seems to be pushing it with their 4-10 lbs. I know they have an X-22 but, again, that's way out of my price range.

At the end of the day... I'm not a gear snob, I just look at it like a 'tool' to give me certain shots... nobody at home knows what brand you used to create a shot. I'm just hoping to find as much info as I can and hopefully pass it along once I pull the trigger on one of these rigs.
 
Jeremiah Patton said:
The 4-10 pound arm limit basically eliminates the scarlet as a flyable camera, you might want to look at this uber long thread about a Chinese steadicam that's under 2k
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showth...dicam-for-REDusers-lt-1800USD-Post-your-ideas
Click to expand...

Jeremiah... I actually found the "Chinese" link vs. the "Indian" one on the thread... and it's actually cheaper here than on eBay (which is around $1,700);

http://www.camera-video-broadcast.c...am-Stabilizer-Steadycam-Carbon-Fiber_141.html

Thanks for the heads up man, sorry for the delay in me seeing what you were talking about :)
 
jason looking forward to share your infos from NAB, trying to find some working solution for long time glidecam x10 + hd4000 with scarlet but so far nobody show anything what looks finally working :-/ even on photos. i see on videos at least something what works, but it is sidehandle i dont have :-/ looking for some extended (to lower part of glidecam) vmount battery solution
 
Martin von Kuttenberg said:
jason looking forward to share your infos from NAB, trying to find some working solution for long time glidecam x10 + hd4000 with scarlet but so far nobody show anything what looks finally working :-/ even on photos. i see on videos at least something what works, but it is sidehandle i dont have :-/ looking for some extended (to lower part of glidecam) vmount battery solution
Click to expand...

I've only seen one video online with a guy who had to modify this HD4000 sled to get the weight to work with the Scarlet/Epic but apparently 'out of the box', he's pushing it. I'm not great at modding gear, other than hacksawing rods to build my rig, but I think I'm going to take a leap of faith on the Chinese one which is only $1618 with free shipping to the US, no tax. It's now called "Came", made by the same company that makes the "Laing M-02". I've been emailing them back and forth, because it was mentioned on here that there was going to be a modded RED version of it but they said the following, in slightly broken English;

"The updating version have new function: 1- you can adjust the angle about battery mount , 2- the Arm post pin is rotatable, 3- there have bracket for low shooting, you can low shooting .
4- the Arm will have more big range go up and down . "


Someone said (on the other page, sorry I forgot the name) that it was going to be $1,800 but this is $200 less. $1,600 seems like it's worth the gamble... far better than my rig of pipes I made with weights at the bottom, even though I got 'good enough' results with that.

They have stuff on Ebay as new but it's more expensive than buying direct from them... my only hesitation is that you don't get the eBay protection if it goes wrong but I think it'll be okay as it's still through Paypal and I could get it refunded if something goes wrong... but everything I've read about them seems to be great.

Here's their direct link though, if anyone's interested;

http://www.camera-video-broadcast.c...am-Stabilizer-Steadycam-Carbon-Fiber_141.html
 
david_winters said:
Jason,

Take a look at this tread.
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?95664-Orange-County-CA-Meetup-Came-Steadycam-Stabilizer
Click to expand...


Crap, I literally just sent the money but it's fine... I have a big shoot coming up on May 4th where I need to get this asap and learn it, haha. Thanks though... I think others will definitely benefit from that group buy. I'll hopefully be able to vouch for it but seems people are happy with it. I keep looking for the 'negative' review but I can't find one.
 
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