Is there a future for steadicams?

lolage

lolage

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Ben
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I have about £500 to spend on a steadicam, possibly the Glidecam HD4000 or the Merlin.

My main hesitance behind not buying one is all this new technology coming out with gimbals. The MoVI to be precise which is way out of my price range but surely there will be a company coming out with a similar thing for around £1000?

Any thoughts on this? I don't mind the learning curve learning to fly the steadicam.

Thanks
 
I guess there'll be places for both of them but the gimbal will eventually win out for the casual user at least simply because it requires less learning and looks more impressive for certain shots.

There are already Chinese gimbals for well under a grand and they can only get cheaper. Gimbal issues would probably always include load capacity, endurance and fragility.

Have you looked at the Blackbird stabiliser?
 
For the forseeable future, at the price point you're talking about, almost certainly, yes.
 
bloomen said:
I guess there'll be places for both of them but the gimbal will eventually win out for the casual user at least simply because it requires less learning and looks more impressive for certain shots.

There are already Chinese gimbals for well under a grand and they can only get cheaper. Gimbal issues would probably always include load capacity, endurance and fragility.

Have you looked at the Blackbird stabiliser?
Click to expand...

mm, fair enough! Had a look at the blackbird stabliser, looks good but if I was to get a steadycam unsure as there are so many!

itsdavedotnet said:
For the forseeable future, at the price point you're talking about, almost certainly, yes.
Click to expand...

What about £1000?
 
I operated the Steadicam Pilot for some time and then scaled down to Steadicam Merlin. The merlin is a lot more practical in events such as weddings but the key is to get everything balanced to give you good footage. Very steep learning curve but the practice will pay off.
 
I highly doubt they'll be able to make mÓvi style stabilizers less than the cost of a glidecam anytime soon.
 
If your only flying a DSLR on a steadicam, get a Glidecam 2000. 4000 is over kill for it and I'd only buy one if I was planning to shot other stuff on it in the future.

2000 is perfect and relatively easy to setup and get some nice shots with!
 
konastab01 said:
If your only flying a DSLR on a steadicam, get a Glidecam 2000. 4000 is over kill for it and I'd only buy one if I was planning to shot other stuff on it in the future.

2000 is perfect and relatively easy to setup and get some nice shots with!
Click to expand...

I've gotten 4lbs on an hd1000 with weights to spare, I'd be surprised if you need a lot more than that.
 
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