I want to purchase the WD-H43 wide angle adapter for my HV20 but I've heard it's very heavy which may make it difficult to balance with the HV20 on my Merlin. I'm concerned that the center of gravity may be too far forward to align with any of the holes on the Merlin dovetail plate. Anyone using this combo?

Art

Art, no worries. The wide angle works fine on the HV20.

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=101530&highlight=merlin+hv20+settings+wide

I used this very same combo on my vacation - It's a great combo.

Check it out: http://www.vimeo.com/660597

Yeah, a friend uses that combination too and gets some decent results.

As for the stage setting, I have it at + 1/2, the rest pretty much cookbook, the spar distance from end to stage is almost cookbook. I believe instead of 10 1/2" it is 10 3/4 to 11". I also added at bottom spar an additional mid-weight.

The weight adds to the stability of the setup. Now if I can only have the patience to balance with an additional shotgun mike.